ALLITERATIVE AND RHYMING PHRASES AND COMPOUNDS
[Sidenote: _Alliterative Phrases_]
A love of alliteration and rhyme in phrase and compound has always
been characteristic of English as a whole. We tend naturally to say
weary and worn, or sad and sorrowful, and we cling to compounds like
helter-skelter and pell-mell. We even begin the education of our babies
by teaching them to call a dog a bow-wow, and a horse a gee-gee. It is
not, therefore, surprising to find this prevalence still more marked
in the dialects, where all normal tendencies have fuller sway than in
the standard language. Some of the alliterative compounds are very
expressive. A few examples are: _chim-cham_ (Som. Dev.), undecided
talk, e.g. You niver can’t get no sense like out o’ un, cause he’s
always so vull o’ chim-cham, which was said of a certain candidate for
Parliament; _easy-osie_ (Sc.), easy-going, e.g. He was an easy-osie
bodie, a kind of we’ve-aye-been-providit-for-and-sae-will-we-yet
sort of man; _feery-fary_ (Sc.), tumult, noise, passion, cp. ‘Cupido
... Quha reft me, and left me In sik a feirie-farye,’ Montgomerie,
_Cherrie_, 1597; _flim-flam_ (Som. Dev.), idle talk, nonsense, e.g.
Don’t thee ever tell up no such flim-flam stuff, else nobody ’ont
never harky to thee, nif ever thee’s a-got wit vor to tell sense;
_giddle-gaddle_ (Yks. Chs.), a contrivance used instead of a stile
or gate, an effective bar to cattle and a trial to stout persons;
_giff-gaff_ (Sc. Irel. n.Cy. Nhb. Yks. Lei.), mutual obligation,
reciprocity, used especially in the proverbial saying: giff-gaff
makes good friends. A farmer said in reference to a douceur which his
landlord’s agent appeared to expect: Chiff-chaff, feer an’ squeer,
that’s roight enew, but this here giff-gaff grease i’ fist sort o’
woo’k doon’t dew for may. The word is found as far back as the year
1549 in one of Latimer’s sermons: ‘Giffe gafe was a good felow, this
gyffe gaffe led them clene from iustice.’ _Hiver-hover_ (Stf. War. Wor.
Shr.), wavering, undecided, e.g. Did’n yo goo? No, I wuz ’iver-’over
about it fur a bit, but as I said I oodna, I didna; _kim-kam_ (Shr.),
awry, perverse; _midge-madge_ (I.W. Som.), confusion, disorder, e.g.
Go home hon a will, ’tis always the same, all to a midge-madge, and
her away neighbourin’; _miff-maff_ (n.Cy. Yks. Lan.), nonsense,
foolishness; _mingle-mangle_ (Sc. Lan. Lei. Nhp.), a medley, a
confused mixture, cp. ‘_Centon_, a mingle-mangle of many matters in
one book,’ Cotgr.; _nilder-nalder_ (Yks.), to idle, to waste time,
to pace along idly, e.g. Nilder-naldering and sinter-sauntering;
_pip-pop_ (Bck.), a swing-gate, such as is called in many dialects
a kissing-gate; _reel-rall_ (Sc. Irel.), a state of confusion,
disturbance; _trinkum-trankums_ (Sc. Cum. Lan. Chs. e.An.), trinkets,
gewgaws; _wee-wow_ (Chs. War. Wor. Shr. e.An. Som. Dev. Cor.), crooked,
ill-balanced, unsteady, e.g. I knowed well enough that loäd ŏŏd never
raich wham, it wuz all wee-wow afore it lef’ the fild. As a noun it is
common in the phrase: all of a wee-wow. It can also signify squinting,
e.g. ’Er babby’s eyes is drefful wee-wow-like. Dr. Johnson exhibits
some contempt for this type of word, as for example: ‘Twittletwattle.
n.s. [A ludicrous reduplication of _twattle_.] Tattle, gabble. A vile
word.’ Cp. _Twattle_ (Yks.), foolish talk, gossip.
In some dialects even the cat takes up the alliterative tale; the
purring sound she makes is called _three thrums_ (Sc. Cum. Yks. Chs.
