Words: blather, n. and v.

WHY DO newspapers assume readers are interested by launch parties, wherever they might be held? I have just caught up with the new magazine Talk: it might improve but, for now, the title should be Blather.

Its contending origins suggest that chat ran from Finland to Rome. From the Latin blaterare came blatter, hence blather, current since the early 19th century; also, perhaps, a variant of blether, from an Old Norse noun for nonsense. For a time, blither was synonymous but is now an intensifer: a blithering idiot need not be vocal.

While blather is the southern and American usage, blether obtains in the North and Scotland, where blather can mean bladder: a fine name for a rag-mag.