razzmatazz
noun

- noisy, showy, and exciting activity and display designed to attract and impress

Oxford Languages

The Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Dictionary Com, Collins Dictionary, Oxford Languages

—
WORD ORIGIN

The word "razzmatazz" originated in American English in the late 19th to early 20th century, first appearing in print around 1890. Likely derived from "razzle-dazzle," a term meaning flashy, showy, or extravagant behaviour.

"Razzmatazz" may have been influenced by jazz-era slang, which embraced playful, rhythmic, and expressive words.

Over time, it also took on meanings of deception or exaggerated hype. Today, it broadly refers to anything showy, extravagant, or theatrical and remains a fun, expressive term for over-the-top excitement or showmanship.

—
EMOTIONAL ECHOES

The Art of Memorable Language

Language is more than just communication—it’s rhythm, sound, and emotion. Words like razzmatazz, hocus-pocus, flimflam, and dilly-dally don’t just convey meaning; they create a feeling, an immediate sensory impression that makes them both memorable and fun. But why do these kinds of words have such a strong psychological effect?

At their core, these words use repetition and phonetic playfulness to make them easy to remember and fun to say. Many of them rely on reduplication—a linguistic technique where a sound or syllable is repeated with variation (hocus-pocus, hurly-burly, wishy-washy). This creates a sense of rhythm and musicality that sticks in our minds.

These words also feel like their meaning, reinforcing their own meanings through sound. "Helter-skelter" sounds chaotic, "flimflam" sounds sneaky, and "willy-nilly" sounds disorganized.

Perhaps most importantly, such words create an emotional response, adding humour, exaggeration, and lightheartedness to language. Imagine saying "He hesitated" versus "He dilly-dallied"—the latter immediately feels more vivid and playful. This ability to inject energy into speech makes these words powerful tools in storytelling, persuasion, and everyday conversation.

Helga & Paul Smith

—
WORDS WITH RAZZMATAZZ

ballyhoo, boogie-woogie, brouhaha, chitchat, dillydally, fiddle-faddle, flimflam, fuddy-duddy,hanky-panky, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hocus-pocus, hodgepodge, hoity-toity, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, hurlyburly, itsy-bitsy, kerfuffle, mishmash, mumbo-jumbo, nitty-gritty, okey-dokey, pitter-patter, RAZZMATAZZ, riff-raff, rigmarole, rumbustious, shillyshally, teenie-weenie, whippersnapper, willy-nilly, wishy-washy

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“It’s an unfortunate fact that RAZZMATAZZ sells,… truth doesn’t.”

—
P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

On evenings and weekends, I research and write your daily OWAD newsletter together with Helga—my lovely wife and coaching partner, and our eagle-eyed daughter, Jennifer.

It remains FREE, AD-FREE, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers.

If you aren’t already, please consider supporting us — even a small donation, equivalent to just 1-cup-of-coffee a month, would help us in covering expenses for mailing, site-hosting, maintenance, and service.

Just head over to DonorBox:
Please help keep OWAD alive

or

Bank transfer:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

Important: please state as ’Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul, Helga, & Jenny Smith

- Feedback, questions, new word suggestions to: paul@smith.de

- OWAD homepage, word archive, FAQs, publications, events, and more: www.owad.de

---

- to unsubscribe from OWAD, CLICK HERE

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“METTLE is what keeps you going when common sense says stop."

—
P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

On evenings and weekends, I research and write your daily OWAD newsletter together with Helga—my lovely wife and coaching partner, and our eagle-eyed daughter, Jennifer.

It remains FREE, AD-FREE, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers.

If you aren’t already, please consider supporting us — even a small donation, equivalent to just 1-cup-of-coffee a month, would help us in covering expenses for mailing, site-hosting, maintenance, and service.

Just head over to DonorBox:
Please help keep OWAD alive

or

Bank transfer:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

Important: please state as ’Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul, Helga, & Jenny Smith

- Feedback, questions, new word suggestions to: paul@smith.de

- OWAD homepage, word archive, FAQs, publications, events, and more: www.owad.de

---

- to unsubscribe from OWAD, CLICK HERE