Patter

The Word of the Day for October 7 is "patter."

patter: (noun)

1. the glib, rapid speech of comedians or salesmen.
2. chatter
3. the jargon of a particular group

Synonyms: line of gab, spiel

Usage: The automobile salesman spoke about the old car so approvingly and at such length that the customers soon began to grow tired of his patter.

Relevance to my life: Jack and Victor's merciless, rude and rapid-fire attacks on the bartender's lame attempt at patter leave me in stitches: in a battle of wits, Boaby the barman is completely unarmed against the two crotchety old bastards. I haven't stopped laughing since I was turned on to Still Game*.

What it is NOT: "pater" as in Pater Familias, or Head of the Household -
In O Brother, Where Art Thou, after the fateful encounter with his ex-wife Penny and her fiance, Vernon T. Waldrip, that got him banned from the Woolworth, the wayward Ulysses Everett McGill is sitting in a movie theater with Delmar O'Donnell discussing his grievances with women:

Everett: Believe me, Delmar, a woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man.

Delmar: Everett, I never figured you for a pater familias.

Everett: Oh-ho-ho-ho yes. I have spread my seed.

I love that movie.

*See video below for an example of Jack and Victor versus Boaby the Barman: