All The Words — Discombobulated
From the Archive of Entirely Emmet's Library Filed under: Words That Sound Exactly Like What They Mean
DISCOMBOBULATED /ˌdɪskəmˈbɒbjʊleɪtɪd/
Origin:
American English, mid-nineteenth century. Origin uncertain, which is appropriate given what the word means. Likely a comic elaboration of discompose or discomfit — someone, at some point, decided that being thrown off balance deserved a word that was itself thrown off balance.
They were correct.
Definition:
To be discombobulated is to be thoroughly unsettled. Not merely confused — confusion implies a specific puzzle with a specific answer. Discombobulation is broader. It is the state of having one's internal filing system disrupted to the extent that nothing is currently in the correct drawer, the drawers themselves may have moved, and there is a non-zero chance that some of the drawers were never drawers at all.
It is temporary.
It feels permanent.
See also: Dennis. Often.
A note on Dennis and this word specifically:
Dennis likes this word.
He encountered it in a document — the exact document is unrecorded, though the margins suggest it was official — and stopped. Read it again. Said it out loud twice.
"It sounds like it should have gubbins," he said.
Emmet considered this.
"In a manner of speaking," he said, "it does."
Dennis nodded, satisfied, and added it to the small collection of words he uses regularly despite their length. It sits on the shelf next to defenestration and Restoration Architect, which are the other two.
He uses it correctly.
He uses it often.
He uses it, most frequently, about himself.
On the word itself:
Discombobulated is six syllables long.
It contains a bob.
It takes considerably longer to say than confused, which is itself part of its function — the word performs what it describes. You cannot say discombobulated quickly and efficiently. The word insists on being unwieldy. It trips slightly in the middle, recovers, and then adds two more syllables at the end as if uncertain where to stop.
Emmet respects this.
Some words are honest about their nature.
Observed usage in this archive:
Dennis is rarely discombobulated by mechanisms, rubble, or the contents of a skip. He is frequently discombobulated by bureaucracy, official correspondence, and situations in which the expected outcome did not arrive and nobody has explained why. His discombobulation is short-lived. It is followed almost immediately by "right then" and a plan.
George experiences discombobulation at a higher baseline frequency than most, which is unfair given the effort he puts in. His discombobulation tends to be environmental — too much noise, too many unknown variables, a situation where the exits are unclear. He has developed several reliable methods for returning his internal filing system to order. They involve a cabbage and a small brush.
Maude is constitutionally resistant to discombobulation. She has been known to cause it in others simply by entering a room. This is not intentional. It is a side effect of being forty gallons in a world that keeps expecting teacups.
Earl experienced discombobulation approximately once.
In front of a mirror.
With a contract.
He does not have a word for it at the time. He reaches for the nearest available framework, which is numerical. The numbers do not help. He is briefly, thoroughly, comprehensively discombobulated by the discovery that his internal filing system does not have a drawer for certain categories of information.
He builds one.
Eventually.
Emmet becomes discombobulated only when he notices something he should have noticed sooner. The discombobulation is quiet. It lasts approximately fourteen seconds.
Then he opens a drawer.
"Discombobulated," Dennis said once, rolling the sounds around his mouth slowly, following the shape of the letters.
"Yes," Emmet said.
"That's a lot of word for confused."
"It's a lot of confusion," Emmet said. "It seemed to warrant the syllables."
Dennis considered this.
"Fair enough," he said.
He has used it twice since. Both times correctly. Both times with obvious satisfaction at the bob in the middle.
— E