Sultan

Meaning: To use the opportunity of presenting the result of an event that many people are eagerly waiting to hear to weave in a very detailed, tedious yet factually accurate defense of one’s own actions in relation to the result being presented.

Origin: Millions tuned in as Farouk Sultan, head of the election commission prepared to read out the results of Egypt's presidential run-off. Tension built amongst anxious Egyptians to find out who would become the nation's first democratically elected president. However Sultan settled down with a tome of papers to demonstrate how democratically thorough the election commission had been. Sultan’s address lasted an hour while the part the masses wanted to hear (i.e., and the winner is) lasted less than three minutes.

"Rather than simply presenting the award to employee of the year, the head of the selection committee decided to spend ten minutes sultaning. The company employees waiting for the results wanted to hang themselves from boredom."

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