What is a term (or idiom) for someone who enters and exits without a request or order?

Question

In Mesopotamian Arabic, the the idiom "khirri mirri" (خِرِّي مِرِّي) is used for those who haphazardly enter and exit a building like they own the place - Basically "in and out" in a disorganized or disorderly way, without much thinking and obedience to rules.

"Khiri miri" (خري مري) literally means "going in and out without permission". But in practicality, Arabic speakers use it to indicate chaos/no rules, or the instability and the ineffectiveness of a person's actions or movement.

In Arabic, it describes, and can define, many different situations, including, say, a disorganized wedding party or a concert where people don't follow rules. Is there a similar term or idiom in the English language?

An example (one of many examples, since the Arabic idiom can be used for many contexts):

• Jenny: I'll go and see the king of England tomorrow at his office, then I'll head to the market.
• John: You can't just go in and out of his office, "khiri miri" ("insert English idiom"). He's the king of England!

Example 2:

• Adam: Gee, school today was [khiri mirri/insert English term]. No rules, students going in and out, teacher sitting on her desk doing nothing.

Here is a video where "kheri meri" is used in the Aramaic language, with English subs (3:08 mark, but the video is already time linked):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3AkTl83weg&start=188

For etymological reference, Khiri is from the Arabic khareer/خرير meaning leak. And miri is from the Arabic mr/مر meaning passing by.

Answer 1

Willy-nilly may fill the bill, though Merriam-Webster gives as its first sense “by compulsion : without choice.” The other sense it gives is “in a haphazard or spontaneous manner.”

Answer 2

I'd suggest changing your focus to the verb: how about

"You can't just waltz into his office"

Obviously a waltz is literally a dance, but Oxford Languages provided by Google offers this sense for the word as well:

move or act lightly, casually, or inconsiderately.
"you can't just waltz in and expect to make a mark"

I'd say for your context, someone just casually strolling in without permission to someplace he has no business being, this expression is perfect.

Update: I saw a remark form the original question asker saying that this did not quite fit due to the emphasis on going frequent coming and going. In this case, I think you can use "waltz in and out" and your meaning will be understood. I tried a search for this phrase and found some dialog from a television program that I think will make my point:

Noah: I want to see Joanie.

Luisa: You can't just waltz in and out of her life when it's convenient.

I also found an editorial entitled "Hinduism isn't a country club one can waltz in and out of" arguing something about how one cannot convert away from Hinduism and convert back.

Answer 3

Helter skelter

Has a nice sound, and means the same "without any particular order". Often written hyphenated: helter-skelter:

In undue haste, confusion, or disorder Merriam-Webster

"You can't just go in and out of his office helter-skelter. He's the king of England!"

See also: running from place to place and (WRT the SWR tag) Is "helter skelter" a word or two words or two non-words?

Answer 4

Commonly used expressions for conveying that one has (or more usually has not) licence (or the ability) to act freely in a certain regard are:

• at will [phrase]: when and as one chooses

                                        Some yoga practitioners can slow their heart rates down at will.

Synonyms

• as you please
• at your pleasure
• at your desire
• at your whim
• at your inclination

[Collins]

• You can't just go in and out of his office at will. He's the king of England!

Answer 5

Another phrase that fits the 'chaotic' part of the question is:

higgledy-piggledy

in a confused, disordered, or random manner

from Merriam-Webster

Example:

People had already been marching in and out of his office all higgledy-piggledy the entire morning.

Answer 6

This one is slightly old-fashioned:

You can't just go in and out of his office, without so much as a by-your-leave. He's the king of England!

Cambridge Dictionary has

without so much as a by-your-leave
without asking for permission

That's twice now he's just walked in here without so much as a by-your-leave and picked a book off the shelf!

Farlex has

by your leave
With your permission.

The four developers just up and left without a by-your-leave to go set up their own company.

Answer 7

Harum-scarum is a colloquial/slang reduplication with a similar range of meanings and can also be used as different parts of speech like the Arabic khirri mirri, such as a noun (for a person or an action), an adjective, and an adverb. It covers different senses like disorderly, reckless, rash, unruly, wild. It can be a bit old-fashioned but it is still used.

adjective

1. reckless; rash; irresponsible:
   He had a harum-scarum youth.

