Thursday, May 30, 2013

Affabulatory

Meaning: something that presents a moral; like or of the nature of a fable.

Usefulness: 2 (May depend on how much you read Aesop or Kipling, but could also be applied to the horror-stories you hear of work accidents. "I am sure I do not need to point out the affabulatory nature of this brief account of workers using their circular saws without sufficient PPE.")

Logofascination: 1 (A Sir Thomas original, with the only two OED citations both being Sir Thomas - it's unusual enough for Sir Thomas to use one of his words twice, even more so for the OED to quote both usages. The entry was revised in 2012, though, so it's possible that it was updated with the advantage of searchable texts - even if that is the case, it is pleasing to see that our present-day lexicographers remain as logofascinated by Sir Thomas as their predecessors. Etymologically related to fable, of course, but also affable - easy to talk to - and the rather lovely French affabulateur - storyteller.)

In the wild: No.

Degrees: 0

Connections: n/a

Which is used in: Logopandecteision and Ekskybalauron. I forget at times that Sir Thomas is pretending to be anonymous - so does he, I suspect - and then he speaks of a writer "whose muse I honour, and the straine of whose pen to imitate is my greatest ambition", and I realise he means himself. Apparently he could, if he were really trying, also provide us with:
allegories of all sorts, whether apologal, affabulatory, parabolary, aenigmaticak, or paraemial.
For the record, all of this would also be "accompanied by apostrophes" at no extra cost.

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