The theme of the week is: super-duper terms, sometimes also called ricochet words. "Reduplication".

Today's AW-WAD is "holus-bolus" [Day 5]: Please scroll down.

The AW-WAD for Day 1 is:

airy-fairy (AIR-ee FAIR-ee) adjective

1. Light, delicate, fragile.

2. Fanciful, impractical, unrealistic.

[From Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1830 poem Lilian whose opening lines are: Airy, Fairy Lilian, Flitting, fairy Lilian, When I ask her if she love me, Claps her tiny hands above me, Laughing all she can.]

"Airy-fairy"! Now that's a super-duper change of pace, Anu.

I'm going to post a whole week's worth of "airy-fairy" words in one ALAD this week, so I'll post it here and be done with it. [That will please themilum because he will have only one ALAD to honor with "Place Two" instead of the usual five.]

If you skip through life splish-splash
Life's an airy-fairy bash.
But never flip-flop
Or you'll slip-slop
Through a loosey-goosey, mish-mash.

Edit: Oops! I fib-flubbed! I couldn't resist doing an ALAD for "hubble-bubble". [As Maverick would say: ;) ]

I didn't know these were all "ricochet" words, but it makes sense.

Have you ever heard of a "ricochet romance"? Slam-bam, thank you, m'am.

Looks like "airy-fairy" took a turn for the worse after D. H. Lawrence got hold of it:

"ORIGINS: Early usage of airy fairy (Tennyson, WS Gilbert) relates to being delicate. By 1920s (DH Lawrence) it had become disparaging, meaning weak and insubstantial. By the late 19th Century, "fairy" was an anti-gay insult. Now almost a comic term, could have been applied by Dennis the Menace to Walter the Softy." ["Walter the Softy"?]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/1666371.stm

The AW-WAD for Day 2 is:

hubble-bubble (HUB-buhl-BUB-buhl) noun

1. A form of hookah: a smoking device in which the smoke is passed through a bowl of water, making a bubbling noise, before being drawn through a long pipe.

2. Commotion, uproar, turmoil.

[Reduplication of the word bubble.]

Can "hurly-burly" be far behind?

Here's a review of the movie "Hurlyburly" with Sean Penn which mined some of its deepest psychological insights from Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

Extract:

The story's most obvious allusion is to Shakespeare's "Macbeth": "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won." The movie's opening shot is of thunder and lightning (on a TV screen), and, certainly, Eddie is fighting an uphill battle with life; like Shakespeare's protagonist he is constantly railing against his plight. At one point Eddie says, "We're all just background in each other's life, ...cardboard cutouts bumping around in a vague spin-off of...life." Compare that to Macbeth's despair at the end of his career: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

http://www.dvdtown.com/review/hurlyburly/2171/304/

Today's AW-WAD is:

riprap (RIP-rap) noun

1. A protective foundation, embankment, etc. made of loose chunks of stones placed together.

2. Material used for such a construction.

verb tr.

To construct, or strengthen with, a riprap.

[Reduplication of rap.]

Anu's sample usage today uses the word "riprap" metaphorically as in "political riprap", as follows:

Access to Everett's waterfront has been blocked by railroad tracks, asphalt and political riprap, said Peggy

Personally, I'm not so sure "political riprap" is the same kind of riprap we're rapping about today. Political riprap is small talk - I can go along with that - but small talk won't shore up your foundation if a storm is coming your way. A politician will give you a lot of small talk but precious little riprap when you actually need it.

A lot of folks say politicians get a bad rap. But a lot more say it isn't half bad enough.

That's the real reason they call a politician's small talk riprap.

BTW riprap is also known as "rubble". And the ricochet word for "rubble" is "rumble". So when I say "Let's get ready to rumble!", who do you think of? Michel Buffer*? Wrong Answer! Roberto "Manos de Piedra" Duran.

So you could call riprap "Duran" for short 'cause it's a fistful of rock -- but never make the mistake of calling Roberto "riprap". He might think it's a rap. And then rip-rap, you're in bad shape. If you were in bad shape to begin with, you can pretty much call it a wrap. 'Cause they're gonna be playing "last taps" for you, for sure.**

He [Duran] was nicknamed Manos de Piedra (Hands of Stone). A popular legend is that Duran, as a youngster, knocked out a horse with one punch. This legend contrasts with a famous personal side of Duran: He is also a well known animal lover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Duran

* "Let's get ready to rumble"
http://www.lingeriebowl.com/Celebrity-Bios/Michael-Buffer-Full-Bio.htm

** Last Taps:

Day is done
Gone the sun
From the hills
From the plains
From the sky
All is well
Safely rest
God is nigh.

And who can resist, on this final note, to say "Good night, Johnny" [to quote themilum] to the King of Late Nite RipRap: Johnny Carson

Here's an interesting related word from Dr. Bill [wwh]:

On Cape Cod, to reduce erosion of beach sand, large stones are piled perpendicular to the shore, as much as six feet wide and six fee high and 100 feet long. Called groins. Groynes is probably an older spelling.

groyne

n : a protective structure of stone or concrete; extends from shore into the water to prevent a beach from washing away [syn: breakwater, groin, mole, bulwark, seawall, jetty]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=groyne

Thanks, Dr. Bill.

Today's AW-WAD is:

niminy-piminy (NIM-uh-nee PIM-uh-nee) adjective

Affectedly delicate or refined.

[Origin uncertain; probably alteration of namby-pamby*]

It makes you want to sing, doesn't it?

Niminy-piminy shim-shim-sharoo

Note: "Chim-Chim-Cheree" - Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews (won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song") - Wikipedia

* NIMBY to PIMBY
Policy change to bring about Please In My Back Yard [from Not In My Backyard]
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/NIMBY_20to_20PIMBY

Today's AW-WAD is:

holus-bolus (HO-luhs BO-luhs) adverb

All at once.

[Apparently a reduplication of bolus (lump), or a rhyming compound based on the phrase whole bolus.]

These words that start off looking "holy" have a lot of big expectations to live up to, don't you think? I mean you wouldn't expect "holus-bolus" to mean part of the "whole thing". No, it's got to be "the whole thing". And it can't be later, say, a week from next Tuesday. No, it has to be now. It has to be the "whole thing now".

That's the whole thing about "holus bolus".

Have you ever seen a kid swallow up a whole bowl of oatmeal raisin cookies fresh out of the oven? That's "wholus bowlus"! Now, you know what I mean.

holus-bolus = All at once. It just occurred to me that it is the opposite of hokey-pokey.

Holy-moley, you're right, Jackie. Never thought of that. Someone who is just pokin' along isn't tryin' to get anywhere very fast, or anywhere at all.

Sounds like a kid playin' hookey from school. What could be more hokey pokey than that!

Wanna see some hokey-pokey penquins doin' the "Hokey Pokey"? You gotta get into the rhythm of it first. Here are the lyrics:

You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out;
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/hokey.htm

Hey, plutarch. The link's not working here.

Hey, Wordwind. Don't know why the link doesn't work here. But if you copy and paste it into your browser it will work. At least, it works for me.

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/hokey.htm

Well, it doesn't work that way either, plutarch. Isn't technology fascinating.

Isn't technology fascinating.

Sometimes it's downright unfastenating, Wordwind.