Word of the Week: Scaramouch

We have a bit to unpack here! I picked this word because I heard a younger listener say that the middle lyrics of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody were all nonsense, "like that Scarmouche part, what does that even mean?" SO, today's word is the noun scaramouch!

You may notice that I spelled it once with an 'e' at the end and once without. Let me explain.

Scaramouch is a noun, as I said, that means: a cowardly buffoon, or, a rascal/scamp. Scaramouche with an 'e' is the name of the stock clown character from the Italian Commedia dell'arte, a tradition of improvised drama with specific character types. The Scaramouche character usually dresses in all black (a clear "silhouette of a man") and can be played to either definition, the buffoon or the clever rascal. Played as a coward, Scaramouche would, in fact, be "very very frighten[ed]" by "thunderbolt[s] and lightening".

There you have it, two for the price of one! Now you too can enlighten fellow Queen fans as well as call out your local rascals.

Did you already know about scaramouch? If so, tell me how you first learned about it.

Looking forward to it,

-C