Chat : (noun)
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]
(verb)
1: 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]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Chat : \Chat\, n.
1. A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit.
2. pl. (Mining) Small stones with ore.
Chat potatoes, small potatoes, such as are given to swine.
[Local.]
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chat : \Chat\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chatted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Chatting.] [Based on Chatter. [root]22.]
To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without
form or ceremony; to gossip. --Shak.
To chat a while on their adventures. --Dryden.
Syn: To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chat : \Chat\, v. t.
To talk of. [Obs.]
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chat : \Chat\, n.
1. Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.
Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat, With
singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. --Pope.
2. (Zo["o]l.) A bird of the genus Icteria, allied to the
warblers, in America. The best known species are the
yellow-breasted chat ({I. viridis), and the long-tailed
chat ({I. longicauda). In Europe the name is given to
several birds of the family Saxicolid[ae], as the
stonechat, and whinchat.
Bush chat. (Zo["o]l.) See under Bush.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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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">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/)">(http://www.suck.com/daily/96/10/23/).
(1998-01-25)
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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