Skip to main content

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

9
  • 14
    Funny, we Americans associate it with the old West and cowboys jawing around the campfire. Stephen King made extensive use of it in his gunslinger series.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented May 29, 2015 at 10:42
  • 18
    In my experience (UK) it's used not strictly for arguments, but general disorderly, heated situations of fuss, confusion, bother, people getting irritable, etc. Usually lots of talk and no action, and confused non-agreement rather than direct disagreement. For example "There was some palaver at check in because we'd been given the wrong type of tickets, but we got it sorted out in the end". I don't think I've ever seen it written down before, only spoken, it's a bit colloquial. Didn't know about the colonial history... ugghhhhh... damn history! Commented May 29, 2015 at 11:39
  • 3
    its use amongst younger people is dying out - I consider myself quite young at 24, and I use the word. Though I would only use it to mean argument / disorderly situation. I had a bit of fun trying to explain this word to a Frenchman recently using similar words like raucous, hullabaloo and kerfuffle. Commented May 29, 2015 at 15:21
  • 3
    @Dan Bron Came here specifically to comment about Stephen King's usage in The Dark Tower as well!
    – Kik
    Commented May 29, 2015 at 17:53
  • 1
    I would not use palaver to mean an argument, but rather a fuss or a bother, similar to the example given in @user568458's comment. Commented May 30, 2015 at 22:45