Why is "discombobulate" allowed to be a word?

Is "bobulate" a word? What does it mean to bobulate someone? Did Sherlock Holmes ever say "I nEeD tO bObUlAtE tHiS gUy"? Yeah, that's what I thought. The grammar nazis need to do an investigation and arrest someone.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SW-User

It's a word whose origins are fanciful rather than serious. It doesn't mean anything etymologically. It just kind of resembles "discompose" and "discomfit" and means the same thing. Apparently the original form was "discombobricate".

The word "copacetic" is completely fabricated too.