# metafable

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metafable/225733>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 23, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metafable/225733 "2004-01-23T07:03:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metafable/225733/1 "2004-01-23T07:03:56Z")

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This word is the title of a computer generated film from the 80’s. I’ve looked up the word in the dictionary, but it wasn’t there. Is it just a made up word? By the way, has anybody else seen this bizarre short film?

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metafable/225733/2 "2004-01-23T07:58:37Z")

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From the [Jargon File:](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/M/meta.html)

> [@](#):
>
> meta: /me´t@/, /may´t@/, /mee´t@/, pref.
> 
> [from analytic philosophy] One level of description up. A metasyntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language. This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humor turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.

Hence metafable: a fable used to describe fables.