Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Rigmarole”, I knew what it meant, but I had no idea of the etymology until I looked it up when I spotted this version in the wild:
“rig a more roll” in a wall post by a friend of a friend on Facebook.
It certainly seems to me unpack the ragman’s portmanteau in a creative way.
Is it an eggcorn?
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The obscured origins of the word “rigmarole” should make it a natural acorn to be eggcorned. It’s surprising that it hasn’t appeared on this site yet. Your post led me to look into the origins as you have. The etymology of the word is outlandish; it’s described briefly here. Anatoly Liberman’s wonderful book on word origins considers the evolution of rigamarole in detail, of which excerpts can be read here. Another is here. The word passed through different eggcornish stages. Verses written about King Ragemon the Bon became a game: Ragman. Other unlikely modifications followed.
In order for “rig a more roll” to be considered an eggcorn, the user must have some altered imagery in mind that demonstrates a sensible alternative interpretation or understanding. “Rig a more roll” is analysed into sensible parts, but the overall image is not clear to me. It’s suggestive, but more likely a malapropism, in absence of testimony from the user. Do you see something more in it?
Other variations of “rigmarole” with eggcornical flavour that have popped up include “rig-my-role” and “rig-my-roll”. I’d bet that there are others out there.
Ballantyne’s Novelist’s Library, 1824
But the deuce take your niceties; you don’t, you can’t, poor souls as you are, distinguish men. You must all of you go on in one rigmyroll way, in one beaten track.
(http://books.google.ca/books?id=abMYAQA … ll&f=false)
The Life and Correspondence of Mary Granville, 1861
At first she could not tell what to make of such a rig-my-role
(http://www.archive.org/stream/autobiogr … t_djvu.txt)
Last edited by David Bird (2009-10-10 11:55:41)
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These variants are legomenonces.
Celebrity romance
She will go thru the rigor of role in life, such as jealousy,fighting,money-problem,ect.
(http://www.bvbuzz.com/2009/04/30/sherri … -with-mvp/)
Rock band interview
What sort of rigor-ma-roll do we need less of to make things a little better around here?
(http://www.stonerrock.com/interviews/in … viewID=138)
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