English▸ noun [in singular] British informal a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views:
there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship.
– ORIGIN early 19th century : perhaps from Scots curfuffle (probably from Scottish Gaelic car ‘twist, bend’ + imitative Scots fuffle ‘to disorder’), or related to Irish cior thual ‘confusion, disorder’.