gossiped while quilting. Shared use They first appeared synonymously as early as 1885, in J. Brunlees Patterson's "Life in the ranks of the British army in India and on board a troopship", which listed the terms in succession: It was used as a way to describe complaining or grumbling, typically by the military. Modern usage It was not until 1907 the phrase "chew the fat" was used to express partaking in idle conversation, for a friendly talk, or a gossip session. It has also been used as a way to define telling tall tales. In ham radio, extended conversation, as opposed to just exchanging basic information (name, location, equipment), is called "ragchewing". Chewin' the Fat was the title of a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Chewin' the Fat first started as a radio series on BBC Radio Scotland. Chew-The-Fat.com is a UK-based website (now moved to chew-the-fat.org.uk) hosting a web forum, described as "The chat forum your mother warned you about", devoted to chat, gossip, and humorous banter and cartoons. Chew The Fat is a food and travel podcast, presented and produced by GastroGays (Russell Alford and Patrick Hanlon), which focuses on food personalities and producers across Ireland and the UK, including Nigella Lawson, Donal Skehan and Niamh Kavanagh. Email hoax In 1999, a widespread hoax called "Life in the 1500s", false information was circulated through email regarding "chew the fat". Among offering explanations for many phrases, the email stated: Notably, Karl Pilkington propagated this story during episode eight of the second series of The Ricky Gervais Show on XFM London. The false email spurred a reexamination of popularly sourced etymologies of many folk phrases and idioms. Although it has been widely accepted as accurate, this misinformation has since been dispelled. References Human communication English phrases Internet hoaxes 1999 hoaxes Metaphors referring to food and drink