# Disgruntled and fabulous: origins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260 "2003-03-22T01:49:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/1 "2003-03-22T01:49:21Z")
I’ve heard of “disgruntled” people, but never of “gruntled” people. Are there or have there been people in a state of gruntlement, and if so, what does it feel like to be gruntled? Please, no lewdness, unless it’s absolutely necessary to the explanation, in which case, be explicit. Also, the use of the term “fabulous” in a trilled manner by some gender-challenged individuals – where did that originate? It sounds like something that might have come from a specific play, movie or TV program of some sort. enquiring minds and all … ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/2 "2003-03-22T02:35:40Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_264a.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_264a.html) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/3 "2003-03-22T02:40:34Z")
From the OED: > [@](#): > > gruntle > [f. GRUNT v. with dim. or frequentative ending -LE.] > > 1. To grumble, murmur, complain. > > 1589 R. BRUCE Serm. (1843) 166 It becomes us not to have our hearts here gruntling upon this earth. 1601 DENT Pathw. Heaven 213 He cannot indure that we should gruntle against him with stubborne sullennesse. 1687 MIEGE Gt. Fr. Dict. II. s.v., She does nothing but gruntle. 1876 ‘P. PYPER’ Mr. Gray & Neighb. II. 138 There’s some on 'em…is gruntling over it above a bit. As for the obvious question – why “disgruntled”? – the OED gives this clue: > [@](#): > > dis- > [L. dis- was related to bis, orig. \*dvis = Gr. twice, from duo, two, the primary meaning being ‘two-ways, in twain’.] Thus, “dis-” is meant as an intensifier; i.e., disgruntled originally meant “grumbling twice as much as anyone else.” ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/4 "2003-03-22T10:59:17Z")
I don’t know for sure, but I think that fabulous comes from fabular, and then later fabel. this is what I found: fabula, fabulae, f. - story confabulate - to talk together informally; chat: Friends are comfortable with each other, whether they are confabulating or saying nothing at all. Also: confabulation, confabulator, confabulatory. [fabulor, fabulari, fabulatus - to converse, chatter] fable - a story, frequently involving animals, whose purpose is to impart a moral lesson: The most famous fables are those of Aesop, but many other authors have written fables, too, including LaFontaine, Lessing, and George Orwell. Also: fabular (of or pertaining to a fable), fabulist (one who writes or tells fables; a liar), fabled (legendary), fabulous, fabulousness. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/5 "2003-03-22T13:35:08Z")
For that matter, what’s it like to feels reckful or feckful or gormful? Or ept, or ert, or fernal? Can one’s hair be kempt and one’s children ruly? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/6 "2003-03-22T13:42:22Z")
I could be totally wrong, but I think he/she is asking how _faaaaabulous_ came to be associated as a “gay” word. A few weeks ago, one guy I know said fabulous several times in the space of several minutes, then said, “I know I’ve said ‘fabulous’ several times, but I’m _not_ gay.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disgruntled-and-fabulous-origins/163260/7 "2003-03-23T00:52:35Z")
Thank you all for the origins of disgruntled. I am feeling less gruntled now. As for fabulous, Earl Snake Hips has got it – I am looking for its origin as a gay catchphrase. Sounds like something that may have occurred in some specific place and time and associated with some specific character or person.