chat
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
chat
n 1: an informal conversation [syn: {chat}, {confab},
{confabulation}, {schmooze}, {schmoose}]
2: birds having a chattering call [syn: {New World chat},
{chat}]
3: songbirds having a chattering call [syn: {Old World chat},
{chat}]
v 1: talk socially without exchanging too much information; "the
men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze" [syn:
{chew the fat}, {shoot the breeze}, {chat}, {confabulate},
{confab}, {chitchat}, {chit-chat}, {chatter}, {chaffer},
{natter}, {gossip}, {jaw}, {claver}, {visit}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Chat \Chat\, n.
1. Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.
[1913 Webster]
Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat,
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.) A bird of the genus {Icteria}, allied to the
warblers, in America. The best known species are the
yellow-breasted chat ({Icteria viridis}), and the
long-tailed chat ({Icteria longicauda}). In Europe the
name is given to several birds of the family
{Saxicolid[ae]}, as the {stonechat}, and {whinchat}.
[1913 Webster]
{Bush chat}. (Zool.) See under {Bush}.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
chat
<chat, messaging> Any system that allows any number of
logged-in users to have a typed, real-time, on-line
conversation via a {network}.
The medium of {chat} is descended from {talk}, but the terms
(and the media) have been distinct since at least the early
1990s. {talk} is prototypically for a small number of people,
generally with no provision for {channels}. In {chat}
systems, however, there are many {channels} in which any
number of people can talk; and users may send private
(one-to-one) messages.
Some early chat systems (in use 1998) include {IRC}, {ICQ} and
{Palace}. More recent alternatives include {MSN Messenger}
and {Google Talk}.
Chat systems have given rise to a distinctive style combining
the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and
verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to
communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen to help
with this.
The conventions of chat systems include special items of
jargon, generally abbreviations meant to save typing, which
are not used orally. E.g. {BCNU}, {BBL}, {BTW}, {CUL},
{FWIW}, {FYA}, {FYI}, {IMHO}, {OT}, {OTT}, {TNX}, {WRT},
{WTF}, {WTH}, {<g>}, {<gr&d>}, {BBL}, {HHOK}, {NHOH}, {ROTFL},
{AFK}, {b4}, {TTFN}, {TTYL}, {OIC}, {re}.
Much of the chat style is identical to (and probably derived
from) {Morse code} jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the
1920s, and there is, not surprisingly, some overlap with {TDD}
jargon. Most of the jargon was in use in {talk} systems.
Many of these expressions are also common in {Usenet} {news}
and {electronic mail} and some have seeped into popular
culture, as with {emoticons}.
The {MUD} community uses a mixture of {emoticons}, a few of
the more natural of the old-style {talk mode} abbreviations,
and some of the "social" list above. In general, though,
MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full
rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the
relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many
touch typists. Abbreviations specific to MUDs include:
{FOAD}, ppl (people), THX (thanks), UOK? (are you OK?).
Some {BIFF}isms (notably the variant spelling "d00d") and
aspects of {ASCIIbonics} appear to be passing into wider use
among some subgroups of MUDders and are already pandemic on
{chat} systems in general.
See also {hakspek}.
Suck article "Screaming in a Vacuum"
(http://suck.com/daily/96/10/23/).
(2006-05-31)
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
111 Moby Thesaurus words for "chat":
babble, babblement, bavardage, be closeted with, bibble-babble,
blab, blabber, blah-blah, blather, blether, blethers, bull session,
bullshit, burble, cackle, caquet, caqueterie, causerie, chatter,
chew the fat, chin, chitter-chatter, clack, clatter, colloque,
colloquy, compare, confab, confabulate, confabulation,
conversation, converse, coze, cozy chat, dialogue, dish, dither,
entice, flirt with, friendly chat, gab, gabble, gam, gas, gibber,
gibble-gabble, go on, gossip, guff, gush, haver, heart-to-heart,
heart-to-heart talk, hot air, idle talk, induce, inveigle, jabber,
jaw, lallygag, little talk, lure, make conversation, mere talk,
natter, nonsense talk, palaver, parley, patter, persuade,
pour forth, prate, prating, prattle, prevail upon, prittle-prattle,
proposition, prose, ramble on, rap, rap session, rattle, rattle on,
reel off, run on, seduce, shoot the breeze, small talk, smatter,
spout, spout off, talk, talk away, talk nonsense, talk on,
talkee-talkee, tempt, tete-a-tete, tinkle, tittle-tattle, twaddle,
twattle, twiddle, twitter, visit, waffle, yak, yakkety-yak, yammer,
yap, yarn
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