Rumpus Room

This week my wife was bothered by a ruction next door; carpet layers were working until at least 10 p.m., hammering something. After she created a ruckus there was a recrudescence (see previous post). It was not a paroxysm, but the rumpus finally ended.

Ruction is a word for a riotous outbreak or a noisy disturbance. Some dictionaries tie it to a quarrel or spat, but it refers to something noisy that disturbs. It has been in use in English since 1825, but its source is uncertain. It is possible it came from the work eruption or insurrection or, in my opinion, both. It does not have a clear predecessor in other languages.

But it may be the predecessor for the more common (in my family, at least) word ruckus. At least I remember my mother often inquiring of us kindly if we would “stop that ruckus up there” as we children made noise instead of sleeping (not Don – he was always good). Ruckus formed in 1895 and is also uncertain in its etymology (according to etymolonline.com). But they suggest it might be formed from a blending of the words ruction and rumpus. Ruckus is defined as a noisy commotion or a rumpus. A common construction uses the verb raise, as in “raise a ruckus.”

Rumpus is the oldest of these “r” words, having come into English in 1764. It similarly is of unknown etymology, but the Oxford English Dictionary says it has a “fanciful formation.” Fancy that! A rumpus is a noisy or violent disturbance, whereas a ruckus is not violent.

Rumpus is a familiar word to older “baby boomers” due to its use in the title of one of the early television shows, Johnny Olson’s Rumpus Room (yes, the announcer of the Price Is Right show), which ran from 1949 to 1952. More familiar, but not to be confused is the long-running children’s show Romper Room, which began in 1953 and was on the air until 1994.

The first recorded use of “rumpus room” is in 1938, but it has since been the subject of shows on television like Maude (for the rest of us baby boomers) and The Simpsons.

Paroxysm is the oldest of today’s words, having come into English in the early 1400s from the Middle French word paroxysme, which had previously been paroxime (in the 1200s), and came from the Middle Latin word for an irritation or disease-induced fit: paroxysmus. Latin got it from Greek, where the word was paroxysmos, meaning irritation or exasperation, and was a form of paroxynein, that means irritate, goad or provoke. It is formed by combining para-, meaning beyond, with oxynein, meaning sharpen or goad. It was primarily a medical term until about 1600. Now it means any sudden outburst, positive (a paroxysm of praise) or negative (paroxysms of rage) and can refer to an action or an emotion.

So, the next time you hear an outburst, you’ll know whether it is a ruction (a noise involving a couple of people), a ruckus (a noise involving a few people), a rumpus (a ruckus that might get violent), or a paroxysm (the only one of these that might be positive or negative). Whatever it is, don’t keep it to yourself.