chew the fat

Idioms  

1. Also, chew the rag. Chat in a friendly, leisurely way, as in Let's get together for coffee and chew the fat, or John and Dave spend hours just chewing the rag. Before the 1880s in Britain, chew the fat meant “to grumble or complain,” and chew the rag also has been used in this way. Today both expressions are largely synonyms for a friendly talk or gossip session. Why this idiom uses fat and rag is not known, but some speculate that fat refers to juicy items of gossip and rag to ladies' sewing circles and the cloth they worked on while chatting.

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Example Sentences

"It has been really good to chew the fat on what happened and really get a grasp of what we need to do and what needs to change," Sleightholme told BBC Sport.

From BBC • Nov. 11, 2024

Some lucky ones even got to chew the fat at the sixth MLB Little League Classic with big leaguers such as Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper and Washington’s Joey Meneses.

From Washington Times • Aug. 20, 2023

The field is young and many projects are still in their infancy; humanity is not on the verge of having a Rosetta Stone for whale songs or the ability to chew the fat with cats.

From New York Times • Aug. 30, 2022

“Night of the Living Dead” They’ll be stopping by to chew the fat in George A. Romero’s 1968 terror tale, the OG zombie thriller.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 15, 2021

“We did. And I wish I had time to chew the fat again, but my brother and I are going out to buy a typewriter.”

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• answer
• bicker
• consider
• contest
• deliberate
• oppose
• question
• wrangle