Chitchat.

Clish-ma-claver: Gossip or Foolish Talk, or a Verb Meaning To Gossip

Heard it through the grape vine? That’s clish-ma-claver.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

With a word as entertaining as clish-ma-claver, need I mention its origin? Of course it’s a Scottish word. The OED’s earliest usage note is from a 1728 poem by Allan Ramsay, much beloved by the Scots and certainly by the OED editors in search of…