<P> According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "Chew the fat" first appeared in 1885 in a book by J Brunlees Patterson called Life in the Ranks of the British Army in India . He implied it was a kind of general grumbling and bending of the ears of junior officers to stave off boredom, a typical part of army life . Patterson also uses "chew the rag" in the same sentence he used "chew the fat", but it is not the oldest occurrence . Prior to the adoption of metallic cartridges, most ammunition was composed of powder and a ball wrapped in paper or cloth soaked in animal fat, which was bitten open during musket drill . Soldiers were known to chew on these ends to pass the time and reduce nerves, and in some cases to stave off cravings for chewing tobacco . Though long - since replaced by 1885, the idea of biting or chewing on fat - soaked rag ends may well have entered military parlance in this fashion prior to Patterson's recording . </P> <P> Appearing first in print from 1875 in "Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang", the excerpt reads: </P> <P> "Gents, I could chew the rag hours on end, just spilling out the words and never know no more than a billy - goat what I'd been saying ." </P> <P> There is speculation this phrase relates to cloth, when ladies would work in "sewing circles", or that women may have gossiped while quilting . </P>

Where did the expression chewing the fat come from