the.com/patter
The verbal sleight-of-hand that keeps your eyes off the trick and on the talk.
means Rapid, fluent, often rehearsed talk — especially the smooth running speech of a salesman, magician, or comedian designed to engage and distract.
from From the verb 'patter' meaning to speak rapidly, which comes from 'Paternoster' — the Latin name for the Lord's Prayer. The connection: clergy and worshippers reciting prayers fast and by rote made a mechanical, gabbling sound, so 'patter' came to mean glib, hurried speech. (The other 'patter' — the light tapping of rain or feet — is a separate word, imitative of the sound, and a likely cousin of 'pat.')
- holy roots
- From Latin 'paternoster,' prayers muttered fast and rote
- con artist tool
- Hustlers' chatter built to misdirect and disarm marks
- weather sense
- Also the soft drumbeat of rain on rooftops
- comedy weapon
- Rapid patter songs cram tongue-twisting lyrics at impossible speed
patter song — gilbert and sullivan's theatrical technique, popularized in the mikado (1885), with rapid-fire rhyming lyrics sung at breakneck speed
patter merchants — street vendors and market traders in london's east end, historically known for their rhythmic sales pitches and rapid-fire banter