Is the word "palaver" in common use anywhere in the English-speaking world?

Question

In a sci-fi movie from 1957, an astronaut says he's "going to palaver" with the cave-dwelling natives. I'd never heard the word before, but my husband—a history buff—knew it by its original meaning: a conference between a 'civilized' person (or persons) and folks from a more primitive culture. Supposedly, it has disintegrated colloquially to mean something like "meaningless blather" (probably because of the way it sounds) but when I checked that Ngram thingy, it looked as though its main use in writing is in its original sense—ironically, or not.

Is "palaver" still in use? (If so, in what part of the world is it used?) In what sense is it used?

Answer 1

This is basically lifted from the German Wikipedia entry -- the term is not that uncommon in German, though with negative connotations.

---

The word has its origins in Greek (παραβολή), and from there was adapted by Latin (parabola), Portuguese (palavra), and eventually, English.

The general meaning is "idle talk".

In many African cultures, this is considered good manners -- you get to know the other person before you start talking about the subject that really got you together.

The meaning your husband associated with the term is probably the way the Portuguese used it when trading with African people. I doubt the African people considering it good manners to this day would agree with his interpretation that it's a talk between a civilized and a savage, though.

• The African palaver tradition and the western postmodern consensus: convergences and divergences
• Etymonline

Answer 2

Yes, I use it and so do many people that I know.

Nowadays it usually comes in the idiom A bit of a palaver, which refers to an argument. Usually an argument involving more than two people.

I suspect that nowadays its use amongst younger people is dying out but it is used by my fellow Britons in our decrepitude.

Answer 3

This is a very commonly used word in the West of Scotland (Glasgow etc.). We use to mean a disturbance - usually about something inconsequential. So you might say, "there was a big palaver on the bus when the inspector came on and some guy couldn't find his ticket".

It is marginally colloquial (I don't think a police officer would use it in court, "we were summoned to a palaver in Sauchihall St." - no...). Scottish colloquial synonyms would be stushie or stramash. In England, maybe to-do or carry-on.

Answer 4

Palaver is mildly pejorative. It's often used to mean idle chat that's leading nowhere, too much talk and not enough action; sometimes it refers to talk that is intended to distract attention from the issue at hand.

I hear it used now and then, as a noun.

The ngram.

Here's my planetary location on the Dictionary of American Regional English map (they don't draw too good):

Answer 5

It's basically used to describe an informal chat. Depending on your intonation, you could be stressing the irrelevance of the topic of discussion (e.g. when something more important should've been addressed, or you found the topic of discussion a waste of time), or you could be stressing you just talked for hours on end with a friend.

It's not just an English word. Although I'm not sure if it's a word in proper Dutch, my regional dialect (Antwerp, Belgium) does contain it. While we use it as a verb as well, it's mostly used in my Dutch dialect as a noun.

Answer 6

Here in Texas, it is occasionally used in the sense of a sit-down type discussion, possibly a negotiation. e.g. "I went and had a little palaver with Joe about coming to work for his store." It doesn't have any negative connotations, except to denote it's not like, friends just talking with each other, there's an implication of there being some distance without making it all sound formal and highfalutin' like "conference" or "negotiation."'

Answer 7

I am from Australia (I live in Melbourne but grew up in Sydney with a Scottish father, which probably matters in this context). I use the word, usually in the phrase " a bit of a palaver ", in a mildly derogatory sense. It indicates a noisy argument or dispute, probably with a few people, but could be just 2 people. The word would indicate that I thought dispute was of little consequence.

Answer 8

Palaver: aye thats common in the west of Scotland. Around the same places as you would hear footer and knacker. "What a palaver" - what a fuss. Usually but not always referring to a needless fuss. Eat you peas, dont make a palaver our of them.

Answer 9

Palaver has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, both as a noun and a verb.

