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  1. According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/klatch: a gathering characterized usually by informal conversation
  2. But according to https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=klatching: An organized social gathering, usually for sexual purposes.

British english vs american one

nKognito
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    This BrE native speaker has never heard the word in either context. – James K Oct 15 '22 at 17:11
  • Urban dictionary (an unreliable source) has four or five mentions of the "coffee party" and one for the "sex party", and that is downvoted.... draw your own conclusion – James K Oct 15 '22 at 17:13
  • Urban Dictionary is written entirely by users, barely vetted in any way other than by votes, so never take it as a reliable source. It can be very helpful when there's multiple upvoted definitions with a similar meaning, but beyond that it's misleading – gotube Oct 15 '22 at 17:48
  • This BrE native speaker has encountered Kaffeeklatsch, solely in the context of the World Science Fiction Convention. – Colin Fine Oct 15 '22 at 18:26
  • This Canadian has heard the word meaning shooting the bull over coffee as a form of German language practice – gotube Oct 15 '22 at 18:33
  • Generally, it is a somewhat passé term for a group of women getting together for coffee and the term is coffee klatch. No sex at all. – Lambie Oct 15 '22 at 18:48

2 Answers2

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First, “klatch” is a borrowing from German meaning “gossip.” According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, it is related to an obsolete use in Middle English of “clap” to mean “talk noisily or chatter.” It has been adopted into American English (possibly from Yiddish) to be a slightly pejorative meaning of “social gathering, usually informal, of adult women.”

Second, the Urban Dictionary is a useful though neither an authoritative nor scholarly source on modern American slang. The sexual connotation is referenced only once even by Urban Dictionary and is attributed to someone with a predilection for sexually-flavored word play. I have never heard it

Jeff Morrow
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Urban Dictionary is very unreliable. Anyone can add an entry, and this may result in very unofficial or even mischievous 'definitions' appearing.

Some English speakers (probably over a certain age, or who are interested in Germany) will probably have come across the German noun Klatsch which is, roughly, 'gossip', although not necessarily with the malicious or spiteful nuance present in English. It appears in English very often in the German portmanteau Kaffeeklatsch (roughly, an informal coffee meeting). Less familiar to monoglot Anglophones will be e.g. Gesellschaftsklatsch (society gossip).

The word seems to have become adopted in American English after the middle of the 19th century, and is often seen without the 's' it has in the original German (as 'klatch'). There are German-themed restaurants and cafés in the UK and the USA called 'Klatsch'.

I daresay the word is a little old-fashioned, as there aren't that many bourgeois ladies with time on their hands these days:

As her son entered, Frau Metzerott lifted her brown, withered face, and fixed her dark eyes and steel-rimmed spectacles upon him.

“You have quitted early this evening,” she said, in the Platt-Deutsch dialect, which, with the High German of the book on her knee, was her only mode of speech, though she had lived in America for nearly forty years.

He nodded briefly, and then, as if by an afterthought, added, “It is the evening of the Kaffee Klatsch at the Hall, and I will go there for my supper. There is a little concert to-night, and dancing.”

Metzerott, Shoemaker (Katharine Pearson Woods, New York 1899)

Kaffee Klatsch. This furnishes very much the same class of entertainment that is to be found at an afternoon tea, save that coffee is the predominating beverage. The invitation is precisely the same as for teas, simply substituting the words “Kaffee Klatsch.”

Twentieth-century Culture and Deportment (Maud C Cooke, Philadelphia 1899)

The kaffee klatsch is an afternoon affair where ladies meet and chat as they sew and are served a luncheon of German dishes—cold meats, salads, coffee-cake, pickles, coffee, etc. Each guest is given a bit of needlework, button-holes to work, or a small doily to embroider and a prize is given for the best work.

Breakfasts and Teas: Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions (Paul Pierce, Chicago 1907)

A Klatsch of Kindie Rockers was an New York Times article by Jodi Rudoren in 2010 about a 'Kindiefest' (a 'family-oriented' music festival).

Michael Harvey
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  • In American English, we write it coffee klatch: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/coffee-klatch/ And one needn't know German, be bourgeois or do this in the afternoon. – Lambie Oct 15 '22 at 18:49
  • @Lambie - so.is it snooty or hi-falutin' to write it the 'German' way? The NYT in 2010, and Maud C Cooke notwithstanding? – Michael Harvey Oct 15 '22 at 19:41
  • I dunno Michael. I really don't. It is a term I used to hear but not one I am used to seeing in writing. By the way, there is a series on our PBS station here called GUILT. It is simply marvelous. Full of very tricky ups and downs, ins and outs. And very London-y. Just when you think you get it, here comes another twist. All about bent lawyers. :) – Lambie Oct 15 '22 at 19:57
  • @Lambie - I think that very few Brits would know what a klat[s]ch was, unless they had lived in Germany, or perhaps read novels set there. Is the Guilt you are watching, the drama sometimes called 'a Scottish Fargo,' with the excellent Mark Bonnar? We have seen seasons 1 & 2 and think it is absolutely great. A third and final season is on the way in 2023, I hear. If you like Scottish stuff, Bonnar has been in Shetland, as the main (police officer) character's friend. – Michael Harvey Oct 15 '22 at 20:18
  • Aye, indeed it is. It is really so close to the wire, in terms of the plot. One wonders how they can keep it straight. Yeah, I saw Shetland, as well. Great stuff. :) – Lambie Oct 15 '22 at 20:35
  • @MichaelHarvey is that Guilt you were talking about? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9644058/ – nKognito Oct 16 '22 at 06:50
  • @nKognito - yes, that's it. – Michael Harvey Oct 16 '22 at 08:20
  • I cannot believe what a horse's behind I am. Of course, Scotland. I could hear all the accents, I could see Edinburgh. Must have had my head in the clouds. – Lambie Oct 16 '22 at 14:09
  • @Lambie - well, Edinburgh is a capital city. Can I give you, maybe, a new word? How about 'pawky'? It is often applied to Scots lawyers, and Edinburgh lawyers are supposed by many to be the pawkiest of them all. 'Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour.' The word fits the Bonnar character very well. – Michael Harvey Oct 16 '22 at 14:16
  • Ha ha. Pawky, I like it. Less bad than manky, sort of. To think I had to reach this age to learn that word manky. :) Will delete all this soon. "rules". – Lambie Oct 16 '22 at 14:19
  • Now my wife and I are retired, we have been thinking of exploiting the considerable difference in property values between Bristol (high) and Edinburgh (lower) to sell up and move there, especially since Nicola Sturgeon has said ('Come on up!') that UK citizens ordinarily resident in Scotland on Day One of independence will be eligible for Scottish citizenship, and hopefully an EU passport when Scotland joins. – Michael Harvey Oct 16 '22 at 14:22