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Flip-Flop Words

Page history last edited by Piran 2 months, 1 week ago Saved with comment

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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