It goes without saying that English has a variety of lexical forms which are undoubtedly worth discussing on this blog. Moreover, they look and sound amusing which makes them easier to learn for people interested in extending their vocabulary. These forms are called REDUPLICATIVES. They are words created by reduplicating (doubling) a single lexical form to form a new one, e.g. bye-bye. Sometimes reduplication involves a change of one vowel (e.g. chit-chat). The third type of reduplicatives is formed by putting rhyming words together, as in helter-skelter. In my article I am inviting you to the journey through the world of reduplicatives! I will describe selected, more interesting and useful examples of such words and give their Polish equivalents.
EXAMPLE
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EXPLANATION
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POLISH EQUIVALENT/TRANSLATION
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airy-fairy (ADJ)*
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not clear or practical
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nierealny, niedorzeczny
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argy-bargy (N)
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noisy disagreement
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awantura, afera
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chit-chat (N)
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conversation about things that are not important
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pogaduszka, gadu-gadu
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dilly-dally (V)
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to take too long to do sth, go somewhere or make a decision
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wahać się, obijać się
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easy-peasy (ADJ)
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very easy
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łatwizna
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fuddy-duddy (N)
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a person who has old fashioned ideas or habits
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wapniak
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helter-skelter (N)
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done in a hurry and in a way that lacks organization
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bez ładu, bezładny, na łeb na szyję
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higgledy-piggledy (ADV)
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in an untidy way that lacks order
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w nieładzie, jak popadnie
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hodge-podge; hotch-potch (N)
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a number of things mixed together
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miszmasz
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itsy-bitsy; itty-bitty (ADJ)
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very small
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maleńki, tyci-tyci
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mumbo-jumbo (N)
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something that seems important but in fact has no sense
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brednie
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namby-pamby (ADJ)
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weak or too emotional
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lelum polelum
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nitty-gritty (N)
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the basic or most important details of something
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sedno sprawy
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shilly-shally (V)
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to take a long time to do sth
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wahać się, zastanawiać się
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willy-nilly (ADV)
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whether you want or not
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chcąc nie chcąc
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wishy-washy (ADJ)
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not having clear ideas or beliefs; not bright in colour
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mętny, rozmyty, nijaki
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Of course, there are many more
instances of reduplicatives, some of which are, let`s say, more ‘serious’,
lexical words, whereas others are just ‘trivial’ ones (like onomatopoeic ha-ha,
or knock-knock and so on). Some examples of websites about reduplicatives can
be these:
Interestingly, in some languages reduplicatives are not only lexical forms, they can also have grammatical
functions. For instance to produce plural forms.
*ADJ - adjective, ADV - adverb, N - noun, V - verb, just in case:)
Reduplicatives sound funny and I'll try to learn most of them. I like especially fuddy-daddy and mumbo-jumbo ^^.
ReplyDeleteNice article! :)
I have to be honest with you, I have never heard of most of these. And even though a lesson on reduplicatives seems interesting, I have to ask: are they actually being used at all in a day to day life? Because they seem pretty old fashioned to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great article nevertheless and I enjoyed reading it ;)
Regards,
Faerie
Well yes, it is true that some of them are pretty archaic (like for example shilly-shally, or hanky-panky). Most of them date back to 16th or 18th century (an interesting example could be shilly-shally again; it originates from question tags "shall I" or even "shill I", which is not to be found in present-day English at all:) so the reduplicative shilly-shally even preserves the form "shill" which does not exist in English today. And of course, reduplicatives are used in rather informal contexts and they are really used there!! Things like mumbo-jumbo, or nitty-gritty do occur in sitcoms etc. And, I must admit, people using them create their own style, some kind of idiolect etc. I think so:)
DeleteWell, that explains a lot :D This is actually some pretty fascinating stuff. Yeah, in sitcoms you get to hear all sorts of strange phrases, but I also found that elder people tend to use these, especially when talking to youngsters.
DeleteLovely bit of language history you gave me there ^^ appreciate it. So is "shill" like an older version of "shall" or is it something else entirely?
Faerie
No, it`s a bit complicated story. I did some research and "shill" exists mainly as a noun and has a completely different meaning (as you can see for example here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shill). "shill I" belongs to the phrase "shill I, shall I" and this is just an older version of "shilly-shally" and simply means "to keep changing your opinion or thoughts", also known in dictionaries as "vacillate". So, all in all, it is not an older form of "shall", which comes from Old English 'sceal'. A bit later it already turned into "shall"; even Shakespeare used to use "shall" (perhaps you can find some samples here: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Hamlet,_Prince_of_Denmark/Act_3) :)
Deleteand yes... I believe some elder people tend to say so. Personally I could hear it in classes; one of the instructors that teach me keeps using them, especially "nitty-gritty":)
Delete