In my post yesterday I mentioned the story teller's maxim of never letting the facts get in the way of a good story and a Facebook friend commented that when she was growing up, 'telling a story' was meant as the equivalent of telling an untruth. I'm familiar with this usage--my Alabama bred Grandparents would ask, "Are you telling a story?" if I stretched the truth.
'Telling a story' wasn't meant for flat out lying. It was more directed at a white lie or a fib--a minor transgression.
And speaking of fibs--I had a feeling that word might derive from the Latin word for story fabula (who says those four years of high school Latin weren't useful--though to be honest, I chiefly took Latin to avoid chemistry and physics.)
Indeed, that's what some sources say--tracing it back to fibble-fabble-used to mean nonsense but ultimately derived from fabula. And, over time, transmogrified to fiddle-faddle.
As a semi-professional teller of stories, I'm intrigued at the implications. Andcan't resist sharing this list of synonyms for fibble-fabble (Merriam Webster online):
- applesauce [slang], balderdash, baloney (also boloney), beans, bilge, blah (also blah-blah), blarney, blather, blatherskite, blither, bosh, bull [slang], bunk, bunkum (or buncombe), claptrap, codswallop [British], crapola [slang], crock, drivel, drool, fiddle, fiddlesticks, flannel [British], flapdoodle, folderol (also falderal), folly, foolishness, fudge, garbage, guff, hogwash, hokeypokey, hokum, hoodoo, hooey, horsefeathers [slang], humbug, humbuggery, jazz, malarkey (also malarky), moonshine, muck, nerts [slang], nonsense, nuts, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, senselessness, silliness, slush, stupidity, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), tommyrot, tosh, trash, trumpery, twaddle
And then there's fabulous--which could also apply to story tellers and their craft.