rigmarole

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 4, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>rigmarole</strong> &#149; \RIG-uh-muh-rol\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> confused or meaningless talk</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> a complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"We know now, thanks to Reddit threads and social media doing its due diligence, the real reason McDonald's ice cream machines always seem to be broken is because they're not—they just take four hours and an 11-step process to clean. This <em>rigmarole</em> is often what's actually preventing McDonald's employees from serving up your hot fudge sundae." — <a href="https://www.mashed.com/266906/this-app-shows-you-which-mcdonalds-have-working-ice-cream-machines/">Megan Scott, <em>Mashed.com</em>, 23 Oct. 2020</a></p> <p>"You've gone through the appointment <em>rigmarole</em> to get signed up for a COVID vaccine, got your first shot, waited the required three to four week period for your second. But when that booster dose comes, be warned that you might be experiencing symptoms a few hours later." — <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/02/26/side-effects-second-covid-19-vaccine-what-expect-how-treat/6817881002/">Gershon Harrell, <em>The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch</em>, 26 Feb. 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>In the Middle Ages, the term <em>Rageman</em> or <em>Ragman</em> referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse. The roll was called a <em>Ragman roll</em> after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses. By the 16th century, <em>ragman</em> and <em>ragman roll</em> were being used figuratively to mean "a list or catalog." Both terms fell out of written use, but <em>ragman roll</em> persisted in speech