What does palaver mean?

wondrous memeWelcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday!  Ready to learn something new?  Visit Kathy at Bermudaonion.net for links to more interesting words.

My word comes from a fun piece of kid lit called The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd. (By the way, if anyone can help me pronounce the author’s first name, I’d really appreciate it.)  In it Ted and his sister Kat must solve the mystery of their cousin’s disappearance.

Early on in the search for clues, Ted finds his cousin’s camera:

‘I wish it was digital like Dad’s,’ [Kat] said. ‘Then we’d be able to see the pictures now.  With this old-fashioned kind, you’ve to open it somehow.’  She shook the camera and shrugged…  ‘You get the film out and take it to the camera shop to have it developed.  It costs money and you have to wait.  What a bloody palaver.’

London Eye MysteryFirst, I have to chuckle at the phrase “old-fashioned kind.”  I still have film lying around my house!  Next, what’s a palaver?

palaver \pə-‘lav-ər\ noun, from Latin parabola, parable, speech

  1. A long parley usually between two people of different levels of sophistication; a conference or discussion
  2. Idle talk; misleading speech

Neither one of these fits the context exactly; I guess Kat means that because they can’t see the pictures inside, the camera was a misleading clue, at least until they can get photos developed.

Word Nerd Workout

Think of another word for palaver using the definitions above.  My example is one of my previous word nerd words: confabulation

Good luck!  Also, any Spanish students out there?  Did you notice the Latin basis for palaver can also explain the Spanish word palabra?  (It means “word”!)

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Julia 

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

14 Comments

  1. I always used “palaver” to mean a long, pointless conversation. But I had a British roommate who used it when she had to go to a lot of trouble do something (like getting film developed). “I was out of tape so I went to the store and they were out of it, so I had to go to another store…what a palaver.”

  2. Never heard this one either! You’re slowly building up my vocal, Julia. 😉

    And I posted on podcasts and audio today, btw! Thankies for the suggestion!

  3. I always used palaver like ‘disaster’ or ‘silly mess’. It seems to have come off track from it’s dictionary meaning – I would never have given it those definitions. It must be a cultural derivative. The books use id how I know it. Maybe it’s a Brit/Aussie thing in that context?? Very interesting. Thanks!!

    1. Thanks for sharing- your definition fits Kat’s usage well. “What a mess!” A good example of how colloquial use can differ from the dictionary, and how meanings differ across countries/ languages. I got my definitions from the American Webster’s dictionary…

  4. Thank you for letting me know what “palaver” means. Now I can say it instead of “blah, blah, blah” and sound so much more sophisticated. I should’ve known through the Spanish association…

  5. In the “olden days” we use to use palaver when we meant someone was talking without saying anything. In today’s lingo we would say, “just a bunch of blah, blah, blah.”

  6. Funny you mention the name Siobhan… that was one of the difficult-to-pronounce Irish names that my husband wanted to name our baby!

  7. Siobhan is Irish and it’s pronounced shuh-vahn. Our Irish neighbor comes in handy. 🙂 I still have my old film camera but never use it anymore.

    I got caught up in aimless palaver with one of our neighbors when I walked the other day.

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