# Which is preferred, rigmarole or rigamarole? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522 "2009-07-28T05:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/41 "2017-01-10T19:49:53Z")
Up until about a year ago, on this message board, I also hadn’t even heard of the spelling or pronunciation “Rigmarole”. Upstate NY and Florida. Although it’s a word that only comes up a few times a year anyway. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/42 "2017-01-10T22:15:48Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There already is one… between the m and r. Right, but Americans, especially, start to make the mouth shape for the “r” early…which in an unstressed syllable (where the vowel is pronounced as a schwa, at most), means during the previous consonant. Take the word “bird.” You make the “r” mouth shape at the same time you pronounce the “b”! Check it out. Start to say “bird,” but then stop yourself – indeed, you’re making the “r” position (tongue against back molars) even _before_ you sound the “b.” ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/43 "2017-01-10T23:08:21Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The OED has _rigmarole_ going back to 1736, and no entry at all for _rigamarole_. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > My copy of the \*OED \*only lists “rigmarole” as the spelling I guess you guys didn’t search the other entries. My copy _does_ contain one “rigamarole” in a quotation for another entry (kragdadig): > [@OED](#): > > 1949 _Cape Times_ 21 Sept. 8 Where any evidence can be found in this **rigamarole** of tentativeness for the _kragdadigheid_ which is supposed to distinguish Nationalist Ministers we fail to see. So it seems that yes, “rigamarole” is an attested spelling going back as far as 1949. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/44 "2017-01-11T01:36:11Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > There was too much rigamarole involved when the athalete and the orangutang were eating sherbert. … while being driven around by their Realator. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/45 "2017-01-11T01:43:11Z")
Search the other entries? Um, I have a paper and ink copy of the OED. We used to call such things “books”. Are you suggesting I quit my job and spend the next few years looking for that spelling? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/46 "2017-01-11T08:12:18Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Search the other entries? Um, I have a paper and ink copy of the OED. We used to call such things “books”. Are you suggesting I quit my job and spend the next few years looking for that spelling? What do you think I’ve been doing for the 8 years since your original post? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/47 "2017-01-11T11:56:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Are you suggesting I quit my job and spend the next few years looking for that spelling? Many are called but few are chosen. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/48 "2017-01-11T13:51:33Z")
Surely this is just a matter of edumacation? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/49 "2017-01-11T19:23:49Z")
Rigamarole is a perfectly cromulent word. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/50 "2017-01-12T00:51:13Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Rigamarole is a perfectly cromulent word. I think you mean “caromulent”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522/51 "2017-01-12T00:57:11Z")
Rigatoni. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-preferred-rigmarole-or-rigamarole/504522.md?page=2)