Don't Forget Large Marge

A few of the many examples of the rhyming duplications or "echo words" that follow the rule of the first half beginning with a softer sound than the second.

• Achey-Breakey
• airy-fairy
• artsy-fartsy
• backpack
• bedspread
• brain drain
• chill pill
• double trouble
• fancy-schmancy
• fender-bender
• fuddy duddy
• hanky-panky
• heebie-jeebies
• helter-skelter
• herky-jerky
• higgledy piggledy
• hobnob
• hocus-pocus
• hoity-toity
• hokey-pokey
• holy moly
• hootchie-kootchie
• hurdy-gurdy
• hurly-burly
• hurry-scurry
• itsy-bitsy
• lovey-dovey
• miminy-piminy
• namby-pamby
• night flight
• nitty-gritty
• okey-dokey
• pell-mell
• pooper-scooper
• ragin' Cajun
• razzle-dazzle
• roach coach
• roly-poly
• sci-fi
• Slim Jim
• super-duper
• Super Trooper
• walkie-talkie
• Wavy Gravy
• willy-nilly
• wingding

It's amusing to me that the pairs follow this rule so closely and that people would so naturally chose "super-duper" over "duper-super," even though the latter might easily make as much sense to someone who had never heard the expression before.

There are, of course, many exceptions — "Plain Jane," "tutti frutti," "teeney-weeney," "Maui Wowee" and "peg leg" perhaps among the most familiar — and some of the calls on which letter sounds softer are arguable, but in general the ones that get spoken most often adhere, I'm told.