RIGMAROLE
Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 10:30 pm
• rigmarole •
Pronunciation: rig-mê-'rol or ri-gê-mê-'rol • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: 1. Double talk, rambling, disconnected speech. 2. Red tape, a complicated and confusing process.
Notes: The original pronunciation of today's jolly word had only one [a] but most dictionaries have given up the fight to keep the second one out. If you like to speak 'original' English, resist the temptation to insert an extra [a] in today's word. However, you are in good company if you don't. The noun expressing the quality of rigmarole is rigmarolery and you have your choice of two adjectives: rigmarolish or rigmarolic.
In Play: If you think this word sounds a bit slangy, remember that Lord Byron thought it a word of learned speakers. In Don Juan (1818) he wrote, "His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, [o]f rhetoric, which the learn'd call 'rigmarole'." Today, of course, it is fair game for speakers of all educational levels: "The registration rigmarole for a marriage license was so dismaying, we decided to call off the wedding and remain just friends."
Word History: Today's word is an alteration of obsolete Ragman Roll from the name of a set of scrolls given to King Edward I in 1291 by Scottish noblemen, who signed deeds of loyalty to which the King also affixed his seal. All the deeds were eventually joined together to produce the 12-meter long Ragman Roll, found now in the Public Records Office in London—a pretty long piece of red tape. Ragman comes from an old Scandinavian word referring to the Devil, a meaning the word bore in English until the 14th century. This version of ragman could be a reduction of ragged man, where ragged refers to the shagginess of animals, to which the Devil is often compared. (We are happy that Dr. Lyn Laboriel found the rigmarole here not so great as to prevent her from suggesting today's Good Word to us.)
Pronunciation: rig-mê-'rol or ri-gê-mê-'rol • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: 1. Double talk, rambling, disconnected speech. 2. Red tape, a complicated and confusing process.
Notes: The original pronunciation of today's jolly word had only one [a] but most dictionaries have given up the fight to keep the second one out. If you like to speak 'original' English, resist the temptation to insert an extra [a] in today's word. However, you are in good company if you don't. The noun expressing the quality of rigmarole is rigmarolery and you have your choice of two adjectives: rigmarolish or rigmarolic.
In Play: If you think this word sounds a bit slangy, remember that Lord Byron thought it a word of learned speakers. In Don Juan (1818) he wrote, "His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, [o]f rhetoric, which the learn'd call 'rigmarole'." Today, of course, it is fair game for speakers of all educational levels: "The registration rigmarole for a marriage license was so dismaying, we decided to call off the wedding and remain just friends."
Word History: Today's word is an alteration of obsolete Ragman Roll from the name of a set of scrolls given to King Edward I in 1291 by Scottish noblemen, who signed deeds of loyalty to which the King also affixed his seal. All the deeds were eventually joined together to produce the 12-meter long Ragman Roll, found now in the Public Records Office in London—a pretty long piece of red tape. Ragman comes from an old Scandinavian word referring to the Devil, a meaning the word bore in English until the 14th century. This version of ragman could be a reduction of ragged man, where ragged refers to the shagginess of animals, to which the Devil is often compared. (We are happy that Dr. Lyn Laboriel found the rigmarole here not so great as to prevent her from suggesting today's Good Word to us.)