Today’s ramble focuses on expressions pairing words that rhyme or have very similar sounds, making them both more memorable (it’s easier to recall something that rhymes), and also amusing. There’s a comic inventiveness to many of these, a play with words reminiscent of Cockney rhyming slang, in which a word or phrase stood for something that rhymed with it. “Trouble and strife,” for example, signified “wife.”
I’m sure you’ve heard most of these playful combinations before. Feel free to add any I don’t include in a comment below.
Upsy-daisy: This is probably the first such term that children learn. It’s typically said by an adult who’s lifting a toddler, or righting one who has had a tumble.
Image from moviegoers.com.
Topsy-turvy: Unorganized, dramatic and erratic, or inverted, turned upside-down. The latter sense inspired the title of the wonderful 1999 movie about the making of The Mikado Topsy Turvy, and was apparently used by Gilbert to describe his favourite type of storyline in which social mores and classes turned upside-down.
Higgeldy piggledy means random, all over the place, and is synonymous with topsy turvy. Not to be confused with Piggly Wiggly -- the name of a supermarket chain in the USA. In the Cohn brothers’ movie O Brother, Where Art Thou, one of the convict protagonists admits to knocking over (robbing) a Piggly Wiggly.
Herky-jerky: something moving like a manual-transmission car with a beginner driver — proceeding in fits and starts, suddenly stopping, speeding away, etc.
Easy-peasy refers to something that today might be called a no-brainer – in other words, elementary, or very simple.
Righty, tighty; lefty, loosey. I learned this one when hanging out with other motorcyclists who did some of the maintenance on their own bikes. Most threaded fasteners (bolts, nuts, screws) have their threads in a clockwise spiral, so if you imagine a wrench pointing straight up as it’s fixed on a bolt, turning it to the right will tighten it.
Hotsy totsy: Just right, perfect, or comfortable. It sounds similar, but “hoity-toity” means someone pretentious or who puts on airs.
Creepy crawly: refers to creatures that seem creepy, or uncomfortable, and crawl or wiggle. Phobias inspired by these insects and reptiles are quite common.
Heebie jeebie: Usually plural (heebie jeebies), a physical sense of fear or dislike. If that guy gives you the heebie-jeebies, don’t hang out with him.
Chilly willie: This one was new to me (thanks, Reddit contributors) and is said to be a “regional term for cheap flavored ice pops that usually come in long, tubular plastic pouches.” I’ll let you figure out the “willy” part. It also “refers to a method of ingesting alcohol, often vodka, through the nose or, less commonly, the eyes,” (Pop Culture Dictionary) and a popular character, a small penguin, in Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
Silly billy: Describes someone who’s missing the point, or acting strangely, not like their usual selves.
Sneaky snacky: popular educational game for pre-schoolers, featuring the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.
Loosey Goosey: Relaxed, undisciplined, and careless are some of its meanings. One source says, “A set of rules or guidelines can be considered ‘loosey goosey’ if they’re vague or not consistently enforced.
Itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie: Put your hand up if you’re old enough to remember Brian Hyland’s 1960 novelty song “Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” It includes these immortal lyrics:
“It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the water she wanted to stay…”
Fiddle-faddle “Fiddle Faddle is candy-coated popcorn produced by ConAgra Foods, introduced in 1967.” Originally it meant something considered nonsensical or trivial. It is close in meaning to jibber-jabber (meaningless speech) and mumbo jumbo, words that are confusing or make no sense.
Flibbertigibbet: “is one of many incarnations of the Middle English word flepergebet, meaning "gossip" or "chatterer" (others include flybbergybe, flibber de' Jibb, and flipperty-gibbet). It is a word of onomatopoeic origin, created from sounds that were intended to represent meaningless chatter.”
Flippy-floppy is a more entertaining way to say “floppy”. ”Making Flippy Floppy” is the title of a Talking Heads song. Closely related: cheap sandals called flip-flops, because of the way they flip up and down as you walk in them.
Plug-ugly can act as a noun, meaning a bully or violent trouble-maker; or an adjective (“That is one plug-ugly outfit”). Interesting historical fact: “The Plug Uglies were an American Nativist criminal street gang, sometimes referred to loosely as a political club, that operated in the west side of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1865.” Their name may reflect the fact that they favoured plug hats — like a top hat, but with a shorter crown. (Wikipedia)
Sing-song: refers to words chanted in a monotone fashion, or with rising and falling pitches.
Late additions (which, of course, I remembered after first posting this):
Hubble-bubble: a hookah
Wibble-wobble: unsteady, shaky; also the title of a popular kids’ song, Wibble, Wobble, Jelly on the Plate by Susan Cranston.
Wham, bam, thank you Ma’am: a phrase which Wiktionary defines as “Denoting swift, formulaic, and unromantic sexual intercourse.” Variations of the phrase turn up in Billie Holiday’s autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, and the songs “Sufragette City” (David Bowie) and “Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ma'am!” (Dean Martin).
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My pal Wendy suggests the following:
How about "SUFFICIENTLY SUFFONCIFIED"?! and is there a PRIZE?!