"Palaver"

       "Enough of my palavering," said I to my son on the phone before we said goodnight.  Hadn't used that word in ages.  It means "to talk profusely or idly," which is what I had been doing.

       Palaver is from Portuguese palavra, meaning "word" or "speech," from Late Latin parabola, parable.  The two halves of the word derive from Greek para ("beside") and ballein ("throw"), and thus can translate "comparison," which certainly is a meaning of "parable."

       Perhaps too many comparisons or analogies or illustrations or examples can grow profuse and idle and become "palaver."