Lin.), and when children beg to be told what she sings, Pussy’s song put
into words is: Three threads in a thrum, Three threads in a thrum.
[Sidenote: _Glunch and gloom, Peak and pine_]
It is very common to find two verbs of similar meaning coupled
together by _and_, as for instance: to _blare and blore_, of cattle,
to bellow, low. A Lincolnshire preacher, discoursing on Saul’s capture
of Agag said: You seä Samuel was a prophet o’ th’ Loord, an’ was not
to be sucked in wi’ Saul’s lees, soä he said unto him: ‘Saul,’ says
he, ‘your goin’ about to tell me ’at you’d dun as the Lord tell’d ye
is all a heap o’ noht at all. Do ye think I can’t hear them theare
beäs blarin’ an’ bloorin’, an’ them sheäp bealin’ oot? Naaither God
nor me is deäf, man.’ To _chop and change_ is so common as to have
become a colloquialism. It is a very old phrase, occurring as far back
as fifteenth-century English literature. Tusser has: ‘... chopping
and changing I cannot commend with theefe and his marrow, for feare
of ill end.’ To _glop and gauve_ (Yks.) means to stare stupidly,
gaze open-mouthed; to _glunch and gloom_ (Sc.), is to look surly or
sulky, to whine, grumble; to _peak and pine_ is to waste away, cp.
‘Weary se’nnights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine,’
_Macbeth_, I. iii. 23; to _pell and pelfer_ (Chs.) is to eat daintily,
to pick and choose when eating; to _quimble and quamble_ is to fondle,
caress; to _rap and ran_ or _rein_ (Lakel. Yks. Ess.), _rap_ and
_rear_ (Lin.), _rap and reeve_ (Cum.), are all expressions signifying
to seize with violence, get by any means, fair or foul; to _rap and
rend_ (Sc. n.Cy. Shr. Hrf. e.An.) has the same meaning, but can also
bear the sense of to destroy property, waste. Dr. Johnson has: ‘To Rap
_and rend_ [more properly _rap and ran_ ...] To seize by violence,’
exemplified by a quotation from Butler’s _Hudibras_. To _rug and rive_
(Sc. n.Cy.) is to pull and tear, to drag forcibly. A Northumbrian
proverbial saying is: Like the butter of Halterburn, it would neither
rug nor rive, nor cut with a knife--it was confounded. To _screw and
scruple_ (Brks.) is to beat down in price; to _steven and stoor_ (Yks.)
of the wind, is to howl and bluster. To _tew and tave_ (n.Cy. Lin. Dor.
Som.) is to toss, to throw the hands wildly about as a person in fever
does; to _tug and tew_ (Yks.) is to toil, to work hard and incessantly,
e.g. T’poar slave mun tug an’ tew wi’t wark Wolivver shoo can crawl; to
_twist and twine_ (Nhb. Cum. Yks.) is to whine, cry, to be peevish and
out of temper; _squetched and skywannocked_ (Lin.) signifies all awry;
to _meddle or_ (_and_) _make_ (in gen. dial. use) is to interfere in
matters which do not concern one--the phrase is generally used in the
negative, as in the old Berkshire proverb: Quoth the young cock, I’ll
neither meddle nor make.
In the same way two nouns beginning with the same letter are yoked
together to form a phrase, as for example: _care and cark_ (Sc. Nhb.
Cum. Yks. Lan. Glo. Suf. I.W. Som.), anxiety, sorrow; _by raff and reng_
(Yks.), by little and little; _scrap and screed_ (Wm.), every particle,
e.g. He’s geean, an’ teean iv’ry scrap an’ screed he could lig hands on.
_I’ve neither brass nor benediction_ (Yks.) means I am quite destitute.
Of a total disappearance it may be said: There was nowther head nor hair
on’t, moit nor doit (n.Yks.).
