Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

When someone's going for a swim swim, it means they're doing it for real, laps and all, and not just frolicking. If they're going to a party, that's probably going to be less party-like than a party party. These are examples of what linguists call contrastive focus reduplication, in which we emphasize a term, or suggest the purest meaning of a term, by reusing it rather than tacking on another adjective. For example, you might just like someone, but then again you maybe you like like them. This is part of a complete episode.

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