today, someone decided
to quietly dump every single puzzle out onto the floor
mix the pieces together
then head up to the loft to play.
it was left in a perfect state of tobubohu
but somehow i couldn’t think of that word
at the moment of discovery
tomorrow we will work on it together
and with it will come a new word.
—
toh-hoo-BOH-hoo
part of speech: noun
origin: hebrew, unknown
—
1. a state of chaos, utter confusion
—
examples in a sentence:
“The mayor’s unexpected announcement left the press in a tohubohu.”
“After recess the students were always in a tohubohu.”
—
anyone else ever achieve this perfect state?
I didn't have my glasses on.... 
There is an anarchist in your midst. Wouldn’t it be a great idea if the back of each puzzle piece had a serial number unique to the puzzle it belonged to. Best of luck returning order to this tohubohu!
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ah, there is indeed. he had another incident where he ‘quit’ his classroom job for the day in a very dramatic fashion, and when i was explaining it to his parents during conferences, his dad was laughing so hard he was crying. i do admire his style and spunk i have to say.
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just to add to the challenge, these puzzles are all merely blank wooden frames, with some of them having a tiny picture of the puzzle on the back and some having a name like ‘animals.’
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Well, that should make it easy then… Animals go with animals, flowers with flowers… You may have to give up and get new puzzles. Sorting will give you a second career when you retire.
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working as a team, we did it!
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Yeah, you have your work cut out for you.
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working with a village of kids and adults, we mastered it )
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Good luck with getting it all together again. 🤣
That’s a great word. I’m going to have to remember to ask my older child if they know it.
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We’ll work on it as a village)
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😀
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How well the word matches with its meaning!
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It really does!
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Oh well … tohubohu .. chaos is all part of children’s destiny ..
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Yes- and many adults
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Ok…I’m stressing about the puzzle thing. But to totally offshoot, I had a friend who used colored markers and on the back of the puzzle she numbered the pieces…each puzzle getting a different color. I believe her kids liked to mix it up so to speak
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I have no problem at all with kids mixing things, but this was done on such epic proportions that it would warrant the use of this word )
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Totally understand!!!sometimes you just have to say tohubohu….
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Wow, that’s kind of funny. WHen I saw that the origin of the word is Hebrew it didn’t sound familiar, but after thinking about it for a second I realized that it is the anglicized version of a phrase: tohoo va-vohoo, a biblical word describing the world before the creation of light. It is used today to describe utter chaos, but originally described emptiness and darkness. Such a good phrase!
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It is! Thank you so much for the origin story, it makes perfect sense. I have to say, this was quite an impressive example.
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It is most definitely a good example! Best of luck sorting it out. It can be fun 🙂
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Thanks!
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Now this is a perfect example of total chaos. Nice word; Tohubohu!
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It so is, and I’ve been waiting to use this word!
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👍👍👍
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Great word! Love the way it bounces around on the tongue. ☺️
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The words I’d assign to this situation, Beth, well, I won’t sully our blog’s reputation with them! Good luck resorting the puzzles, my friend.
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Whoever came up with the word, it’s clearly related to Tohu wa-bohu or Tohu va-Vohu, a Biblical Hebrew phrase found in the Genesis account of creation; the phrase describes the condition of the earth immediately before the creation of light. There’s an interesting parallel in the Babylonian creation myth called the Enuma Elish, which also records the story of <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/225/enuma-elish—the-babylonian-epic-of-creation—fu/" order being brought out of chaos.
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Yes…on an occasion or two…. I love how other languages perfectly capture what it is we need to say.
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isn’t that so very true?
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I must sound ridiculous trying to say it repeatedly…out loud…and in a sentence like a good student….as my pup is tilting her head at me. 🐶😂
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pup is probably laughing inside
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Always I’m sure! 🐶😂
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what a word
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it’s kind of perfect for some situations
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Great word. I will practice using it, starting with my golf game. It fits. 🙂
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ha! i think we all might have a personal example
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Good luck!
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thanks, we needed it
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that is clever and fun, Beth…new word for me…
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I achieve a state close to that daily…
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i find it quite naturally easy to do )
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😀
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that’s a kid that’s into mischief! and a wonderful word. Here’s my attempt at using it:
“After reading my blog, people are in a tohubohu.”
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perfect
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👍
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Haha love this word 😻
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It’s so perfect
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OMG, the puzzles…
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yep!
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I love learning new words; this one describes perfectly the state I find myself in from time to time when faced with multiple options to a single problem 🙂
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same )
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I always like learning new words, and this is one for me. Hmm. Some would say that government is tohubohu.
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it works)
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Oof … a new art project perhaps 🤓☺️💫
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Well…..)
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Oh my. I love a jigsaw puzzle, but … one at a time, please.
I wonder what chaos was occurring in the child’s life to cause this. 😢
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Yes, it was quite a bold move
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Indeed – just in time for school’s end.
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Love the new word! Going to have to use it.
We’re you able to get all the pieces sorted?
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I love the word, too! It took a group of adults and kids, but we did it!
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Sounds like a good mind exercise!
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Wow. That is taking jigsaws to a whole other level of challenge.
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It is!
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My mum used to say tohuvabohu, when we were messy…
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I love that she did that
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Oh, noooooo! I’m afraid to ask how many puzzles were involved in the tohubohu.
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20ish)
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😳😳😳
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On a bad day I would have just thrown them away. On a good day I would obsessively picked them apart and finished all the puzzles!
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We worked as a team )
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