[W/K] :: chat

  Chat \Chat\, n.
     1. A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit.
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     2. pl. (Mining) Small stones with ore.
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     Chat potatoes, small potatoes, such as are given to swine.
        [Local.]
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  Chat \Chat\ (ch[a^]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chatted; p. pr. &
     vb. n. Chatting.] [From Chatter. [root]22.]
     To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without
     form or ceremony; to gossip. --Shak.
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           To chat a while on their adventures.     --Dryden.
  
     Syn: To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.
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  Chat \Chat\, v. t.
     To talk of. [Obs.]
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  Chat \Chat\, n.
     1. Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.
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              Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat,
              With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
                                                    --Pope.
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     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.
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     Bush chat. (Zool.) See under Bush.
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  chat
       n 1: an informal conversation [syn: confab, confabulation, schmooze,
             schmoose]
       2: birds having a chattering call [syn: New World chat]
       3: songbirds having a chattering call [syn: Old World chat]
       v : 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, confabulate,
           confab, chitchat, chatter, chaffer, natter, gossip,
            jaw, claver, visit]
       [also: chatting, chatted]

  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
  
  

  chat
       
           Any system that allows any
          number of logged-in users to have a typed, real-time, on-line
          conversation, either by all users logging into the same
          computer, or more commonly nowadays, 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 well known chat systems to date (1998) include IRC,
          ICQ and Palace.
       
          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., re, BCNU, BBL, BTW, CUL,
          FWIW, FYA, FYI, IMHO, OTT, TNX, WRT, WTF,
          WTH, , , 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 jargan 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; specifically, MUD
          respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW,
          WTF, TTFN, and WTH.  The use of "{re" or "rehi" is also
          common; in fact, MUDders are fond of "re-" compounds and will
          frequently "rehug" or "rebonk" (see bonk/oif) people.  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 BIFFisms (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://www.suck.com/daily/96/10/23/).
       
          (1998-01-25)