Whiteisms
The Archive

Etymology Journal ยท S

Shoot the breeze

Meaning

To have a casual, aimless conversation. It is the act of chatting without any specific agenda or seriousness.

Relaxed, friendly

Used in a sentence

  • We spent the afternoon on the porch just shooting the breeze.
  • I popped by his office to shoot the breeze for a few minutes.
  • There was no work to do, so we just shot the breeze in the breakroom.

The backstory

This appeared in the early 20th century. The implication is that you are literally talking into the wind or shooting at it, suggesting the words hold little weight.

Heard in

Nationwide

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