“Botheration”

Back in 1973-5, the East Indian doctor my wife worked for used this word, and we–university educated types– chuckled, only knowing of the common word “bother”.

Many years later, I noticed that Oxford recorded the word as an informal, but legitimate substitute for “bother” as in “He caused us much botheration”.

Ah well, words and lifelong learning, to say nothing of a ‘comeuppance’ of sorts for one’s feelings of superiority where language use is concerned.