Fashionable Words: Rigmarole

[Sometimes words die out of fashion. But sometimes those words are good words, words with a certain appeal that can't be denied forever. Those words should be brought back into fashion, used frequently and used often. These are those words.]

Word:
Rigmarole (UK variant)
or
Rigamarole (US variant)


Definition:  noun and adjective
noun:
An overly involved piece of writing; an incoherent story.

adjective:
Overly protracted, elaborate, or diffuse; rambling.


Origin:
To detail the etymology of the British rigmarole, we're going to have to go through the usual rigmarole. Learning by doing--hooray!

So we head to the OED, experts in etymological rigmarole.

Rigmarole most likely comes from Ragman roll, which in turn is based off an old game called Ragman played in the 14th century. Ragman involved players grabbing on strings to pull out rolls which involved long, detailed descriptions of characters. And, yeah...that's about it. It's like competitive reading with a ball of yarn. You try keeping entertained in a time of plague.

King Edward I gets to hammerin'.

Yet, the proper noun Ragman potentially connects to the name of a statute of the same name by King Edward I in 1276, which provided for justices to be appointed to reform law and hear about local corruption the previous 25 years.

(In case you're trying to keep your medieval English monarchs straight, Edward I was also known as Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, a charming nickname that belies the fact the Scots defeated Edward's attempt to overtake them. Edward really should have been known as the Hammer of the Welsh. He conquered Wales by 1283.)

Samuel Pegge even loved
looking old.

Ragman and Ragman's Roll's association with all things long-winded (like this etymology) slowly evolved into the modern rigmarole, which has its first known written appearance circa 1736 in Samuel Pegge's An Alphabet of Kenticisms. Pegge was an antiquary--a fashionable man of leisure and lover of old stuff--as well as a wannabe historian of language quirks in Derbyshire, England, which explains rigmarole's inclusion. Did he also hoard antiques and hold weekend yard sales? Sure, let's assume so.






Most obscure UrbanDictionary.com definitions of rigamarole:
1. An annoying series of seemingly unnecessary steps that causes a commotion and results in confusion, irritation and resentment by the people who inevitably have to do all the extra work to fix something they didn't break.

3. Intense partying...
Perhaps involving cocaine, extasy, pcp, lots of booze, a joint or two, some lsd, mushrooms...etc.
Usually two/three day benders. The "rigamarole" intensifies as the party continues. Usually involves all the strange happenings as you continue to hallucinate and give 'er...


Used in a sentence:
1. Quit all this rigmarole and get to your point!


Why you should use rigmarole in your daily life:
It makes you sound like an 85-year old British grandmother, and who doesn't love 85-year old British grandmothers?


Word Awesomeness Scale (1-to-5):
Three.

Anything involving string could be slightly more exotic.