Talk:The Parson's Tale

Sententious
A sermon is a talk on a religious or moral subject given by a member of the clergy as part of a religious service; a long and tedious talk, especially one telling somebody how or how not to behave. In his prologue he says that he wants to tell a story of “virtuous sentence”. When he says sentence he means sententious. Sententious means tending to use, or full of, maxims and aphorism; inclined to moralizes more than is merited or appreciated; expressing much in few words. Sententious has the connotation of being pompous which is how he acts. That is why he tells a sermon. He wants to moralize people and since he is pompous, he talks in a rather haughty tone. uyuigjjh ijskfjkfngiqrhey heyhehy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.183.148.220 (talk) 17:01, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

'Sententious' only became depreciatory later. At the time of this writing 'sentence' meant meaning or wisdom. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.101.42.203 (talk) 20:07, 3 April 2012 (UTC)