[Sidenote: _Rhyming Words and Phrases_]
Beside these are the rhyming words and phrases, such as:
_argle-bargle_ (Sc. Lin.), to argue; _crawly-mawly_ (e.An.), poorly,
ailing; _dimmy-simmy_ (Shr.), languishing, affected; _eeksie-peeksie_
(Sc.), equal, on an equality; _ham-sam_ (Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan.), adv.
irregularly, confusedly; _hanchum-scranshum_ (Lin.), bewilderment,
confusion; _havey-cavey_ (Yks. Lan. Der. Nhp.), unsteady, trembling in
the balance; _hay-bay_ (Lakel. Cum. Yks.), a hubbub, uproar, commotion;
_hirdum-dirdum_ (Sc. Lan.), confused, noisy mirth; _how-skrow_
(Lakel.), disorder, a state of confusion, e.g. It’s cleenin’ time
an’ we’re o in a how-skrow; _kabbie-labby_ (Sc.), an altercation,
wrangle; _mimpsy-pimsey_ (Dev.), fastidious, affected, e.g. Whot a
poor mimpsey-pimsey craycher ’tez, tü be sure; _nibby-gibby_ (Cor.),
a narrow escape; _otty-motty_ (Chs. Der.), suspense, e.g. Keepin’
him in otty-motty, an noather tellin’ him one thing or another--it’s
enough to vex annybody; _pinky-winky_ (n.Cy. Lan. Nhp.), very small;
_quavery-mavery_ (e.An.), undecided, hesitating; _rory-tory_ (Som.
Dev. Cor.), loud, noisy, also gaudy, tawdry, e.g. Of all the rory-tory
bonnets ever you zeed, Mrs. Vickery’s beat ’em all, he was all the
colours of the rainbow. The word occurs in Fielding’s _Jonathan Wild_,
cp. ‘Cavaliers and rory-tory ranter boys.’ _Tacky-lacky_ (Som. Dev.),
a drudge, a person at every one’s beck and call, e.g. Poor maid, her’s
tacky-lacky to all the tother sarvunts.
[Sidenote: _Moil and toil, Rape and scrape_]
To _biver and wiver_ (Ken. Dev.) means to shake and tremble, e.g. Aw,
Loramassy, Joan, ’ow you did stertlee me! I’ve abin a-bivering an’
a-wivering iver zince. Yü shüde be more thortvul; to _blare and stare_
(War. Glo.) is to wander about, e.g. What bist a blarin’ and starin’
thur for?; to _codge and modge_ (War.) is to muddle and cobble, e.g.
You’ve codged and modged this sewing pretty well; to _haggle and jaggle_
(Yks. Lakel.) is to quarrel; to _holler and boller_ (Lei.) is to shout,
halloo, e.g. They was a-’ollerin’ an’ a-bollerin’, yo moight a-’eern ’em
a moile off; to _moil and toil_ (in gen. dial. use) is to work hard,
e.g. Yo met’n mwoil an’ toil a couple o’ ’ours, an’ ’ardly get a wisket
full. Tusser tells us in his autobiographical poem:
When court gan frowne and strife in towne,
And lords and knights saw heauie sights,
Then tooke I wife, and led my life in Suffolke soile.
There was I faine my selfe to traine,
To learne too long the fermers song,
For hope of pelfe, like worldly elfe, to moile and toile.
To _rape and scrape_ (Chs. Not. Glo. e.An.) is to scrape together, to
get by any means in one’s power; to _raunch and scraunch_ (War. Shr.) is
to snatch greedily, e.g. Look at that ŏŏman [a gleaner] raunchin’ an’
scraunchin’, ’er’ll be all o’er the fild afore the others bin in at the
gate; to _slave and drave_ (Wil.) is to toil; _shaffling and haffling_
(Chs.) means acting in an undecided, shilly-shallying way; _wafting and
draughting_ (Chs.) means bustling about; to _wink and skrink_ (Cor.)
means to make signs by winking. The following story is told of a Cornish
lad: he had been left in charge of the Sunday dinner whilst the family
were at church, and like King Alfred, he let it burn. He repaired to the
church, and endeavoured by his energetic signs from the porch, to draw
out the housewife. She in turn made signs to him to wait, when, growing
impatient, he cried out: ‘Yiew may winky and skrinky as long as yiew du
plase, but the figgy dowdy [plum pudding] is burnt gin the crock.’
_By habs and nabs_ (Yks. Lin.), and _by hobs and jobs_ (Shr.) are
phrases signifying little by little, bit by bit; _by hulch and by
stulch_ (Chs.) is equivalent to by hook or by crook; _hitheracs and
skitheracs_ (Yks.) are odds and ends.