Pick the rare, silly, slangy word "kerfuffle" when you want a ridiculous label for a ridiculous situation.

For example:
—The Associated Press called it a kerfuffle when a school principal was pushed to resign after letting kids see Michelangelo's David statue, which is nude.
—Slate called it a kerfuffle when Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road," an explosively popular self-parodying country song based on a beat the artist bought online for $30, wasn't allowed onto the country song charts.
—And the Wall Street Journal called it a kerfuffle when Elon Musk offered Wikipedia a billion dollars to change its name to (cringe) Dickipedia.

You might say that someone causes or sparks or induces a kerfuffle, or that someone gets caught up in a kerfuffle, stays out of a kerfuffle, or settles or ends a kerfuffle.

And you might specify what kind of kerfuffle you're talking about, such as a political kerfuffle, a Twitter kerfuffle, or a media kerfuffle.

"Sisters Nazgol and Negin are trying to find an ice pick so they can chip cash out of a frozen puddle. They need the money to buy spectacles for a friend who lost his in a kerfuffle with a turkey."
  — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 13 February 2025

"I mistakenly sent the bill to a table while the teenager who had booked it was in the gents. The young man returned to find the bill paid and spent the next few minutes yelling at me in front of his guests (and everyone else). In most fine-dining restaurants, the person who made the reservation has to give their permission for anyone else to pay the bill, to avoid exactly that kind of kerfuffle."
  — Anonymous, The Guardian, 16 August 2017

has this page helped you understand "kerfuffle"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "kerfuffle" without saying "drama" or "fiasco."

try it out:

Think about the stupidest news story that you most recently read or watched.

Would you call anything in that story a kerfuffle? Why or why not?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Subject Line Matching!

Try matching each capitalized term below with the email subject line that I used to introduce it. For an extra challenge, try recalling what each term means and how the subject line connects to it. 

Try these today:

BARNUM EFFECT: _____________
BEHEMOTH: _____________
PHENOMENON: _____________
POLEMIC: _____________
SPINDRIFT: _____________

a quiz-taker is born every minute
hungry, hungry behippos
if you like your beverages to repeatedly smack you in the face
is that a thing?
them's fightin' words

To see the correct answers, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near-opposite of KERFUFFLE is

A. USEFULNESS.
B. TRANQUILITY.
C. PROCRASTINATION.

2. Journalists are most likely to call it a kerfuffle when _____.

A. fashion designers follow the swing of the pendulum either toward or away from oversized accessories
B. a student athlete catches heat for posting his wedding registry, which violates NCAA rules for some dumb reason
C. they struggle to find a balance between reporting presidential speeches to the public and preventing the spread of misinformation

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B From the game: BARNUM EFFECT: a quiz-taker is born every minute BEHEMOTH: hungry, hungry behippos PHENOMENON: is that a thing? POLEMIC: them's fightin' words SPINDRIFT: if you like your beverages to repeatedly smack you in the face

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.