bunburying means avoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person.
Why “bunburying” is a great word
The practice of escaping social or familial duties by inventing a fictitious acquaintance whose constant needs demand one's urgent presence. From the name Bunbury (the fictitious invalid friend of the character Algernon in Oscar Wilde's play) + the suffix -ing (denoting an action or practice). Coined in 1895 by Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest. Unlike malingering, which involves the dull theater of feigned personal illness, or the broad utility of a pretext, bunburying is a whimsical, sustained fiction—a phantom friendship summoned for deliverance. It is the imaginary country cousin requiring rescue, the non-existent godfather in perpetual crisis, or the fabricated ailing friend whose sickroom becomes one's sanctuary; a minor treason against the tyranny of engagement that transforms cowardice into an art of elegant escape.
Etymology
From Bunbury + -ing, coined by Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) after Bunbury, the fictitious disabled friend of the character Algernon whose supposed illness is used as an excuse to avoid social engagements.
noun
- Avoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person.“Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. I want to tell you the rules.”
Words closest in meaning
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