The Word Chate

The word chate according to the website www.urbandictionary.com is defined as, “It can be describing a shitty(bad) situation in the maximum and minimum degree. A situation being a person, place, thing or event.” An example of the use of this word in a sentence is, “That guy chated me on my change.” Chate is a word that was coined after a teenager with the last name “Chater” in Oakville, Ontario. This word is a perfect example of the term “regionalisms,” which is defined as “terms that are understood by people who live in one geographic area but that are incomprehensible to outsiders.” (Ronald B. Adler, Understanding Human Communication)

I grew up in Oakville and this word has been in my vocabulary for many years. We used it in daily conversations there and everyone knew what it meant. When I came to McMaster this year I still used it in conversations, but people had no idea what I was saying to them and would often ask what it meant. When talking to people I wouldn’t realize that they wouldn’t know what it meant, because it was so embedded into my vocabulary. I even forget that it isn’t a real world per say, although I don’t doubt it could become a word soon.

The word chate is a great example of how words can be created and understood in one place, and in another place it could mean nothing, or something completely different. There are several other good examples in the course text book such as “Rapsters knowing the bling bling means jewelry and whip is a nice-looking car.” (Ronald B. Adler, Understanding Human Communication)