Here are some lists compiled by Nicholas Denyer, with the aid of contributions from Sidney Allen, Cathy Atherton, Susan Aufgang, Lynne Broughton, Graham Chinner, James Clackson, Sarah Clackson, Chris Decker, Neil Hopkinson, Jane Hughes, Denis Marrian, Jeremy Maule, Robert Wardy.
JINGLE-JANGLES:
(h)abdabs
(the screaming)
Ab Fab
(Absolutely Fabulous)
AC/DC
(bisexual)
Acey Deucey
(version of backgammon)
airy-fairy
Ally Pally
(Alexandra Palace)
ambler gambler
Andy Pandy
(character on children's TV)
argie-bargie
("ergo", as used in disputations)
arsey darsey
arsey-versey
(head over heels)
arty-farty
arty-tarty
Ashta-kashta
(board game of Indian origin)
baby boomer
back pack
Bali belly
barmy army
(England cricket supporters)
BCBG
("bon chic, bon genre" = Sloaney)
bee's knees
better-notter
big wig
blackjack
blue blood
boho
(Bohemian)
bon ton
boob tube
boogie-woogie
boo hoo
Bow Bells
bow wow
boy toy
(gun, fast car, etc.)
brain drain
bum boat
bum chum
(catamite; cf. "bosom friend")
busy body
busy Lizzie
charivari
cheeky chappie
Chicken Licken
(character in children's books)
chiff-chaff
chip shop
chitter-chatter
Chunky Monkey
(brand of ice cream)
clap-trap
Click-Clack
(brand of storage jars)
clink-clank
clip-clop
clitter-clatter
clunk-click
(seat belt slogan)
Coca Cola
cop-shop
cosi cosa
creature-feature
(item on Tiswas)
creepy-crawly
crinkum-crankum
(knotted intricately)
criss-cross
crop-top
culture vulture
Curly-Whirly
(brand of confectionary)
CV
date rape
Dead head
(fan of Grateful Dead)
Delhi belly
des. res.
dicky ticker
(bad heart; from "dicey ticker"?)
dilly-dally
ding-dong
dippy-hippy
(fatuously New Age)
double trouble
dream team
Dreddhead
Driller Killer
(once notorious video nasty)
drip-drop
Dry Fly
(brand of sherry)
eager beaver
easy osie
(Scots: easy going)
easy peasey
even Stevens
(fair shares)
Evil Knievel
(dare-devil motor-cyclist)
fag hag
(woman fond of homosexual men)
fan-tan
(Chinese gambling game)
Fasta Pasta
fat cat
fee fi fo fum
fender-bender
(minor car accident)
fell fiend
fible fable
fiddle faddle
fiff-faff
Fizz-Buzz
(drinking game)
flash-trash
flat tack
(NZ: tired out)
flick-flack
(type of somersault)
flim-flam
(sleight of hand or tongue)
flip-flap
(nonsense)
flip-flop
flower power
Foxy Woxy
(character in children's books)
fro yo
fuddy-duddy
fun fur
fun run
funny bunny
(funny peculiar)
fuzzy wuzzy
gang bang
gee gaw
geek chic
gender bender
Georgie Porgie
gibble-gabble
(foreign speech)
ging gang
(where horse walks to turn mill)
God squad
goosegog
grandstand
greenery-yallery
hackerty-backerty
(to count seconds)
handstand
handy-andies
(brand of paper hankies)
Handy Dandy
(kissing game)
Hanklyn-Janklin
(updating of Hobson-Jobson)
hanky-panky
happy-clappy
hard hat
harum-scarum
hashish
hedgehog
heebie-jeebies
heigh ho
hell's bells
helter-skelter
Henny-Penny
(character in children's books)
hey-day
hickery-pickery
(a type of drug)
hickory-dickory
hi fi
higgledy-piggledy
high five
highlight
hip hop
(style of dancing)
hippety-hoppety
hobby-bobby
(part-time PC)
hobo
Hobson-Jobson
(Anglo-Indian dictionary)
hocus pocus
hoddy-noddy
(a fool)
Holy Moly!
hogo
(bad breath, from French "haut gout")
hoity-toity
hokey cokey
holus bolus
(bogus Latin: "entirely")
Hong Kong
honky tonky
hootchi-coochi
hotch-potch
hot head
hot pot
hot shot
hotsy-totsy
how now?
