Butterfly

 

The lyrics to the 1958 song go, “Splish splash I was taking a bath.” It was Bobby Darrin’s first big hit. You probably know all the words, and there’s a chance you’ll have the tune stuck in your head the rest of the day. But I’ll bet you’ve never asked yourself, “Why splish-splash? Why not splash-splish?” There’s actually a rule governing these things. It’s not one you were taught in school, but you KNOW it. If the vowel order reverses, it just sounds WRONG. We say, “criss-cross” and never “cross-criss.” Someone making sharp turns is “zig-zagging,” never “zag-zigging.” Clocks don’t go, “tock-tick.” We don’t complain about “raff-riff,” and Mary Poppins never says “spot-spit.” If you can’t make up your mind, you might be called “wishy-washy,” but never “washy-wishy.” Or you may “flip-flop,” but not “flop-flip.” The phenomenon is called ablaut reduplication, and it isn’t strictly an English thing. Evidently the Japanese, Chinese and Turks do this, too.