Tintamarresque is a French word with no English equivalent, so it becomes the default word in English for what we otherwise call "one of those things at amusement parks and beaches where you stick your head in a hole and there's a drawing on the other side of an implausible or funny scene, like a grotesquely-proportioned couple in old-fashioned bathing suits or you look like you're in the belly of a sea monster or sitting on the moon or whatever?" Typically, people stick their heads in and get someone to take their photograph.

A tintamarre is a loud parade in which revelers play improvised instruments. It also means a loud, discordant noise or dubious claim. A French satiric magazine used the name as a title.

The French applied the adjective form to the standees with cut-out faces, popular since the late nineteenth century and still extent, despite the improved possibilities for photo manipulation introduced by the computer age.

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