No one likes being discombobulated. How did the feeling get such a fun name?

The potentially discombobulating swirl of New York City's Times Square Leo Patrizi/Getty Images

Leo Patrizi/Getty Images

Feeling a little confused, concerned, off-kilter, out of sorts? Sounds like you're discombobulated.

It's a fitting word for an unsettling feeling. It sounds formal, maybe even fancy. But it's actually the creation of some good old-fashioned American jokesters.

"The word is very much an American invention," says Joshua Blackburn, the U.K.-based author of The Language-Lover's Lexipedia. "And it seems to have been part of a fad in the 19th century for inventing rather fancy, grand and rather humorous-sounding words."

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He says the first part of the word, "discom," was likely inspired by real words like discompose and discomfort. The final part, "ulate," also reads like many other Latin-derived verbs (think tabulate, regulate, populate). The wild card is the middle part, that funny-sounding "bob."

Blackburn, citing linguist Ben Zimmer's work, thinks "bob" comes from "bobbery," an Anglo-Indian word for commotion or noise. Taken all together, Blackburn says, it works.

"The sound of the word seems to suggest the meaning of the word," he says. "The sound of the word is discombobulating."

Oxford English Dictionary traces the verb's first known use to a newspaper in Hagerstown, Md., in the 1820s. Blackburn says it evolved over the years, from "discombobborate" in 1825 to "discombobrocate" in 1834 and, finally, "discombobulation" in 1839.

This was during an era in which Americans apparently got a kick out of concocting elaborate pseudo-Latin words — what's sometimes called "Dog Latin" — as a means of mocking politicians and elites.

Writers and other creative types would take parts of Latin-sounding words and "form them into silly-sounding combinations," according to linguist Jess Zafarris, aka @uselessetymology on social media. She said in a recent video that some such words first appeared in British or American stage plays, "often delivered in humorous dialogue by bombastic, gregarious or even overconfident American characters."

It blossomed into enough of a craze to merit mention, and criticism, in John Camden Hotten's 1859 Dictionary of Modern Slang.

"Nothing pleases an ignorant person more than a high-sounding term 'full of fury,'" he wrote. "How melodious and drum-like are those vulgar coruscations."

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Other such innovations include: absquatulate (to leave suddenly), explaterate (to talk nonstop), spiflicate (to destroy), flusticated (hot and bothered).

But none have quite the staying power of discombobulate.

It's appeared in movies, sports commentary and political contexts. (Earlier this year, President Trump said the U.S. used a secret "discombobulator" during its Venezuela raid.) And Merriam-Webster has even anointed it one of peoples' "top 10 favorite words."

Blackburn's theory? It's fun to say, expressive and as relevant as ever in today's topsy-turvy world.

"We don't live in absquatulating times, we live in discombobulating times," Blackburn says. "So I think that the reason why people love to use this word, and it is not going anywhere, is because discombobulation does actually express something about the human condition right now."

The opposite(s) of discombobulation

What can we do to shake our discombobulation?

A cheekily named sign at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Wisconsin offers one suggestion.

After passing through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint, travelers find themselves in a "Recombobulation Area." That's the zone in which to put your shoes and belt back on, return your laptop to its sleeve and zip up your bags before venturing toward your gate.

Thank you Milwaukee airport for accurately naming that place right after you get through security. pic.twitter.com/EcMsIDMXxQ

— Kim Severson (@kimseverson) August 17, 2023

Barry Bateman, who served as airport executive director from 1982 to 2014, says he had the idea to put the sign up during renovations around 2008.

"We always had that space beyond the security where people would put themselves back together after being discombobulated by TSA and the screening process," he tells NPR. "And so I thought, well, okay, let's mark this area with something."

The sign got a lot of attention — from passengers, on social media and in Garrison Keillor's nationally syndicated column in 2010.

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"It was such a unique word, and people enjoyed it so much, that it's become a permanent fixture there," says Bateman.

The Milwaukee airport sells recombobulation t-shirts in its souvenir shops, and a local brewery makes beer with that moniker. The sign was also a Jeopardy! clue in 2020.

How does Bateman feel about coining the term?

"I should have copyrighted it, that's how I feel," he said. "But, no, that's fine. I think it's a fun word for people to use. Apparently it's still not recognized as a true English word. But maybe someday it will be."

Indeed, you won't find "recombobulate" or even "combobulate" in a real dictionary. There's only "discombobulate." And while no one wants to feel that way, at least there's a great word to describe it.

Blackburn finds that it conveys a sense of humor and empathy, unlike words such as "anxious" or "scared."

"To say that we live in discombobulating times, or that it's all a little bit discombobulating, has a bit more playfulness, it's less fearful," he says. "So maybe we need to embrace discombobulation as yes, part of our reality, but not necessarily something to fear."