CANTERBURY TALE

PRONUNCIATION: (KAN-tuhr-ber-ee tayl)

MEANING:m. mnoun: A story that is long, tedious, or absurdly implausible.

ETYMOLOGY: After The Canterbury Tales c. 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer. It’s a collection of 24 stories told in verse by a group of pilgrims as they travel from London to Canterbury. Earliest documented use: 1575.
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CANTERBURY TALC - a soft stone that was avoided in building the cathedral

CANTER BURN TALE - the story behind why the horse pulled up lame after using the wrong gait

CANTOR BURY TALE - the lost twenty-fifth chapter of Chaucer's magnum opus, about the interment of the church's vocalist; later suppressed by ecclesiastical authorities