To become a Rabbit Room member is to invest in the creation and cultivation of story, music, and art in order to nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world. As a member, you’ll be the first to hear about exciting new projects, your opinion will be requested, and you’ll be let in on secrets. Not to be overlooked, however, is the healthy dose of fun and games that our members are privileged to enjoy—like Hutchmoot: Homebound’s Befuddlementorium. What in the world is a Befuddlementorium, you ask? Allow us to explain.
This year’s virtual conference, Hutchmoot: Homebound, operated out of a metaphorical house of many rooms. The exclusive website which acted as the portal into the conference consisted of dozens of webpages—each one packed full with sessions, concerts, recipes, participatory games, and fun extras—all named after a room, like “The Study” or “The Great Room.”
But there was one room that was only accessible to Rabbit Room members, and what went on in this room was a mystery to all other attendees. That enigmatic room was none other than the Befuddlementorium. And now that the conference is over, we are pleased to share with you the goings-on of the Befuddlementorium.
Inside, members were greeted with Words of Befuddlement, an outrageous game of Dictionary in which the words in question are entirely made up. In the weeks leading up to the conference, we solicited definitions from members and compiled our favorites into a poll, which culminated in a vote for the best definition. Among the choices, we sprinkled in our own attempt at a definition, which was repeatedly superseded by the creativity of our members.
Purely for fun, we share with you here the results. Each word has been assigned a primary and a secondary definition—the primary being the definition which received the most votes and the secondary being the Rabbit Room staff’s own definition.
SCHOOMBA [SKOOM-BUH]: NOUN
Primary Definition (Most Votes): large, ship-shaped brass instrument which makes a deep, multi-note fog-horn sound when blown into. An artifact of the sail age, used to communicate from ship to ship at sea, and from land to ship when the shoreline was obscured by thick weather.
Secondary Definition (Ours): the room inside a robotic learning facility in which vacuums are taught to suck.
FLOGÉ [FLOW-ZHAY]: NOUN
Primary Definition (Most Votes): Shigé Clark’s sister, whom We Do Not Talk About.
Secondary Definition (Ours): a small, brisk river that wishes it were French.
SYNTHEOCRAT [SIN-THEE-O-CRAT]: NOUN
Primary Definition (Most Votes): an audience member who consistently claps on the off beat but is blissfully unaware.
Secondary Definition (Ours): denotes those who perform the electronic anthems of a society governed by false gods.
FUSSLE [FUSS-EL]: VERB
Primary Definition (Most Votes): to return to a task that has already been deemed finished, only to nitpick and futz with it for a little longer to ensure it is, indeed, complete.
Secondary Definition (Ours): to wrestle the source of one’s perturbation.
MALC [MALC]: NOUN
Primary Definition (Most Votes): milk, but with more poetry.
Secondary Definition (Ours): chafing powder used by some English poets.
STONGE [STAHNJ]: VERB
Primary Definition (Most Votes): to stare blankly after being asked a question.
Secondary Definition (Ours): to attempt a great leap whilst carrying a great weight.
We are immensely proud of our members for their display of wild creativity, and we look forward to enjoying more silliness on future occasions!
If you’re not yet a member and want to link arms with the Rabbit Room—in work both serious and sometimes-silly—then you can become a member at this link.