Buzz
Everyone has that one person who just can’t seem to stop talking. Whether you call them a yammerer, a babbler, or a chatterbox, they might also be known as a blatherskite, a clatterfart, or even a twattle-basket, not to mention a “clucking magpie” or a “seller of gossip.” Here are some additional terms for gossips that you might enjoy adding to your vocabulary.
1. Babliaminy
The term babble, meaning “to talk excessively,” dates back to the mid-13th century. The word babliaminy, created by the English playwright Thomas Middleton in 1608, was derived from it. Other terms for an incessant talker include babelard and bablatrice.
2. Babble-Merchant
The term babble-merchant is an old English slang word that essentially refers to “someone who trades in nonsensical chatter.”
3. Blatherskite
Originating in the 17th century, likely from Scotland, blatherskite or bletherskate combines blether or blather, meaning “to talk endless nonsense,” with skite or skate, meaning “a sudden, quick movement.” Notably, Theodore Roosevelt once used it to describe Mississippi Congressman John Sharp Williams, calling him a “true old-style Jeffersonian of the barbaric blatherskite variety.”
4. Blatteroon
Originating from the Latin term blaterare, which means “to chatter” or “babble,” the word blatteroon or blateroon entered the English language in the mid-1600s.
5. Bloviator
The term bloviate gained popularity thanks to President Warren G. Harding, who likely adopted it from Ohio slang in the late 19th century. Originally meaning “to spend time idly,” it now refers to “speaking in a lengthy or overly verbose manner”—and someone who does this is called a bloviator.
6. Clatteran
The verb clatter can mean “to reveal secrets” or “to engage in gossip.” Words like clatteran, along with clattern and the next entry on this list, are all derived from it.
7. Clatterfart
A 1552 Tudor Latin-English dictionary defines a clatterfart as someone who “readily reveals trivial secrets.” In simpler terms, it refers to a gossip or someone who can’t keep quiet.
8. Clipmalabor
The term clipmalabor is an old Scots word used to describe a gossip or chatterbox. The Scottish National Dictionary defines it as “a senseless, silly talker.” It evolved from the earlier Scots term slip-ma-labor, which described a lazy idler who neglected their work. Essentially, it originally meant “someone who gossips instead of working.”
9. Gashelbike
The term gashle is an old dialect word meaning “to distort something,” while bike or beik is an old Scots derogatory term for someone’s mouth. If you’re constantly twisting your mouth out of shape by talking nonstop, then you’re a gashelbike.
10. Jangler
Before it referred to a jingling sound, the word jangle meant “to talk excessively or loudly” or “to argue heatedly.” It’s likely derived from an old French term meaning “to mock” or “grumble,” so a jangler was probably both a chatterer and a chronic complainer.
11. Jawsmith
Originating in the 1880s, jawsmith started as late 19th-century American slang for a chatterbox. Over time, it also came to describe a skilled or professional speaker, a passionate orator, or even a loudmouthed leader or demagogue.
12. Languager
The Oxford English Dictionary traces this word back to an old French term, langagier, which means “to talk excessively.”
13. Pratepie
The word prate, meaning “to chatter,” dates back to the 15th century and likely imitated the clucking sounds of hens. The “pie” in pratepie comes from magpie, a bird in the crow family (alongside jackdaws, jays, and choughs), known for its noisy and talkative nature.
14. Tongue-Pad
The term tongue-pad emerged in English in the late 1600s. It was defined in A Dictionary of the Canting Crew (1699) as “a smooth, persuasive talker.” By 1913, its meaning had shifted, and Webster’s Dictionary described it as “someone who talks excessively.”
15. Twattle-Basket
In 16th-century English, what we now call tittle-tattle was also known as twittle-twattle. The term twattle-basket stems from this and describes someone brimming with pointless, idle chatter.
