# Have you ever heard of this word before: Palaver? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845 "2025-02-26T21:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/41 "2025-02-26T23:32:21Z")
A palaver is a shamozzle. A shamozzle can be a kerfuffle. A kerfuffle is quite a faff. A faff tends to be a dog’s breakfast. I trust that clears things up. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/42 "2025-02-26T23:35:42Z")
I’m glad we could confabulate on this ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/43 "2025-02-26T23:49:28Z")
As an American, I have heard this word since I was a kid. From context I assumed it was a negotiation with natives. Like a pow wow in the informal sense. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/44 "2025-02-26T23:57:43Z")
Yes, I know that word because of its usage in **Les Miserables** : _What a palaver_ _What an absolute treat_ _To watch a cat and it’s father_ _Pick a bone in the street_ ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/45 "2025-02-27T00:10:25Z")
I rarely encounter it in crosswords. But it comes up in real life, both written and oral, reasonably often. I almost certainly encountered it as a teen. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/46 "2025-02-27T00:23:08Z")
i checked a bunch of online dictionaries and they say that it’s not exclusively British or American. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/47 "2025-02-27T00:28:07Z")
That’s the cause of the stereotypical French-accented English sentence ending, **no**? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/48 "2025-02-27T00:48:27Z")
Yeah I use it pretty frequently but I’m a Brit in the US for 20+ years. I wouldn’t be able to say for sure it was a Britishism, but if I had to guess I’d say it was. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/49 "2025-02-27T00:51:31Z")
I knew the word from old Westerns (both in books and movies) before Stephen King brought it to more people’s attention. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/50 "2025-02-27T00:56:42Z")
Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man A knight without armor in a savage land His fast gun hire, heeds the calling wind A soldier of fortune, is a man called — Palaver… ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/51 "2025-02-27T00:57:14Z")
Too right! If that doesn’t suss it out I don’t know what will! [In NZ, I associate it with people of my parent’s generation or older, where it was usually “What a palaver” or “Working himself into a palaver”] ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/52 "2025-02-27T01:19:02Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I understood it to mean a quick conversation of the negotiating sort. Yeah. I’ve read it, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody say it. And I also took it to mean a conversation, usually but not necessarily of the negotiating sort. Not, however, specifically of the boring, whining, or overlengthly sort; probably rather the reverse; though I don’t think I ever researched the meaning, but just guessed at if from context. – I got kind of lost in the OP and am not quite sure whether they meant they actually wanted to hear from people who haven’t heard of the word, instead of from those of us who do. If so, I apologize, but refer you to the thread title. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > apricity Oh, thank you! That’s a great word! And I’ve been basking in it some the last couple of days – ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/53 "2025-02-27T02:48:32Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > (puh-la-vuh) And _that_ reminds me of hullabaloo which has a similar definition. Neat. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/54 "2025-02-27T03:00:14Z")
I knew what it means immediately. Usually accompanied by “what a lot of.” It may be decades since I heard it used in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/55 "2025-02-27T04:18:55Z")
Yes, I know the word. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/56 "2025-02-27T04:28:33Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Upon reading the thread title I thought both “Yes I have heard it” and “no I can’t give a definition of it at the moment…” > > But also I have perimenopause brain so I may have known it really well last week, who knows. 🤷‍♀️ > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Same here. Except for the menopause part. I came to say the exact same thing, word for word. Right down to the “Except for the menopause part.” Sometimes I wonder if we Dopers are developing a hive mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/57 "2025-02-27T05:18:19Z")
I know it from a memorable line in “The Dead” by James Joyce, said with great bitterness by Lily, the caretaker’s daughter: “The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/58 "2025-02-27T05:45:00Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > The usage I am familiar with is not as you have described. For me, it means a “to-do”, a drama, a big fuss. It’s a noun, not a verb. Yes. South African, and we use it here too, mostly in the “What a palaver!” usage. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/59 "2025-02-27T05:50:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ve heard _palaver_ used in old westerns. It means a quick conference between people. In westerns it usually was done to resolve some issue instead of just shooting each other. I also associate it with westerns. But as more more of a slow, negotiating talk, possibly while sharing chewing tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845/60 "2025-02-27T06:39:13Z")
And, Bob’s your uncle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-this-word-before-palaver/1014845.md?page=4)