blatherskite

American  

[blath-er-skahyt] / ˈblæð ərˌskaɪt /

noun

1. a person who speaks rapidly but says little of substance.

2. nonsense; blather.

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blatherskite British  

/ ˈblæðəˌskaɪt /

noun

1. a talkative silly person

2. foolish talk; nonsense

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Etymology

Origin of blatherskite

First recorded in 1845–50; blather + skite skate ³

Explanation

Blatherskite is silly, babbling speech that doesn't really mean anything. If you know someone who talks just to hear his own voice, you can call what he says blatherskite. The person you're sitting beside on a long flight might spout blatherskite the whole time, or you might gradually realize a political speech is nothing but blatherskite. In both cases, the words don't really mean much, and there are far too many of them. Blatherskite became US slang in the early 19th century from bletherskate, or "foolish fellow," featured in the Scottish song "Maggie Lauder," which was popular with Continental soldiers during the American Revolution.

Example Sentences

But they weren’t all feckless boobies, as the Blatherskite proved.

From Washington Post • Sep. 23, 2021

Blatherskite Coleman Blease had been elected South Carolina's Democratic Senator, in itself funny; and his soap-box campaign oratory had unseated Blatherskite Senator Nathaniel Barksdale Dial then in office.

From Time Magazine Archive

My poor horse, ugly, raw-boned, starved, but faithful "Blatherskite," was it in wretched premonition of your fate, I wonder, that you added your equine groan to the human chorus?

From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by King, Charles

He'd be readin' away in his Morgen Blatherskite, and all of a sudden he'd jump out of his chair.

From The House of Torchy by Brown, Arthur William