A little mischief can make life more interesting, but there is a fine line between harmless play and mayhem. These words and phrases can be used to describe everything from silliness to tricks, sneakiness and even outright scams.
Shenanigans
Meaning: secret or dishonest activities that people find interesting and sometimes funny. It can also describe less serious or mischievous behaviour.
Example: What shenanigans do you think our classmates will get up to during the summer holidays?
Horseplay
Meaning: physically rough and rowdy play that may risk breaking items or causing injury
Example: Knock off that horseplay! We are surrounded by expensive crystal vases, and I don’t think it will end well.
Caper
Meaning: dishonest, dangerous or illegal activity. It is more commonly used to discuss improper activities that are amusing and not serious
Example: We planned a daring midnight caper to steal the school mascot.
Monkey business
Meaning: dishonest, sneaky or silly behaviour
Example: There is some monkey business going on in that company. How can they have only existed for two months and already made a billion dollars?
Tomfoolery
Meaning: silly behaviour, often done as a joke
Example: We had a substitute teacher this week, so my class has been getting up to all kinds of tomfoolery.
Quackery
Meaning: the methods or behaviour of someone who pretends to have medical knowledge. It often involves methods that do not work and are only intended to make money.
Example: Dr Lam told you drinking lemon juice and chicken broth would make you smarter? Sounds like quackery to me.
Flim-flam
Meaning: ideas, statements or beliefs that you think are untrue and silly. It is usually meant to confuse or deceive someone. This noun can also be used as an adjective and verb to describe someone trying to con you.
Example: Anson’s idea to make lots of money sounds like flim-flam to me.
