A lengthy and complicated procedure — an unnecessarily elaborate process that tests patience.
From ragman roll, a medieval game where players drew strings attached to verses on a scroll. The term came to mean any long list of items, then any tedious procedure. A children's game became bureaucracy.
Rigmarole was a children's game — pulling strings attached to silly verses on a scroll. Somehow it evolved into the word for everything annoying about paperwork and procedure. Childhood play became adult frustration, and the word tracked the journey.
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