The present participle of bandy; exchanging or tossing something back and forth, or discussing something in a casual way.
From bandy (to throw back and forth), possibly from Old French bander (to exchange), originally used in real tennis. Evolved to mean casual discussion or exchange of ideas.
When people 'bandy about' an idea, they're literally using the same word tennis players did centuries ago when they'd hit the ball back and forth—the vocabulary of sport became the vocabulary of conversation.
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