Its etymology is given as follows:

Etymology: Probably via early West African Pidgin < Portuguese palavra word, speech, talk (13th cent.) < classical Latin parabola parable n. Compare Spanish palabra (1207), French palabre grandiloquent speech (1604). With the sense development compare word n. 9. Compare earlier parol n., palabra n. This word appears to have been used by Portuguese traders on the west coast of Africa for conversing with the local inhabitants (compare quot. 1735 at sense 4), to have been picked up there by English sailors (compare quot. 1771 at sense 4), and to have passed from nautical slang into colloquial use. Compare fetish n.

Several of the noun senses concern idle talk etc, as has been described by responders here.

However the use with which I have been familiar all my life, and that in which I and others (perhaps older people) use it today is OED sense 3.

3. colloquial. Chiefly British. A fuss, a commotion; a tedious or unnecessarily drawn-out process, a rigmarole.

1878 Catholic World June 298/2 A thousand hermits have lived before Thoreau, and made no palaver over their social discomforts.

1892 J. Lumsden Sheep-head 199 Both he and the little boy perished. Much fuss and palaver at the time were made about it in the public prints.

1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love xii. 149 She hated the palaver Hermione made... She wanted anything but this fuss and business.

1947 H. W. Pryde First Bk. McFlannels v. 50 Inside ma collar's the only place fur the thing [sc. a table napkin]. Ach, it's nothin' but a palaver onywey.

1967 P. Bailey At the Jerusalem iii. 154 What a palaver there was before the coach left! Chattering away, rushing around.

1987 D. Adams Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency viii. 53 He went through a palaver similar to his previous one with his coat and hat.

Answer 10

In Southern Nigeria, the word 'palaver' is used quite often; although with a very distinct Nigerian pronunciation and in the context of local colloquialisms.

In Nigeria (where many old english words float around as vestiges from the former British Empire), 'palaver' means an argument or a situational problem. It is often used in phrases such as, "what's all the palaver?" or "no palaver," meaning "what's all the commotion?" or "no problem" respectively.

Ex. (a) "I heard you two shouting and hurling insults at each other all the way from the corridor. What's all the palaver?"

Ex. (b) "Have you spoken to Tunde about the spreadsheets? You haven't? No palaver, he'll be here soon and you can talk to him then."

Answer 11

I'm from Chicago, since you ask, but have lived all over the US. I've never had occasion to use it myself, but I've seen it a lot in writing, particularly in the work of nineteenth century English explorer Richard Francis Burton.

As someone has mentioned, it is rather pejorative, has racist overtones, and in almost every use I've seen, is used to describe negotiations with, or between, the "natives", whether of Africa, or elsewhere. In short, very much like the usage you came across.

If you look at the OED entry, it's first attested in 1735, and sense 1. is: "A talk, parley, conference, discussion: chiefly applied to conferences, with much talk, between African or other tribespeople, and traders or travelers."

You can see why it's not used as much today, except in the sense of useless talk. It's possible the original meaning has been lost to most people.

Answer 12

In Finnish palaveri, not very surprisingly derived from the English palaver, is widely used as a somewhat informal synonym for a meeting, and I believe the Danish have derivation of it too.

I personally notice from time to time palaver being used to describe a prolonged discussion by some Scandinavian people when they discuss in English, likely because of the familiar derived word in their mother tongue.

Answer 13

The only place I have ever seen that word used in the wild (before this question) is in Prime Palaver, a series of published correspondence and essays from Eric Flint, in his capacity as "librarian" of the Baen Free Library.

So yes, somebody uses it. Eric Flint uses it. As for biographical info, I believe he grew up in California, but has lived the last few decades in Chicago.

Answer 14

In Danish, 'palaver' officially means

confused, incoherent and frequently loud discussion, negotiaion or similar.

As a sub-meaning is included a more informal, festive setting - which is the way I've come to know the word used in Danish. (Although it is very infrequently used these days.)

Answer 15

Palaver was used in the old American west as a term for the food eaten on the cattle drives and ranches. My father mentioned his great grandfather using it in the 1930's-1940's in Nebraska.