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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Vocabulary

Fartonians

"All of which must add to the confusion for many boys and young men, even for old fartonians of a nostalgic frame of mind like Davies, whom I remember passionately defending smokers rights against the ban in public places." (The Guardian.)

Who are "fartonians" cited in the above?
  

Top answer

Anonymous Who are "fartonians" cited in the above? The author has coined a new word using a variation on -orian , a rarely-used suffix of Latin origin. Some dictionary words ending in -orian are: oratorian (a great orator, or public speaker) praetorian, pretorian (a government official skilled in corruption and vice) valedictorian, salutatorian (the students with the highest and second-highest academic achievement in a class) It refers to a person who has a particular character that has achieved something or is expert at doing something.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Anonymous Who are "fartonians" cited in the above?
  • The author has coined a new word using a variation on -orian , a rarely-used suffix of Latin origin.
  • Some dictionary words ending in -orian are: oratorian (a great orator, or public speaker) praetorian, pretorian (a government official skilled in corruption and vice) valedictorian, salutatorian (the students with the highest and second-highest academic achievement in a class) It refers to a person who has a particular character that has achieved something or is expert at doing something.
  • The ending -onian also means a person from a particular place (amazonian, babylonian, bostonian, macedonian) or with a character of a famous historical or legendary figure ( hamiltonian, jacksonian, apollonian).
  • You can figure it out.
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6 Answers
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AnonymousWho are "fartonians" cited in the above?
The author has coined a new word using a variation on -orian , a rarely-used suffix of Latin origin.
Some dictionary words ending in -orian are:
oratorian (a great orator, or public speaker)
praetorian, pretorian (a government official skilled in corruption and vice)
valedic
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AlpheccaStarsYou can figure it out
I wonder whether "an old fartonian" is the antithesis of "an old Etonian".
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It could easily be a word-play on Etonian. ( A past or present member of Eton College; characteristic of Eton as a legendary school)
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AnonymousI wonder whether "an old fartonian" is the antithesis of "an old Etonian".
I think it may be a blend of "old ****" and "old Etonian", both of which are familiar phrases in BrE.

(cross-posted)
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GPY"old ****"
I was struggling to keep the thread free of scatological language.
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AlpheccaStarsI was struggling to keep ...
Resistance is often futile.

CJ
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