mercurydancer 1,104 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 I am involved in a somewhat enjoyable thread on another website, and the main thread is about military words. One word that came up was chatty, meaning dirty or infested with lice. I mentioned that it meant something in Nottingham language too. There are many references to it being used in WW1 for someone having lice. I think it precedes that by about 100 years, and was possibly back in the Waterloo era. As usual, I throw this to the experts on all things Nottingham. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,534 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 Many years ago I worked with a guy who had "chats" lice or was reputed to have them and everyone knew him as Chatty head,eventually shortened to Tatty head Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,267 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 I don't know why I think this, mercury dancer, but I wonder if this term is of Indian derivation . My grandmother's cousin often used it to refer to something that had seen better days and her step father, Arthur, had served with the army in India. Her vocabulary included a number of terms he had obviously brought back with him. I could be entirely wrong but it sprang to mind when I read your post. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TBI 2,351 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 No idea of it's origins but my mam and dad habitually used it to describe something really mucky. I used to get 'you scrub those knees, neck or tabs (etc), they look chatty'. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 ^^^^^^My parents were exactly the same 'chatty' meant extremely dirty. Some say it's origin is in navel slang, however a pot used for cooling water is a Cha'ty in Tamil. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
annswabey 599 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 My parents said chatty too, meaning dirty, and I still say it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,594 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 I've only ever used the word 'chatty' to mean 'likes to talk a lot' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 Chatty is not a word used by my parents; though I have always known of it, so I think I must have heard it said while growing up. I don't use the expression, only in joke, but as far as I know it means mucky. I prefer the good ode fashioned Nottm word.....Detteh. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gem 1,430 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 To say chatty in the north east means cheap and nasty. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,674 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 I've mentioned this before but my Carlton-born mum , used the word "grootled" for anything that was filthy dirty . No one else ever seems to have heard it , though I still use it . Her mother was from the Skeggy area so it may have come from there . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 A good word David; I just googled it and had no luck. Perhaps as you say, local to Skeggy. I'm going there for two weeks in September, so I'll be careful who i'm looking at if I feel the urge to say it? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 I've always used chatty in reference to something grubby, disheveled or scruffy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BilboroughShirley 1,120 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 Reading this thread reminded me of this use of the word chatty. My mum used chatty meaning something that was dirty. I had forgotten about this! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crankypig 457 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 My grandma used to say 'have yo got chats' if she caught you scratching your head,she meant nits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
letsavagoo 956 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 In letters my grandfather wrote home from the front in WW1 he makes mention of chats, soldiers slang for body lice. He spent Christmas Day 1917 picking chats off himself. I'm Nottingham born and bread and certainly used the word chatty to describe something worn out or dirty as chatty or grotty. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 I am quite willing to believe that the expression 'chat' was brought back from the front in WW1. The word in French means 'cat', but it also means ' dainty little creature', which could well be soldier's humour - they had to have a laugh about something! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,674 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Part of an article from the Arbroath Herald 1918 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
broxtowelad 175 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 I only ever heard the word "chatty" used when referring to someone or something being mucky and in need of a good wash. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,893 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 We had a local " chatty" person who always smelled awful. My brother in law served him in the bar one morning and asked him if the smell he was wearing was the same smell he wore last year. Gave the locals something to think about Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mercurydancer 1,104 Posted January 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Thank you all for the replies. Its much more interesting a word than I first thought. For Gem - the word in this context, as a cheap possession, originates from chattel, which means possession, bot over time referred to the possessions of poor people. Jill Sparrow - I can understand this - many India words are similar, char meaning to wash, or chai for tea and chit for a small piece of paper. It seems that the English took the word to India back in the 1850s where it was misunderstood by the India servants as by that time the word had two very distinct meanings. One for louse and one for talking. Earliest reference to chat is chateren in about 1220. Its certainly old english and means to talk with people. Often with no great intention other than to talk. Its in one of the York mystery plays. "Thoughe I shulde all day tell Or chat with my ryme dogrell" By Cromwell's time a chat was certainly a louse or flea. Nelsons Navy and Wellington's army certainly used the ward chat for a small biting insect or louse. I suspect that the massive enlistments of WW1 made the word more widespread. The lice too for that matter. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,217 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Isn't there also a bird called a Chat? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 There's a stone chat I believe. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Alan Carr Chatty man? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Alan Carr.... Immensely irritating little oik ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mess 609 Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Along with Jimmy Carr, Graham Norton, Johnathon Woss, Boy George, Jo Brand and the most obnoxious turd to walk the planet Russell Brand (they've got to be related somehow) Come the revolution these excuses for celebs/stars would be the first against the wall. I'm just an old fart now but went to bed a happy man after watching Tommy Cooper last night. He would surely have had a knighthood by now had he lived. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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