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Origin and history of yatter

yatter(v.)

"talk idly and incessantly," 1825, colloquial, imitative (compare yadda-yadda, natter, etc.). Related: Yattered; yattering. As a noun by 1827.

Entries linking to yatter

"grumble, chatter aimlessly, nag," 1829, northern England dialect variant of gnatter "to chatter, grumble," earlier (18c.) "to nibble away," probably of echoic origin. Related: Nattered; nattering. As a noun, 1866, from the verb.

In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club — the ‘hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.' [U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew (in reference to the media), address to the California Republican state convention, Sept. 11, 1970 (the speech was written by then-White House speechwriter William Safire)]

"and so on," 1990s, of echoic origin (compare yatata "talk idly, chatter," 1940s; and yatter "to talk incessantly or idly," by 1825).

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