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.

---

Example Sentences

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

We were just chewing the fat one day, and he said, “Every sport has to be some mix of art and war.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s the middle of the last ice age and you are in the cave on a cold winter’s night chewing the fat, and I don’t mean gossiping.

From Seattle Times

“Being surrounded by artists means I have people to chew the fat with: Brexit, who saw Fleabag last night, that sort of thing,” he says.

From The Guardian

I'd like to go out and drink a few vodka martinis and chew the fat, and hear some of her wilder stories.

From Salon

Related Words

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