You may not like jibber - jabber or when life become helter skelter , but it ’s heavily not to like words created by what linguists call “ reduplication . ” Sadly , not all reduplicative words , despite their charm , catch on . Here ’s a feeling at 12 that deserve to be rescued from their mostly blank out property in lexical history .
1. Pribble-prabble
This word , which hasbeen aroundsince the 1500s , has the same meaning as its root , pribble , which is specify as “ an contention or quarrel , especially one that ’s petty or peanut . ” The expressionpribbles and prabblesmeans the same . Needless to say , every comment part in the multiverse is full of pribble - prabble .
2. Curly-murly
This Son from the 1700s basicallymeans“really curly , ” so finger free to use it the next time you see someone with next - storey scroll . Curly - murlycould also come in ready to hand when making hairdo requests of well - record hairstylist .
3. Evo-devo
Evo - devofirst appeared in a 1997 exit ofSciencemagazine , and it has a more scientific sense than the rest period of the list : “ Rudolf Raff and other pioneers have joined forces to make a young field call evolutionary developmental biota , or ‘ evo - devo . ’ ” So technically , evo - devois an abbreviation , but it walks , talks , and looks like a reduplication .
4. Fingle-fangle
This term is related tonewfangled , which convey a dismissive attitude toward new stuff and nonsense , indicate it ’s a bunch of Vanessa Stephen , whistling , and crapola . Afingle - fangleis either a piece of junk or an idea so whimsical and unreal that it ’s barely deserving discussing . The OED ’s old exercise — from 1652 — includes the phrasefingle - fangle style , which is meet . Anything fashionable is probably not go to last .
5. Flaunt-a-flaunt
Resembling words likerub - a - dubandpit - a - pat , the sixteenth - hundred termflaunt - a - flauntwas often apply to birds — or masses who ruffle like birds . An excessive touchdown celebration could be deliberate aflaunt - a - flauntdisplay .
6. Gibble-gabble
This word formeaningless babblingdates back to the 1600s and is related togabble , meaning “ speedy , unintelligible speech . ” It can be an adjective as well as a noun , as look in a 1693 reference to “ Gibble gabble Gibbrish . ”
7. Brittle-brattle
This echoic Book usuallyrefers toa rattle phone . Here ’s an 1874 instance record by the OED : “ On a mild evening , the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - batrachian unresolved theirbrittle - brattlechorus on the edge of the pool . ”
8. Bibble-babble
Bibble - babbleis fundamentally babble — it can mention to any form of empty talk of the town and has since the 1500s . InTwelfth Night , Shakespeare offered some intelligent advice : “ Endeauour thy selfe to sleepe , and leaue thy vaine bibble lallation . ” In other words , “ exclude up and go to bottom . ”
9. Skimble-skamble
Here ’s another word that turn up in Shakespeare : InHenry IV Part 1 , the phraseskimble scamble stufferefers tononsense .
10. Flippy-floppy
We ’re all conversant with the somerset - flop — a favorite exercise of all pol — but here ’s a variation with a little something extra . Flippy - floppyhas been around for more than 100 year , and it still pops up here and there , like in this 2003 Australian newspaper article about a dog : “ Let ’s face it , the Pommie with the gunk - goo eyes andflippy floppyhair only ever act as as himself , a form of inept , loose bozo with a few bob . ”
11. Havey-cavey
Anythinghavey - caveyis uncertain or dodgy in some way . The extraction of the term is itself havey - cavey , but it might be related to the wordhaver , a verb imply “ To talk foolishly or inconsequently . ” An 1891 glossary object lesson picture that havey - cavey - cape can be a serious issue : “ A young man who was very inauspicious was said to be in a very havey - cavey res publica , paddle between living and destruction . ”
12. Wibble-wobble
Thisalternationofwobbleisn’t vulgar , but it ’s shockingly fat , spawning at least two other uncommon variations . Anything tottering or oscillating can be describe using the phrasewibblety - wobblety , and ungainly words or movements can be visit “ wibbly - rickety . ” In fact , that termturns upinJames Joyce’sUlyssesin an expression that needs to be used more often : “ Bless me , I ’m all of a wibblywobbly . ”
A version of this narration ran in 2016 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
Related Tags
