happy talk

noun

Updated on: 17 Mar 2018

Definition of happy talk

1 : informal talk among the participants in a television news broadcast; also : a broadcast format featuring such talk

2 : optimistic talk

Recent Examples of happy talk from the Web

More happy talk came from city Finance Director Rob Dubow.

— stu bykofsky, Philly.com, "Kenney in Wonderland defines failure as success | Stu Bykofsky," 5 Mar. 2018
Expect, for example, more happy talk about China’s commitment toward dealing with climate change, even though the U.S. has consistently mischaracterized what Beijing has committed to.

— bill powell, Newsweek, "Clash of the Superpowers: Xi Jinping Comes to America," 21 Sep. 2015
But let's not get distracted by all the post-mortem happy talk from the same leaders who repeated assured us that their secret bid was strong and competitive.

— mark naymik, cleveland.com, "We may never know how good - or bad -- Cleveland's Amazon bid is: Mark Naymik," 18 Jan. 2018
For Democrats, the happy talk will mostly be about this year being the harbinger of an extremely successful midterm election.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Exactly How High Could That 2018 Democratic Wave Rise?," 22 Dec. 2017
Some Trump advisers dismiss Cobb's predictions that the Mueller probe is nearing its conclusions as misleading happy talk, but the president has internalized it as reality.

— philip rucker, chicagotribune.com, "Inside Trump's legal team: Trying to protect the president from Mueller's 'killers'," 13 Dec. 2017
The Knicks — despite the happy talk from Beasley and Jarrett Jack Tuesday — still figure to be far from a contender.

— steve popper, USA TODAY, "Knicks' Carmelo Anthony remains elephant in the Garden," 20 Sep. 2017
That the will appears to exist justifies Tuesday’s happy talk.

— jim newell, Slate Magazine, "The Senate Hasn’t Given Up on Trumpcare Yet," 6 June 2017
Major unions see a plot to strip away labor protections with happy talk of government support that will never materialize.

— peter s. goodman, New York Times, "Nordic-Style Designs Sit at Heart of French Labor Plan," 26 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'happy talk.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of happy talk

1971

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