Roots
Idle talk

To begin with, the word ‘gossip’ had no negative undertone. Today it does refer to any casual, unrestrained or defamatory irresponsible talk but its origins were more respectable. ‘Gossip’ owes its origin to the old English ‘godsibb’ that meant ‘a godparent, i.e., a person related to one in God’.

Middle English had modified it to ‘a close friend or one with whom you may gossip’. From here, the sense jumped onto ‘one who gossips’, later leading on to ‘idle talk’, in today’s sense of ‘gossip’.

‘Innuendo’ refers to ‘an allusive or oblique remark or hint, especially one that is suggestive or disparaging’. It was ‘borrowed’ from French in the sixteenth century and was used in legal documents to introduce an explanation in the sense of ‘that is to say’. As a noun, it came into use around the seventeenth century. Its original form in Latin is innuere, which means ‘by nodding at or pointing to’.

Caught in a tight spot, one often ad-libs. Ad libitum is the full form of the word and it belongs to Latin, where it means ‘according to pleasure’. Today, it is used as a verb for speaking or performing without preparation.

As a noun, it refers to any speech or performance that takes place like this. As an adverb or adjective, it can be used in the same sense along with the sense of anything used or demanded ‘as often and as much as desired’.

A rejoinder is a sharp reply or retort in daily life and, in law, the defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s reply. The etymology explains the context very clearly as, in its language of origin, ‘rejoinder’ comes from the French rejoinder, which means ‘to rejoin’. So, clearly, a rejoinder would act as a connector for a conversation or argument.

A bon mot is a witty remark. The word ‘bon mot’ comes from French, where it means ‘a good word’. A humorous or witty conversation can be labelled ‘badinage’, taking its cue from the original French word badiner or ‘to joke’, which comes from the French badin or ‘fool’.