[DasIch]

The word is (almost) extinct and has long been replaced with "small talk".

[hexxs]

Sorry but this is nonsense.

[bane]

Is this an example of the German directness we're all talking about here?

[ido]

Maybe it's a regional thing.

I have never heard the word used in the more than 6 years I've lived in Vienna.

[ugh]

But surely, you must have heard someone talk of “plaudern”?

[ido]

Yes, that's a common word.