# Does anyone actually say "brouhaha" anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862 "2006-06-15T21:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/41 "2006-06-16T13:31:52Z")
I suspect the word no longer held much punch after about 1964, when Tom Lehrer referred to “these times of strife, and _universal brouhaha._” ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/42 "2006-06-16T15:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Today I saw the word “hooligan” used three times in one paragraph in the newspaper, to describe the events that unfolded before a Germany/Poland game in the World Cup. I loved it. [/QUOTE] Are people using “hooligan” to mean an event, like a brawl? If so, is this a British usage? Or am I misunderstanding you completely? My dictionaries (as well as my past experience up until this thread) define it only as a type of _person_. There is “hooliganism” though, meaning the sorts of activities hooligans engage in. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/43 "2006-06-16T15:21:15Z")
[QUOTE=Rasa] I prefer “What’s the rumpus?” a la _Miller’s Crossing_ myself, but brouhaha is a great word too! [/QUOTE] Curse you, Rasa! You have stolen rumpus from me! I am clearly vexed. Is there a linky poo poo that has wonder old words ? ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/44 "2006-06-16T15:25:24Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Brouhaha? Ha ha ha ha… [/QUOTE] Ha ha ha _cough_cough_cough_ You beat me to it, too, so I had to at least follow up. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/45 "2006-06-16T15:28:08Z")
[A bit from wikpedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lulu_of_the_Lotus-Eaters/Old_Words) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/46 "2006-06-16T15:32:21Z")
[Consubstantial Brouhaha Roils Catholic Bishops](http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060616/1000972.asp) > [@](#): > > The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted during its biannual meeting for a new translation after a brief but vigorous debate over several small changes in wording. > … > Bishops debated for about 20 minutes on a variety of wording changes, some pitting the familiar against the new. A proposal to change the words of the Nicene Creed from “one in being” to “consubstantial,” which is closer to the Latin, failed. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/47 "2006-06-16T15:36:33Z")
I use bruhaha almost 10 times a day. Any sort of crisis at work is referred to, by me, as a bruhaha. I also use HooHa, but for a much different thing. But I like fracas!!! I’ll have to look into adopting that. I’d like it if more people said HOT DOG! as an expression of joy. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/48 "2006-06-16T15:37:54Z")
What a coincidence that you ask that. I use the word and would like to point out that there’s a brouhaha going on right now in this thread. > **[advice sought. Suspect Brother-in-Law a child molester/ into child porn](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375757)** > > Mods please move this if it is in the wrong forum. First, let me say that I don’t know anything for sure. My wife and I suspect strongly that there is something going on in my B.I.L’s house, and we aren’t sure what to do about it. Signs: He... ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/49 "2006-06-16T15:39:48Z")
Ooooooh, [Luciferous Logolepsy](http://www.kokogiak.com/logolepsy/) 9000 obscure words. Ooooooooooooooooh, my husband suffers from Schizothemia. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/50 "2006-06-16T15:41:49Z")
I’ve been known to say “brouhaha,” although, being Canadian, I’m more likely to say “kerfuffle.” ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/51 "2006-06-16T16:25:48Z")
Ahem. Shenanigans. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/52 "2006-06-16T20:13:16Z")
I love to use the word brouhaha! ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/53 "2006-06-16T20:32:08Z")
I remember when Breakfast Club came out, the word on everyone’s lips was “ruckus”, but I prefer brouhaha ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/54 "2006-06-20T18:15:37Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Are people using “hooligan” to mean an event, like a brawl? If so, is this a British usage? Or am I misunderstanding you completely? The latter (you’re misunderstanding me completely). My bad, though. I should’ve noted that they were referring to the people involved as hooligans. I’ve seen the word gain credence (here in America) as the standard thinly-veiled racist dismissal of “those European soccer fans”, but I thought it was great that it was becoming a “dictionary word” with a specific meaning that applied only temporarily to the people in the scuffle. I hope that trend continues and that one day we won’t hear about “those damn hooligans and their damn fool sport” 24/7 on American talk radio every time a World Cup comes around. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled thread… I nominate “kerfuffle” as one of America’s most underappreciated words. ---
**Author:** ![Phatlewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/55 "2006-06-20T22:33:05Z")
[The Beastie Boys](http://www.mp3.com/tracks/5334442/dl_streams.html) do. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862/56 "2006-06-21T00:13:34Z")
I use most of the words mentioned above, but a favorite term for such an occasion was given to me in my youth… a “knockdown, drag-out rhubarb”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-actually-say-brouhaha-anymore/360862.md?page=2)