Palavering About Palaver

Palaver means:

• Noun
  • Flattery intended to persuade
  • Loud and confused and empty talk
• Verb
  • Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
  • Influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
  • Have a lengthy discussion, usually between people of different backgrounds
  (Princeton's WordNet)

Some of the words and phrases WordNet uses as examples of a palaver or of palavering are

• Blab
• Blabber
• Blandishment
• Blarney
• Cajole
• Cajolery
• Chatter
• Clack
• Coax
• Empty words
• Empty talk
• Gabble
• Gibber
• Hot air
• Inveigle
• Maunder
• Piffle
• Prate
• Prattle
• Rhetoric
• Sweet-talk
• Tattle
• Tittle-tattle
• Twaddle
• Wheedle

All of which have little if anything to do with parsley. Which is another topic.

Not-completely-unrelated links:

• "What's With 'Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo.' "
  (April 7, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: a Recovering English Teacher and the Dean's Spellchecker"
  (January 12, 2011)
• "Intermittent Alliteration: Interested?"
  (January 8, 2011)
• "Zanzibar, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Words"
  (October 25, 2010)
• ""Rattle" is Akin to Middle Dutch Ratel"
  (October 18, 2010)