kerfuffle

What it means

1. CommonwealthinformalA disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult.

   There's been a bit of a kerfuffle the past couple days over something Sarah Palin said about Paul Revere.

   2011 June 6, Mark Memmott, “Sarah Palin's Had Her Say; Now Let's Hear From Paul Revere”, in The Two-Way, National Public Radio

   2 more examples

   You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act[…]

   2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 15 Apr 2024

   The debate seemed innocuous—a minor kerfuffle, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved and moved on from.

   2023 May 28, Nadia Asparouhova, “Remembering GitHub's Office, a Monument to Tech Culture”, in Wired, →ISSN

   Synonyms: brouhaha, donnybrook, fracas, hubbub, hullabaloo, mess, racket

In a sentence

You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act[…]

2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 15 Apr 2024

Where it comes from

1. Scotscurfuffle
2. Englishkerfuffle

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- + fuffle, or related to Irish cíor thuathail (“confusion, bewilderment”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)