前兩天下班和一個好久不見的外國朋友吃飯，席間她和我說：We haven't seen each other for a long time, I'd love to chew the fat with you tonight. 聽到這句話我真的是震驚了！我們好久不見，為什么要跟我chew the fat?！吃肥肉？心想：你明知道我最近在減肥，為什么要我大半夜的陪你一起吃肥肉！？

之后我才明白，原來chew the fat真的不是吃肥肉！而是“聊天，閑談”的意思，比如你想約一個朋友出來聊聊天，就可以說，Why don't we have a coffee and chew the fat for a while?不如我們出來喝喝咖啡聊聊天？那么說到這里，“聊天，閑聊”還可以如何表達呢？

Chat 聊天

I just had a chat with Benny.
我剛剛在和Benny聊天。

Chitchat 閑聊

Everyone's hands are full recently, we don't even have time for chitchat.
大家最近都很忙，連聊天的時間都沒有。

Small talk 閑談

Making small talk is an art that can be learned.
閑談是一門值得學習的藝術。

Gossip 八卦，說閑話

Sarah always talks gossip, no one likes her.
Sarah特別喜歡八卦別人，沒人喜歡她。

Shoot the breeze 閑扯

It was raining so hard last night I just stayed in the dorm and shot the breeze with a couple of friends.
昨晚雨下得很大，所以我就待在宿舍里和幾個朋友閑扯來著。

（來源：華爾街英語  編輯：Julie）