English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
CHAT UP or CHAT TO?
I will chat up my boss to tell him I can’t come to work (nonstandard).
I will chat to my boss to tell him I can’t come to work (standard).
I will chat with my boss to tell him I can’t come to work (standard).
Note: If you chat someone up, usually someone you do not know very well, you talk to them in a friendly way because you are sexually attracted to them but to chat to is to talk in a friendly or informal way.
So be sure of what you’re doing when next you chat people up!
GAB
1 Comment
Good morning, all.
From what I have just seen in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary ( New 9th Edition), “chat up” seems to have various meaning which includes the listed ones for this topic. But I haven’t seen any reference to “chat to” and the meaning attached to it.
I would love to be clarified, thanks a lot.