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

Eve Merriam wrote a wonderful poem with the theme of reduplication:

By the Shores of Pago Pago

Mama's cooking pots of couscous,
Papa's in the pawpaw patch,
Bebe feeds the motmot bird,
and I the aye-aye in its cage,

Deedee's drinking cups of cocoa,
while he's painting dada-style,
Gigi's munching on a bonbon
(getting tartar on her teeth),

Toto's drumming on a tom-tom,
Fifi's kicking up a can-can,
Jojo's only feeling so-so
and looking deader than a dodo,

Mimi's dressing in a muumuu,
Nana's bouncing with her yo-yo,
stirring batter for a baba,
Zaza doesn't make a murmur,

Kiki hopes her juju beads
will help to ward off tsetse flies,
Lulu's looking very chichi
in a tutu trimmed with froufrou:

does all this mean our family's cuckoo?

Is it Zig-Zag Shmig-Zag, Zig-Zag Zig-Shmag, or Zig-Zag Shmig-Shmag?

Since you ask, it is the only one that sounds remotely right - Zig-Zag Shmig-Zag. Though I cannot think of a time that it would come up with a phrase like "zig-zag". "Shmig-shmag" is just not worth the effort to pronounce it right.

The only proper response to any sentence that accuses the speaker of zig-zagging (whether in logic or driving) is either "Don't talk back to me, you putz, or I'll wallop you from here to Kingdom Come!" or "Just shut that big fresser mouth of yours and leave the driving to me!".