who’s with me on this? have any of you also scurryfunged?
To scurryfunge is to hurriedly clean the house before company arrives. This word has had a looser meaning of “to move rapidly” since the early 19th century but likely wasn’t used in the sense of a rapid cleanup until the 1950s, when it appeared in U.S. regional dialects. One definition was included in the 1975 book Maine Lingo by John Gould: “a hasty tidying of the house between the time you see a neighbor coming and the time she knocks on the door.” “Scurry” means “to move in or as if in a brisk pace,” but “Funge” remains a bit of an etymological mystery. This is debated. Some sources say it was a word in Old English, others say it is of “jocular formation.’’
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source credits: babushka cat, interesting words, maine lingo, john gould
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I didn't have my glasses on.... 
Whatever it’s called, I certainly have done it!
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Scurryfunge… scurryfunging…. I have learnt a new term that totally describes my way of running my house…. But I rarely scurry other than then. There are way more fun things to do in life 😂
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i stand with you on this
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Awesome!! I love learning new words!!
Yes, I can remember this from way back in my childhood days. No one waited for an invitation back then…just showed up. Luckily we could see them coming for a quarter mile up or down the road.
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lucky indeeed -)
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I’ve definitely done this! 😂
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same!
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I just saw this word on Twitter, 5 minutes ago. It defines how I have lived my life! ☺️
Best wishes, Pete.
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this is my cleaning plan
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😉😉😉
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Very interesting word.
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A new word 🤗
Love it
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It’s the only way my place get a good clean!
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it works like magic
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This is me. To be honest, we often make plans to invite people over just to give us an incentive to deep clean the house. 🤣
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it works!
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😅
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I never knew that word! I’ve done that, a lot, though!
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now you can add it into conversation -)
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Old time expressions are great. Cattywampus is another one.
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i love that too!
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Guilty!
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same!
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Great word!
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i have to agree!)
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I “scurryfunge” before my cleaner comes in on every 2nd Tuesday morning, Beth …
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So nice of you-
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I am an EXPERT scurryfunger! Now, to remember the term…
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Same!!!
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Guilty. And thanks for teaching me a new word.
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i think we all do this at times -)
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Guilty as charged.
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you must have scurryfunged when i was coming over for dinner!)
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I will be doing that today. I have company coming tomorrow. :)
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excellent!
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Excellent????? No, but definitely necessary. :)
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for me it is, because it gives me the nudge i need not to delay
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Same here. I have been cleaning off and on all day. I’m almost done, but I am taking a break to make a cake. :)
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a good reason for a break!
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I thought so too. :)
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Having company come out is excellent. It’s the cleaning I’m not looking forward to. :)
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right – definitely not the fun part )
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NO WAY!!!!!
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Fingers is not a word I’ve ever come across. Scurry I do know. That’s me, always scurrying around.
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it’s a great combo
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Funny word. I never heard it before. As for the action it describes, yes, I’ve done such thing before 😂 funny image too, Beth. Xo
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yes, i’m pretty sure most of us have done this )
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Thanks for introducing me to a delightful word!
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are you are scurryfunger like many of us?
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I have thought that is a good thing about having company, the house gets cleaned.
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a bonus!
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We joke that our house only gets cleaned when we invite someone over or we go away for a few days. The cleaning before vacation thing is me — I hate coming home to a messy house!!! Ha ha. The last time we went away for the weekend. My wife laughed at me. “Do we really need to change the sheets !!?!?” Ha ha. Love that you’re a word collector!
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i do the vacation one too! yes, i l clearly. love words
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Oh, there is a word for this! Thanks for sharing. I have gotten a lot better, but I was definitely a scurryfunger in the past!
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Oh, I am the president 🤣
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co-president here
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I did not know the word scurryfunge. I learned something knew. I guess me and my wife have been doing a lot of scurryfunging.
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many of us are quite good at it
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I love this so much, Beth. We feel like professional scurryfungers this month. :)
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it sounds like you guys are at pro level!)
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Wow! That’s definitely me. Only when I know company is coming does my house get the honest scrutiny and scrubbing it deserves.
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right, it’s motivating –
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When my husband and I were younger, we would invite company over for dinner every few weeks to give us a reason to clean the house.
Not quite but sort of the same idea.
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yes, that makes perfect sense to me –
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Great word! Who among us has not scurryfunged?
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let them speak now, and we shall stop over soon
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Fascinating.
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I do that. Doesn’t everyone? LOL
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i assumed so )
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What a great word – and yes, I totally do that whenever visitors are due… So now I know: I’m a scurryfunger!
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good to know a fellow scurryfunger –
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haha – yes – we have done this many times – hahah
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i’m with you –
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❣️
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When I hear company is coming, I scurry to lock the doors, turn out the lights, and pull the shades.
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that’s the scurry-plunge version
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this IS my sister’s M.O.
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i am guilty as well
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🤣🤣 ah yes, if anyone claims they’ve never had to do this, they’re a boldfaced liar 🤣
Im guilty as charged many times over.
Great new word, too.
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same, and i’m a word collector, so i love words like this
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Lol.. It’s going up in the staff room today. My daily vandalism at the office, lol.
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Ps.. somehow…I became unsubscribed so I subscribed again.
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wp gremlins at play, thanks!
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The Oxford English Dictionary has its oldest citation for scurrifunge (with an i) from 1777.
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thanks! it’s been around a while..
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that’s me to a t!!!! having lots of visitors turning up unannounced I aLways have the perfect excuse for my messy flat. And everybody visiting me knows that I see very little and doesn’t expect that the furniture is dusted. IF anyone should make a remark I’d show them where the dusters and vacuum are living…
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I’m with you
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Ha…Tara is scurryfunging in anticipation of a blog visitor next week.
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Who could resist a “Babushka cat”? Wonderful!
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Not I!
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That is me, plus putting stuff into closets. I love the cat babushka image.
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yes, the closets!
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😀
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Pingback: The Saturday Blogroll Recap, June 6, 2026 – Chuck The Writer
That cat looks quite a lot like me in my winter garb – minus the head scarf!
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mirror image !)
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Haha, Im doing it right now… my sister is coming to stay :-)
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scurry on!
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Yes… that’s me.
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