hubble-bubble
hubbub
hugger-mugger
hullaballoo
humdrum
Humpty Dumpty
Huncamunca
(tragic heroine)
hunky dorey
hurdy gurdy
hurly-burly
hustle-bustle
hysteron proteron
icky wicky
ill will
itsy-bitsy
Jeepers Creepers
(American, to shun blasphemy)
jibber-jabber
jiggery-pokery
jiggy-joggy
(of rapid travel, on horse)
jingle-jangle
jim-jams
(infantile: pajamas)
jump jet
kicky wicky
(Shakespeare: wife)
King Kong
Kit Kat
(brand of confectionary)
knickerbockers
knick-knack
know how
kowtow
Ku Klux Klan
Lanky Panky
(character in children's books)
lap-top
Lib-Lab
li-lo
lily livered
Linger-Longer
(children's card game)
linsey woolsey
(Shakespeare: linen and wool mixed)
listeria hysteria
lock pick
lovey-dovey
lubbelly-jubbelly
Mad Max
mama
Maui Wowee
(form of cannabis)
Mayday
Milly Molly Mandy
(character in children's books)
mini crini
Mini Minor
mish-mash
moaning minnie
Mod Squad
(on '60s TV)
mop-chop
(hair-cut)
mumbo jumbo
mummy
muscle Mary
(manly Lesbian)
namby-pamby
Naughty 'Nineties
near beer
night light
nig-nog
niminy-piminy
nitty gritty
nit wit
no go
noodnik
(Yiddish: fusspot, fool)
no show
oboe
(was once "haut bois")
odd bods
ogle-mogle
(a pudding)
Oingo-Boingo
(a pop group)
okey-dokey
olde worlde
omnium gatherum
(bogus Latin)
Organ Morgan
(character in Under Milk Wood )
orang-utan
Pall Mall
palsy-walsy
papa
party pooper
party popper
pay-day
peg leg
pell-mell
pen friend
pen pal
penny pincher
Pickwick Papers
Pfizer riser
(aphrodisiac)
picnic
pie-eyed
piggywiggy
pilpul
(Yiddish: hair-splitting argumentation)
ping pong
pindy-pandy
(conjuror's word, like "abracadabra")
pinky-winky
(little finger)
Pisha Pasha
(card game)
pishery-pashery
(nonsense)
pitter-patter
plain Jane
play way
(hedonist)
plip-plop
polo
pomo
(post-modern)
pooper scooper
pot shot
Potty Putty
(brand of children's modelling clay)
pow-wow
Praggers Waggers
(Varsityese: the Prince of Wales)
pseudo Tudor
R2D2
rack rent
rag bag
raggle-taggle
rag mag
ram raid
ram rod
rat race
rat-tat-tat
razzle dazzle
rich bitch
Ricky Ticky Tavi
(mongoose in the Jungle Books )
riff-raff
Rin Tin Tin
rip roar
road rage
rococo
roister-doister
roly poly
rootin' tootin'
Royal Mail
(why not "Royal Post"?)
Rude Food
(soft-porn book)
ruck-sack
rugger bugger
rumpy-pumpy
(sexual intercourse)
sci fi
seesaw
Seventh Heaven
Shaker-Maker
(brand of children's toy)
shell shock
shilly-shally
ship shape
shock jock
short sharp shock
(Gilbertian penal policy)
short shrift
sicknick
(Yiddish: one who likes black humour)
silly billy
Simple Simon
sin bin
(place of detention)
sing-song
skid lid
(crash helmet)
skimble skamble
(disordered)
slapdash
slip-slops
(slippers)
slow coach
snail mail
snicker-snacker
snip-snap
space race
Spiro-Gyro
(children's toy for drawing spirals)
spoil sport
squeegee
Steady Eddie
(Governor of Bank of England)
Stinker Pinker
(nickname of Wodehouse character)
stranger danger
stun gun
superduper
super-trooper
(large spotlight)
swan song
swing-wing
swisser-swasser
("Sweet Sir Walter", ecstatically)
tank top
T.B.
teasey-weasy
(society hairdresser)
teensy-weensy teeny-weeny
teepee
teeter-totter
(Canadian: see-saw)
tell tale
Telly Welly
(Welsh TV programme)
Tex-Mex
think tank
tick-tack
(bookies' sign language)
tick-tock
Tic-Tac
(brand of confectionery)
tic-tac-toe
(American: noughts and crosses)
tip-toe
tip-top
Tiswas
(children's TV programme)
tittle-tattle
tohu-bohu
toowit toowoo
topsey-turvey
Top Shop
toy boy
traduttore traditore
Tricky Dicky
(sobriquet: Richard Nixon)
tric trac
(version of backgammon)
true blue
tuppenny-ha'penny
Turkey Lurkey
(character in children's books)
tutti frutti
TV
Uhu
upsy-daisy
V.D.
