prang

Quite unrelated, also the name of "the Reverend Paul Peter Prang, of Persepolis, Indiana, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church ... His weekly radio address, at 2 P.M. every Saturday, was to millions the very oracle of God. So supernatural was this voice from the air that for it men delayed their golf, and women even postponed their Saturday afternoon contract bridge." -- It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis

Haha! I remember that, skipvia! "Bunch of monkeys on the ceiling, sir! Grab your egg-and-fours and let's get the bacon delivered!" Thanks for finding the reference.

Wikipedia has a few relevant articles, but I've primarily heard it as a phatic interjection.

Banter's not the same when you say it slower, Squiffy.

What-ho, Squiffy!

Ha! Oh, that's lovely!

"Something up with my banter, chaps?"

It's from a Monty Python sketch, and you probably shouldn't be surprised that you didn't understand it--none of the characters in the sketch understood it either. Rather than trying to explain any more, I'll let you read it yourself.

And confused, I have no idea what that means.

.... wow .... *impressed*

Also as in "Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how's-your-father. Hairy blighter dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie."

As a verb or noun, this word means to crash (into). E.g. "I was turning right on 5th when some asshat pranged me".