English

Noun

happy talk ‎(uncountable)

1. (set phrase, hyphenated when used attributively) Lighthearted, pleasant conversation; upbeat banter; optimistic remarks.
   • 1888, G. A. Henty, In The Reign Of Terror, ch. 15:

     Dr. Sandwith soon afterwards ran out to the excited chattering group in the garden, and after a few minutes' happy talk with him, Harry spoke to him of the visitors.

   • 1992 Feb. 17, Maureen Dowd, "The 1992 Campaign," New York Times (retrieved 5 Aug 2014):

     "Maybe the public is waking up and getting skeptical about simple public relations, effortless, happy-talk rhetoric," he said.

   • 1993 June 27, "Commentary: Suddenly, The Rah Rah President," Businessweek (retrieved 5 Aug 2014):

     Clinton's upbeat tone marked his passage from econo-pessimist to cheerleader. Some observers give new mediameister David R. Gergen, who learned happy talk at the knee of Ronald Reagan, credit for the shift.

   • 2007 June 28, Holly Bailey, "To Be Perfectly Honest . . .," Newsweek (retrieved 5 Aug 2014):

     "Now have there been missteps? Of course." Among them, he admits, Dick Cheney's happy talk about the insurgency in Iraq being in its "last throes."

   • 2010 July 29, Michael Grunwald, "The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?," Time (retrieved 5 Aug 2014):

     Even BP fall guy Tony Hayward, after some early happy talk, admitted that the spill was an "environmental catastrophe."

Usage notes

• Now often used to refer to cheerful, inoffensive verbal exchanges between hosts or reporters during segues between segments of radio or television reports of news, weather, etc, as in:

2007 Feb. 8, Patricia Sullivan, "Frank N. Magid dies at 78, created news anchor "happy talk"," Washington Post (retrieved 5 Aug 2014):

"Action News" and its rival, "Eyewitness News," demonstrated both the untapped possibilities of the medium and the opportunity to devolve into "happy talk" between serious segments.

See also

• small talk
• spin (noun)

References

• happy talk at OneLook Dictionary Search