vice versa
vomit comet
('the aeroplane in which astronauts achieve their first experience
of zero gravity' - Economist 23.12.95, p. 127)
voodoo
wacky baccy
(cannabis)
walkie-talkie
wampum
Wavy Navy
(Naval reserves)
what not
(furniture)
wheeler-dealer
whipper-snapper
wibbly-wobbly
wiggle-waggle
wigwam
willy-nilly
wimbly-wambly
(of upset stomach)
wing-ding
(a knees-up)
wishy-washy
witches' breeches
(Australian: long knickers)
won-ton
wrig wrag
yoo hoo
zig-zag
zoot suit
JINGLE-JINGLES
ack-ack
agar-agar
aye aye
baa baa
bang-bang
Barbar (rugby club)
beri-beri
bob-bob (defecate)
bon-bon
booboo
bulbul (Persian bird)
buzz buzz (in Hamlet )
bye-bye
can-can
cha-cha
chi-chi
chin-chin
choo-choo
chop chop
cocoa
cous cous
dada
din-din
dodo
dumdum
Duran Duran
fifty-fifty
frou-frou
gaga
gee-gee
gilly-gilly
girlie-girlie
go-go
goody goody
haha
ho-ho-ho
housey housey
hush hush
jaw-jaw
jug-jug
ju-ju
knock-knock
Koko (the clown)
lulu
mama
Mau-Mau
motmot (riverine bird)
muu muu (shift dress)
Naf-naf (clothing company)
never-never
night-night
no-no (the noun)
papa
paw-paw
peri-peri (small hot beans)
pip-pip
pocketa-pocketa (noise of internal combustion engine, says OED)
pooh pooh
puff-puff
rara
ro-ro
Sing Sing
so-so
Tartar
ta-ta
Tintin
tomtom
Toto (pop group)
tsetse
tusk tusk
tut tut
tutu
twenty-twenty
two-two
wa-wa (electric guitar)
waw waw (check the vowel, in SOED as type of monkey)
wee wee
willie-willie (whirlwind)
woof-woof
ylang-ylang
JINGLE-AND-JANGLES
beck and call
bed and board
bits and bobs
Bradford and Bingley (Building Society)
cash and carry
cheap and cheerful
chopping and changing
classes and masses
dribs and drabs
fiddle and faff
flotsam and jetsam
G and T
high and dry
hither and thither
king and country
kiss and cuddle
kith and kin
Marks and Sparks
mix and match
nobs and yobs
odds and sods
pic'n'mix
Pinky and Perky (puppets on children's TV when I was young)
pitch and put
pongs and gongs (variant on "smells and bells")
pots and pans
Pride and Prejudice
primp and preen
rough and ready
Sense and Sensibility
smells and bells (High Church)
so and so
spic and span
stars and stripes
such and such
surf-n-turf
thick and thin
this and that
thrills and spills
to and fro
top and tail
toss and turn
town and gown
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
yin and yang.
(Latin: urbi et orbi)
Unsorted: Tinky-Winky (Teletubby), Hasta la pasta, Famous Amos (cookies) --when I was a kid, the Helter-skelter was the cone shaped construction at the Fairground, with a semi-enclosed spirally-descending track around its outer wall, that one raced down seated on a mat.
"willy-nilly" >comes from "will he" (or won't he?). It almost seems to be a reversal of Latin nolle volle
RIME nitwit lovey-dovey super-duper handy-dandy boogie-woogie cf. chock-a-block ding-a-ling with the limiting case of verbatim repetition, as in: pooh-pooh so-so bye-bye cf. so-and-so through-and-through Also common in nursery words: mama dada pee-pee boo-boo Note hifi from high fidelity with vowel shift to create rime HS: also note 'sci-fi' (in the same pattern.) ABLAUT sing-song criss-cross chit-chat wishy-washy doo-dad cf. spic-n-span bric-a-brac even tic-tac-toe Some examples may display onomatopoeia along with verbatim repetition, rime or ablaut, e.g. Choo-choo murmur ga-ga Bow-wow hubbub Tick-tock ding-dong ping-pong flip-flop pitter-patter The independent base word is usually the second word, as in: chit-chat nitwit But it may be the first word: super-duper tick-tock Both words may be attested: sing-song handy-dandy Or perhaps neither, esp. when the combination enjoys onomotopoeic motivation, as in: ga-ga boogie-woogie Interestingly, many rime and ablaut combinations in English retain a non-serious character even after centuries of use, e.g. handy-dandy, recorded in 1362, pitter-patter, in 1425, riffraff, in 1470
Zany-brainy, Smarte-cart, dust-buster [ghost-buster, fuzz-buster, based originally on 19th century trust-buster], Mod-Squad, and non-brand names like zoot-suit, motor-voter, queen of mean, snail-mail, schlemiel-appeal, boob-tube, airy-fairy, arts-craftsy [also artsy-fartsy]. Four-on-the-floor, or 4x4 [four by four] for 4-wheel drive vehicles..., ficto-facto, sci-fi, vi-spy (Virus-Spy, a virus detector, based on "I spy" or ?), mall-crawl (cf. "pub crawl"), poop-scoop. 'fender bender':