The act of wrapping, covering, or treating something with flannel fabric, or speaking in a vague and evasive manner.
From flannel (a soft woolen fabric of Welsh origin) plus the -ing suffix forming the present participle. The meaning evolved from the literal action of using flannel to the figurative sense of unclear speech.
Flanneling as 'evasive speech' likely comes from how flannel obscures and softens what's underneath it—the fabric became a metaphor for language that hides rather than clarifies. It's a brilliant example of how physical objects give us words for abstract behaviors.
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