"There is no English equivalent for causerie, which is something less formal, continuous, and pretentious than 'conversation,' something more intellectual, refined, and cultivated than 'talk.' An earnest preoccupied man may converse: an over-excited or coarse-minded man may talk; but neither the one nor the other can causer in the precise French acceptation of the word. Boswell says, 'Though his (Johnson's) usual phrase for conversation was 'talk,' yet he made a distinction; for when he once told me that he dined the day before at a friend's house, with 'a very pretty company,' and I asked him if there was good conversation, he answered, 'No, sir, we had 'talk' but no conversation; there was nothing discussed.' On another occasion, however, when he said there had been good 'talk,' Boswell rejoined, 'Yes, sir, you tossed and gored several persons.' Positiveness, loudness, love of argument and eagerness for display, are fatal to causerie; which we take to consist in the easy, careless, unforced flow of remarks, fancies, feelings, or thoughts, – the results of reading, observation, or reflection [...] In Strictness, therefore, perhaps the title of causeries should only be given to such a book as we should call 'Table-Talk'." — Hayward, Abraham (1873). "Varieties of History and Art." In: Biographical and Critical Essays, Vol., II. London: Longmans, Green & Co., pp. 1–2.
