Make Your Point > Archived Issues > NATTER
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pronounce
NATTER:
Say it "NAD er."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Like the words buzz, plink, splash, bubble, flip-flop, and tick-tock, the word natter is probably echoic, or imitative, or on_____po__ic--all ways to say that the word sounds like what it means.
Could you recall that last word, with the blanks? It literally means "making the word" or "creating the name."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
"Natter" comes from Scottish and English dialect. It was probably formed by imitating the sound of people talking on and on ("natter, natter, natter").
To natter is to talk on and on in a grumbling, complaining way, or simply to talk on and on in a casual, chatty, lighthearted way.
It's a noun, too. Natter is casual chatter or grumbling talk that rambles on and on.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Usually a verb, the intransitive kind: "He nattered away;" "She nattered the whole drive home;" "Please stop nattering at me."
Occasionally a noun: "Let's have a natter."
Other forms:
Nattered, nattering, natterer(s).
how to use it:
Do you really need this word, "natter"? No, but it adds some color and variety to your word choice. It's a fun, casual, semi-common word to use in place of "chatter" or "chitchat."
Talk about people nattering. Or, talk about them nattering away, or nattering about something, nattering on about something, or nattering with someone (or, less pleasantly, nattering at someone).
You can use "nattering" as an adjective: "those nattering ladies on the bus," "this nattering gossip in clickbait articles;" "We have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism" (Spiro Agnew, delivering a speech by William Safire).
examples:
"[My four-year-old son] spent the rest of [the hike] in the child carrier, nattering in my ear and squirming endlessly. I loved every minute."
— Bruce Kirkby, New York Times, 14 June 2013
"[Janice Long's] late night show is an affable, cosy thing and a good old nocturnal natter."
— Elisabeth Mahoney, The Guardian, 22 December 2010
has this page helped you understand "natter"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "natter" without saying "chatter" or "chitchat."
try it out:
In the New York Times, William Logan praised the role of poetry in daily life, saying that "to live continually in the natter of ill-written and ill-spoken prose is to become deaf to what language can do."
Talk about what he means, and whether you agree or disagree. In your opinion, is it accurate to call most everyday speech and writing "natter"? Why or why not?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is "Clues in Cobbled Haikus."
Check out the haiku, cobbled together from the work of a famous writer, and see if you can identify the term it's suggesting.
Try this one today:
Cobbled from the work of Edgar Allan Poe, the haiku below suggests which of the following terms: epiphanic, diaphanous, or phantasmagoria?
Frantic fire, clang
Groan, throats, stone, tolls, tolls, tolls, tolls,
Menace, shiver, rust
To see the answer, scroll all the way down.
review this word:
A. SILENT.
B. SOOTHING.
C. CONSISTENT.
2.
After watching plenty of YouTubers _____ their games, my daughter now does the same thing, nattering away as she plays.
A. designing
B. narrating
C. concentrating on
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Like the words buzz, plink, splash, bubble, flip-flop, and tick-tock, the word natter is probably echoic, or imitative, or on_____po__ic--all ways to say that the word sounds like what it means.
"Natter" comes from Scottish and English dialect. It was probably formed by imitating the sound of people talking on and on ("natter, natter, natter").
Part of speech:
Do you really need this word, "natter"? No, but it adds some color and variety to your word choice. It's a fun, casual, semi-common word to use in place of "chatter" or "chitchat."
"[My four-year-old son] spent the rest of [the hike] in the child carrier, nattering in my ear and squirming endlessly. I loved every minute."
Explain the meaning of "natter" without saying "chatter" or "chitchat."
In the New York Times, William Logan praised the role of poetry in daily life, saying that "to live continually in the natter of ill-written and ill-spoken prose is to become deaf to what language can do."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |