The rule of Ablautreduplication.

Why doesn't 'tock-tick' sound right to your ears?

Ever wondered why we say :

tick-tock, not tock-tick,

or ding-dong,

not dong ding;

King Kong,

not Kong King....?

Turns out it is one of the unwritten rules of English that native speakers know without knowing!

The rule, explains a BBC article, is :

"If there are three words then the order has to go......

I, A,O.

"If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O".

"Mish-mash,

Chit-chat,

Dilly-dally,

Hilly-shally,

Tip-top,

Hip-hop,

Flip-flop,

Tic-tac,

Sing-song,

Ding-dong,

King Kong,

Ping-pong".

There's another unwritten rule at work in the name Little Red Riding Hood, says the article.

"Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order :

Opinion - Size - Age - Shape - Colour - Origin - Material - Purpose - Noun.

So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife.

But if you mess with that word order in the slightest.....you'll sound like a maniac".

That explains why we say "little green men" not "green little men",

But "Big Bad Wolf" sounds like a gross violation of the "Opinion (bad) - size (big) - noun (wolf)" order.

It won't, though, if you recall the first rule about the I-A-O order....!! Got it....?

That rule seems inviolable :

"All four of a horse's feet make exactly the same sound.

But we always, always say clip-clop, never clop-clip".

This rule even has a Technical Name....!

If you care to know it.....

the Rule of Ablautreduplication!

But then....

Life is Simpler, Knowing that we Know the Rule....Without Knowing it.

Tailpiece.

Got up a trifle past 6, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10. No maid, so it was Lekha's show all the way. A quiet Saturday.

Participated in the 550th edition of the Aazhchakkoottam : "Development with people's participation" by Shri K Jayakumar, IAS from 1600 - 1715 hrs. It was quite interesting!