A list of 'flip flop' words, where the second part (or sometimes first part) is a vowel (or consonant) different from the other.
The "The History of English Podcast" episode 170 around 32m10s covers these "reduplicatives", their evolution, and their structure very well.
- Aga saga
- Argy Bargy
- Artsy-fartsy
- Back crack (nickname for an osteopath, but also see "Back, sack and crack" in Triplets)
- Band stand
- Big wig
- Booze cruise
- Brain drain
- Bread head
- Bunny funny — See http://order-order.com/2013/09/17/dave-all-ears-for-bunny-funny-apology/
- Chalk talk
- Chiffchaff (a bird)
- Chin sling (wearing a covid mask not over the nose)
- Ching chong (chinaman; sorry if you find this offensive)
- Chit chat
- Chitter chatter
- Chris Cross — see also crisscross
- Clap trap
- Clip clop
- Coal hole
- Cop shop
- Crisscross
- Culture vulture
- Des res (desirable residence)
- Dick pic
- Dilly dally
- Ding Dong
- Dojo
- Dolly trolly
- Dream team
- Easy Peezy? (Lemon Squeezy)
- Fag hag (my own invention is fag-stag)
- Fake bake - fake tan
- Fake sheik
- Fancy nancy
- Fat cat
- Fender bender
- Fiddle-Faddle
- Flavour saver
- Flimflam
- Flip Flop
- Flower power
- Freebie
- Fuddy duddy
- Fun run
- Fuzzy wuzzy
- Gainpain (from https://wordsmith.org/words/gainpain.html)
- Gang bang
- Gender bender
- Ground pounder
- Hanky panky
- Happy chappy
- Happy clappy
- Harumscarum
- Hectic
- Heebie-jeebies (a double flip-flop word!)
- Helter skelter
- Hey day
- Hey ho
- Hi Fi
- Higgledy Piggledy
- Hip Hop
- Hob-knob (or hobnob)
- Hocus Pocus
- Hodge Podge — americanised version of hotchpotch
- Hogen-mogen (from http://wordsmith.org/words/hogen-mogen.html)
- Hoity Toity (but not the hoi polloi)
- Hokey cokey (in, out, shake it all about)
- Hokey Pokey
- Holus-bolus
- Holy moly
- Hoodoo
- hoddy-doddy — a snail; cast iron pots were used on whaling boats to boil up the blubber; a cockold
- (massive) Hoo-ha
- Hong Kong
- Hot Pot
- Hotchpotch — british version of Hodge Podge
- Hubble Bubble
- Hubbub
- Hugger-mugger
- Humdrum
- Humpty Dumpty
- Hurdy-gurdy
- Hurly Burly
- I-Spy (with my little eye)
- Incy-wincy (spider)
- Itsy bitsy
- Itty bitty
- Izzy wizzy (let's get busy)
- Jib jab
- Jibber jabber
- Jiggery pokery
- Jim jams
- Jingle jangle
- King Kong
- kitcat
- Kowtow
- Lardy-dardy
- Lads' Mags
- Laptop
- Loosey-goosey
- Lovely chuvley
- Mag hag
- Mates' Rates
- May Day
- Mishmash
- Misty moisty — one of my Mum's favourite expressions
- Mojo
- Moss Bros (Moss Brothers is a UK gentlemens outfitter)
- Mumbo jumbo
- Namby Pamby
- Navvy Gravvy — come up on BBC's Today programme, and they had to refer to the Urban Dictionary
- Nick nack (also Nick nack paddy whack, a double flip-flop word)
- Niddy noddy (used to wind yarn)
- Nitty Gritty
- Nitwit
- Nun fun — having sex with a nun, see http://www.pootler.co.uk/2022/12/south-chilterns-villages.html
- Okey Dokey
- Pall Mall
- Peg leg
- Picnic
- Pinch Punch (first of the month)
- Ping Pong (apparently, previously called whiff-whaff)
- Pitter Patter
- Pocket rocket
- Pogo
- Pot shot
- Pow wow
- Pub grub
- Rag bag
- Rag tag
- raggle taggle
- Razzle Dazzle
- Riffraff
- Rollypolly
- Rootin' Tootin' (son of a gun)
- Rough-tough
- Royster-doyster
- Rubby-dubby, a mesh bag packed with pilchard heads and guts which was trailed over the side to bring the sharks in - from Channel shore, by Tom Fort
- Rump-jump - jumping up and kicking your bottom, as practiced by spartan girls
- Sci fi
- Seesaw
- "Shick-Shack penny a rag, bang his head in Cromwell’s bag, badness to this house will stay before the next". A shick-shack (or a shig-shag) was an old name for the oak.
- Shilly Shally
- Silly Billy
- Sing-song
- Slip slaps — 17th-century slap soled shoes
- Slipslop
- Splish Splash
- Squatty Potty
- Stippy-Stappy
- Super Duper
- Swap shop
- Teeny tiny
- Teepee (see wigwam)
- Tex mex
- Thigh-high
- Tic Tac (Toe)
- Tick tock
- Ticky tacky
- Tighty whities
- Timtam
- Tip Top (see Top Tip)
- Tippy-tappy
- Tit bit (or Tid bit for our American cousins)
- Tittle Tattle
- Top shop
- Top tip (see Tip Top)
- Toy boy
- Tramp stamp, or sometimes a slag tag - a tattoo
- Trout pout
- Vice versa
- Vomit comet
- Voodoo
- Walkie-talkie
- Waylay
- Wham Bam
- Whale tail
- Whatnot
- Wheeler-dealer
- Whippersnapper
- White flight
- Wibble wobble
- Wi Fi
- Wigwam (see teepee)
- Willy Nilly
- Wingding
- Wishy washy
- Woolly pully — white jumper worn by early british submariners
- Yummy Mummy
- Zig Zag
And some that are almost there, except they've got a bit in the middle:
- Abracadabra
- Bric-à-brac or tête-à-tête (see also Accented Words)
- Brouhaha
- Ding-a-ling
- Honky-tonk
- hither and thither
- La-di-da
- Marks and Sparks
- Meet and greet
- Odds and Ends
- Razzmatazz
- Rub-a-dub-dub
- Slice 'n' dice
- Spits and Spurts
- Tit for Tat
- This and that
- Ware and tare
And these fail, because they just repeat themselves:
- Ha ha (a ditch)
- Pompom
- Ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off ferry)
- Tuktuk
- Yoyo
(My list is limited to only the ones I've heard of or come across)
A Word A Day calls these words "The Reduplicatives" and includes: "argle-bargle", "hotsy-totsy", "palsy-walsy", "tussie-mussie" (but I've never heard of them).
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