Something strange dawned upon me, probably for obvious reasons, when I brought up 'pataphysics in a thread many long hours ago (I'm suffering a prolonged bout of insomnia): the word discursive denotes a couple rather inconsistent things. From dictionary.com: dis⋅cur⋅sive [di-skur-siv] –adjective 1. passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling. 2. proceeding by reasoning or argument rather than intuition. Origin: 1590–1600; < ML discursīvus. What the hell? Passing aimlessly? Proceeding by reasoning? So is one simply supposed to guess the intended meaning by context? Well, what if you're talking to a 'pataphysician--he could very well mean either (or both, or neither)? So what's the story?
Remember that "discursive" is merely the adjectival form of "discourse." Discourse is merely a generic term for communication, conversation, discussion... something more than one sentence (the technical definition in linguistics) or much more than a single sentence (a more colloquial definition). So to be discursive is merely to talk at length. It doesn't matter whether you're rambling or following a logical train of thought.
