“What a full”? Is that an actual expression or a typo? Never heard it. Also not sure I’ve ever heard “what a ball ache” expressed in those exact words, but I can figure out what it means. Or are those supposed to be UK expressions?
came in here to mention Shakes The Clown, in which Tom “Spongebob Squarepants” as the evil Binky The Clown menacingly spits the word out while concocting one of his schemes. Terrific film, best alcoholic clown movie EVER
I guess I’m the only to admit to being an old Opie and Anthony fan. Every day the intro to the show would end with a line from the Russ Meyer “classic” Mondo Topless. “But enough of this palaver, let’s get the show on the road.” The movie is a documentary about topless dancers in the 60s. The narration is hilariously over the top. It’s as if the narrator had a brand new thesaurus and was eager to use every word.
That could also be my introduction to the word. I read my first Heinlein in 1983/4.
However, when I read the OP, I could picture David Tennant saying it. And I even found an interview where he used it, “The act of getting into the bed and getting all of the wires attached, the heart monitor, the hospital gown arranged in the correct way…it was quite a palaver.”
I have been acquainted with palaver since the '70s at least. In my corner of the woods, its use has been essentially synonymous with “blather”, almost always as a noun, and maybe once or twice a year in frequency.
Should have been “fuss”. Not sure how I messed that up that badly.