Playful English

“How was the language conference?” asked Jill

“After all the topsy-turvy of the travel getting there, it was easy-peasy” said Jack

“Lovely-jubbly” replied Jill, smiling

“I was worried that after all the to-ing and fro-ing in English, the instructions in other languages would all sound like mumbo-jumbo, but apparently they weren’t a hodge-podge at all! ” continued Jack

These rhyming words add colour to speech in an informal context. They can even be used at work if you think everyone else will understand. There are many other examples; jiggery-pokery, higgledy-piggledy, tittle-tattle, and wishy-washy, to name a few:-). Try using them with your friends and see what they say:-)

For the record:

topsy-turvy …. not well organised
easy-peasy …. very easy
lovely-jubbly … fantastic
to-ing and fro-ing … first one direction or decision, then the opposite
mumbo-jumbo…. unintelligible words
hodge-podge … a confused mixture of different things
jiggery-pokery … secret or dishonest behaviour
higgledy-piggledy … disorganised
tittle-tattle …. gossip
wishy-washy … vague