Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: NEOLOGISMS (personal)

Other personal neologisms highlighted as the subject of verses on Giorgio's blogs: 

pelicatessen ("Waterfowl")

DOGgraphy  ("Diagnostic Imaging")

And, playing a supporting role: high-nasty, pelfless, critiquery and remissitude.

Don't like Giorgio's choice in personal neologisms? Stay tuned, and in March we will let you in on some verses about 'classic' neologisms.

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GUIDE to the CINEMA

 

Authors' Note: Director Robert Altman had initially requested music for a single scene in the 1970 movie M*A*S*H; in keeping with the plot, this was to be "the stupidest song ever written". Having difficulty in completing the lyricist's task himself, Altman called on his 14-year-old son, who presumably finished the job in a few minutes. The music for "Suicide is Painless" went on to become highly popular as the principal theme for the movie and the TV series; the lyrics are not widely known, but earned the junior Altman large sums in royalties.

Authors' Note: This verse is a fantasy derived from my favorite gag in the Pink Panther films, which highlight exploits from the career of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. 

  The bumbling Inspector has major troubles in checking into hotels wherever he goes. Many scenes are set in Paris, where everyone speaks perfect English except the protagonist. Beset by a thick French accent, he has difficulty making himself understood, as when he negotiates with a hotel clerk to rent a "r~rheume" (room).

WHEN I'M CLEANING WINDOWS

George Formby's song gives the impression:

Window cleaners, a storied profession,

Can get prurient views          

Anytime that they choose:

As he tells it, that happens each session.

Dr G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2022

Authors' Note: Perhaps the best-known song by British singer, actor, comedian and ukulele artist George Formby, Jr. (1904–1961) was "When I'm Cleaning Windows." The song appeared in the 1936 film Keep Your Seats, Please. Initially banned by the BBC, the song was later revealed to be a favorite of the royal family. 

online photo as displayed in "Ukulele Magazine"

In his films, Formby portrayed a good-natured but incompetent little man from rural county Lancaster, with songs interspersed throughout in which Formby (his character "laced with shy ordinariness") sings, accompanying himself on ukulele or banjo. Apparently, the Beatles, particularly George Harrison, were influenced by Formby and his ukulele performances. 

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Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: (re)DUPLICATIONS

Authors' Note: Reduplications as they are best known, sometimes also called duplications, are language forms (morphs), usually for nouns, in which an element of the word is repeated with little or no change; they figure prominently among the most musical elements in English and in other languages. To this author, the more commonly used term seems redundant. Many other examples begin with the letter 'h', e.g. harum-scarum, helter-skelter, higgeldy-piggeldy, hillbilly, and hubba-hubba.

Authors' Note: The disparaging term gobbledegook was first used in 1944 by a Texas politician named Maverick (scion of the original staunchly independent thinker). Its meaning — pompous, overinflated language — gave rise a few year later to the equivalent bafflegab. These expressions, employing repetition of sounds, have a musical and amusing quality, as do their venerable synonyms --hogwash, poppycock, balderdash, bunkum and tommyrot, but only their close cousin claptrap (alternately clap-trap) -- would qualify as a reduplication.

Authors' Note: (usually, FUD-uhl-dud-uhl, or with a French lilt, as here, fud-uhl-DUD-uhl)

fuddle-duddle: an infrequently used (re)duplication, voiced dismissively in dealing with opinions that the speaker rejects.

In 1971 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of current PM Justin Trudeau, unleashed a minor scandal by using unparliamentary language in the Canadian House of Commons. A portion of the ensuing brouhaha, deftly sidestepped by Trudeau, revolved around whether he had actually spoken or merely mouthed the inappropriate words.

Web discussion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuddle_duddle

Authors' Note: 

(FUD-ee-dud-ee, or as a possibility here, fud-ee-DUD-ee). Another example of a (re)duplication.

Authors' Note: Higgledy-piggledy is yet another (re)duplication relating to disorder and impetuousness whose meaning overlaps with helter-skelter, and harum-scarum.

Authors' Note:  It sure warn't easy to pack the whole bunch of neighbors and pals into a single verse. I had to, with the greatest regret, leave out bumpkins, crackers, chawbacons, clodhoppers, hayseeds and yokels. I'll include 'em next time! 

 

Authors' Note:

bubba: stereotyped male inhabitant of the southern US with an upbeat, but macho attitude

Bubba: frequent nickname for a specific male, as used by his buddies

rubba: rubber (American slang for condom), with typical non-rhotic pronunciation

chick: southern girl

hubba-hubba: intriguing (re)duplication, presumably originating in the US a century ago; an expression of approval voiced by males when viewing a sexually attractive chick
Web-search: https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/06/hubba-hubba.html

HOI-POLLOI

Be prepared, as a plebe, for this blow:

Hoi polloi (Greek) meant every John Doe,

Riff-raff, masses (unwashed);

But that use has been quashed,

By the upper crust now, you should know.


Authors' Note: The (re)duplication hoi polloi derives from the ancient Greek term for the many. This expression, tinged with disparagement, like its close cousin riff-raff, was used in English for some time. In a recent inexplicable twist, as described by speedysnail, hoi polloi has come to be used, in some circumstances, to mean the exact opposite.

SONGS about REDUPLICATIONS!

The authors of the above poetic verses got so enthused about reduplications that they composed a series of patter-songs (in the style of Tom Lehr) dealing with this intriguing linguistic curiosity. If you follow along these links you can learn more grammar, and see dozens of surprising and enlightening examples of this phenomenon. Grab your ukulele, your guitar, or just your larynx, and enjoy singing along!

1)  Lyrics for Singable Satire: "A LESSON ABOUT REDUPLICATIONS" 

2)  A Lexicon: "Examples: Reduplications, A to K"

3)  A Lexicon: "Examples: Reduplications L to Z"

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