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The word for today is…
pell-mell (adverb) – 1. In a jumbled, confused manner; helter-skelter.
2. In frantic disorderly haste; headlong.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : The word pell-mell was probably formed through a process called reduplication. The process—which involves the repetition of a word or part of a word, often including a slight change in its pronunciation—also generated such terms as bowwow, helter-skelter, flip-flop, and chitchat. Yet another product of reduplication is shilly-shally, which started out as a single-word compression of the question “Shall I?” For pell-mell, the process is believed to have occurred long ago: our word traces to a Middle French word of the same meaning, pelemele, which was likely a product of reduplication from Old French mesle, a form of mesler, meaning “to mix.”
