Gallimaufry
What does “gallimaufry” mean?
According to scholar Michael Quinion, “gallimaufry” means: “A hotchpotch, jumble or confused medley.” (World Wide Words) See below for a complete definition.
At the Rockville Writing, Reading, and World Language Center, "gallimaufry" means fun ideas or links that are related to writing, reading, and language, like daily poetry offerings. For example, see VerseDaily and the world’s most unusual book club, BookCrossing.
Find out who you really are by "googling" your name at Googlism: www.googlism.com.
Collect weird new words and learn about old ones at World Wide Words: www.worldwidewords.org.
Watch Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler create an original story: www.fsu.edu/butler.
Read a poem a day from Versedaily: www.versedaily.com.
Improve your vocabulary "a word a day" at www.wordsmith.org/anu.
Join BookCrossing the world's most unusual book club: www.BookCrossing.com. Meet other local BookCrossers for conversation and fun at bookcrossing.meetup.com.
More information about the word "gallimaufry":
Back to TopAccording to scholar Michael Quinion, the word "gallimaufry" means: “A hotchpotch, jumble or confused medley.” Quinion adds: "This word has been around since the sixteenth century, is still in use, but isn't particularly common today…. Its origin is uncertain, though it could have come from the French galimafree, which might have referred to a kind of sauce or stew. Support for this comes from its earliest sense in English of a ragout or hash, to which the current meaning is obviously a figurative reference. 'So now,' a writer lamented in 1579, 'they have made our English tongue a gallimaufry, or hodgepodge of all other speeches' . ” (World Wide Words)