British Word of the Day: Chunter

May 10th, 2006

Chunter

Dame Judi Dench has contributed today's British word of they, via the sitcom As Time Goes By. The boxed DVD set arrived today and so I'm on a bit of a bender. It seemed nothing could stop me from watching more of my new favorite sitcom. Nonetheless, as soon as I heard Jean scoff at Lionel, "What are you chuntering on about?" I paused the DVD player excitedly and went to look the word up.

Wordwebonline defines it as making "complaining remarks or noises under one's breath  - murmur, mutter, grumble, croak, gnarl." It suggests that it might be synonymous with kvetch, but I think that has a different feel entirely. At any rate, I can think of a number of times when I've needed this precise word and did not know it, so it's a permanent addition to my vocabulary.

Remember, spread the word! Don't let Americans keep language boring.

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