2. disorganized; uncontrolled.

adverb

3. recklessly; wildly:
   He ran harum-scarum all over the place.

noun

4. a reckless person.

5. reckless or unpredictable behavior or action.

dictionary.com

Pell-mell is another reduplication very similar in meaning, but it lacks the noun usage for a person. It still covers a range of usages and parts of speech. The usage is more common than harum-scarum per OED's frequency band.

adverb

1. in disorderly, headlong haste; in a recklessly hurried manner.

2. in a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, manner, etc.:
   The crowd rushed pell-mell into the store when the doors opened.

adjective

3. indiscriminate; disorderly; helter-skelter:
   a pell-mell dash after someone.

4. overhasty or precipitate; rash:
   pell-mell spending.

noun

5. a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, etc.

6. disorderly, headlong haste.

dictionary.com

Answer 8

We would use the expression "Like you own the place"

used to say that a person is behaving as if he or she has the right to tell other people what to do.

For example: "You can't just walk in there like you own the place"

Answer 9

The "coming and going" aspect is covered pretty well by yo-yo, I think. If you want to emphasize the rudeness, you'd add something like "rude" to it. In the end, you'd get something like this:

Speaker #1: Can you believe that guy? He keeps going in and out of His Majesty's office like he owns the place! Who does he think he is?

Speaker #2: I know, right? He's the rudest bloody yo-yo I've ever seen!

You know, the more I think about it, the more I like this idiom in this context. You see, by itself, "yo-yo" communicates a haphazard/thoughtless attitude to a lot of readers. It's reminiscent of idealistic hippies (who, due to their relentless idealism, a lot of people do consider brainless) and young children (who are also not known for their forethought or consideration). And due to the ease with which yo-yoing goes wrong, it's well suited to describe serial romantics — you know, those who get into relationships quickly (parallels with the apparent low skill threshold for yo-yoing), finds it goes terribly wrong terribly quickly (needs no explanation) and ditches it just as quickly (which is a normal response to a fouled-up yo-yo).

Enjoy!

Answer 10

Thanks to HippoSawrUs for bringing it up in the comments - I believe revolving door is a very good contender, as it has a sense of the idiom's original definition of "in and out", "coming and going" and "back and forth". Google defines it as:

an organization that people tend to enter and leave very quickly.

Example sentence:

• The newsroom became a revolving-door workplace

Cambridge Dictionary defines revolving door as:

If you say that a situation is a revolving door, you mean that people or other things are continuously coming and going, rather than staying somewhere.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/revolving-door

Merriam-Webster:

characterized by a frequent succession (as of personnel) or a cycle of leaving and returning

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolving-door

Seems more business and politics-related, but maybe it can apply for other situations and purposes.

And the obvious Comings and goings as well:

Comings and goings refers to the way people keep arriving at and leaving a particular place.

• They noted the comings and goings of the journalists.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/comings-and-goings

Answer 11

even with things like falling in love, and falling out of love again

In cases like that one, you could say that the person runs hot and cold. TFD defines it as:

To vacillate between two opposing or starkly different states, opinions, or behaviors.

Answer 12

"You can't just go in and out of his office, making yourself at home. He's the king of England!"

If you are not invited to "make yourself at home", it will be quite impolite to feel free to behave as if you lived there.

Answer 13

The word interloper could be an appropriate answer to the question in the title:

What is a term (or idiom) for someone who enters and exits without a request or order?

Answer 14

In a tizzy captures some aspects of what you're after, indicating an agitated or chaotic state of activity. Someone in a tizzy is typically in a nervous or anxious state of mind, and are acting quickly and in a disorganized manner. Their actions may not follow proper procedure or rules, and are often ineffective. It usually describes a single person's unusually heighted activity, rather than a group of people or a situation. It describes well a single person who is acting chaotically and ineffectively, but probably wouldn't be a good fit to describe an unruly classroom.

Answer 15

A word for the person doing the coming and going, not for the coming and going itself, could be "interloper."

"There was an interloper at today's meeting. He turned up without a badge and we had to show him the door."

As an aside, in the film industry, someone not involved in the production who wanders into a scene (but isn't supposed to be there) is known as a "lookie-loo" (that's very specific to the film industry).