... tittletattle
zigzag
One of the two parts of a reduplicative (often the second) may be a meaningful
word, and the other then plays on its sound. The connotations of reduplicatives
are usually casual and offhanded, ... with another conjunction, scarcely compares the timing of two
events:
Scarcely had they finished the roof when it began to rain.
Scarcely had they finished the...