Very early in our lives as language users we start taking great pleasure in repeating playful sounds. In the crib and romper room we babble ma-ma , da-d, and bye-bye. Soon we are intoning such ditties as eeny meeny miny moe, fee fi fo fum and hickory dickory dock, not because they make a lot of sense to us, but because they satisfy a primal craving for rhythm and rhyme.
The appeal of such playful repetitions is especially evident in the story of Chicken Little (also known as Chicken Licken) and his friends Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey and their nemesis Foxy Loxy.
These doublets are called reduplications, and some have intriguing origins. The hob in hob nob is a projection from a fireplace used to warm drinks; the nob is a table on which the drinks are placed — an appropriate setting for hob nobbing. A hodge podge was originally a stew of many ingredients and has broadened in meaning to signify a widely varied concoction, a mess. Willy-nilly issues from the phrase “will I, nill I?” nill being an obsolete word meaning “not to will, to refuse.” Many linguists attribute nitty-gritty to the Black English expression “grits like nits,” that is, “lice (nits) that are hard as grits.”
I invite you to discover the ubiquity of rhyming reduplications in our language by playing a super duper, handy dandy, okey dokey, razzle dazzle, hotsy totsy, tip top game. Match each clue in the left-hand column with the appropriate reduplication, or reduplications, in the right-hand column:
| 1. a kind of radio microphone | boogie woogie |
| 2. that which is basic | bow-wow |
| 3. an old stick-in-the-mud | crumbum |
| 4. a barrel organ | even Stephen |
| 5. characterizing the rabble | flibberty gibberty |
| 6. a dog’s bark | fuddy duddy |
| 7. wimpy | fuzzy wuzzy |
| 8. a suggestive dance | handy dandy |
| 9. outwardly affectionate | hanky panky |
| 10. Native American tent | heebie-jeebies |
| 11. Native American council | helter skelter, pell mell |
| 12. meaningless chatter | herky jerky |
| 13. short and pudgy | hob nob |
| 14. a call to gain attention | hocus pocus, abracadabra |
| 15. flashy | hoi poloi, ragtag |
| 16. useful and wonderful | hoity toity |
| 17. an equal split | hoky poky |
| 18. magician’s incantation | hootchie-kootchie, fan tan |
| 19. a type of blues music | hugger-mugger |
| 20. close friendship | humdrum |
| 21. furry | hurdy gurdy |
| 22. a confused state | hurly burly, hustle bustle |
| 23. boring, routine | lovey dovey |
| 24. erratic movement | mumbo jumbo, folderol |
| 25. sexual activity | namby pamby |
| 26. slow | nitty-gritty |
| 27. extreme nervousness | okey dokey, super duper |
| 28. snobbish | palsy walsy |
| 29. to socialize | powwow |
| 30. without plan | razzle dazzle, hotsy totsy |
| 31. uproar, tumult | roly poly |
| 32. to keep secret | teeny weeny, itsy bitsy |
| 33. expression of approval | tepee |
| 34. very small | walkie-talkie |
| 35. frivolous, flighty | willy nilly |
| 36. an unsavory character | yoo hoo |
Answers
- walkie-talkie 2. nitty-gritty 3. fuddy duddy 4. hurdy gurdy 5. hoi poloi, rag tag 6. bow-wow 7. namby pamby 8. hootchie-kootchie, fan tan 9. lovey dovey 10. tepee 11.powwow 12. mumbo jumbo, folderol 13. roly poly 14. yoo hoo 15. razzle dazzle, hotsy totsy 16. handy dandy 17. even Stephen 18. hocus pocus, abracadabra 19. boogie woogie 20. palsy walsy 21. fuzzy wuzzy 22. helter skelter, pell mell 23. humdrum 24. herky jerky 25. hanky panky 26. hoky poky 27. heebie-jeebies 28. hoity toity 29. hob nob 30. willy nilly 31. hurly burly, hustle bustle 32. hugger-mugger 33. okey dokey, super duper 34. teeny weeny, itsy bitsy 35. flibberty gibberty 36. crumbum