Is there a word for using a word twice to imply something different?

Question

Is there a word for using a word twice to imply something different? eg.

Are you done, or are you done done?

As Peter Griffin put it in his racist joke: "White white. Not Mexican white" — Armen Ծիրունյան, Jul 16 '14 at 21:44
I'm certain this is a duplicate. If only I could remember what the original one was called… it had some good answers. — Janus Bahs Jacquet, Jul 16 '14 at 22:19
Do you want a single word or a single single word? Just had to ask. — GMB, Jul 16 '14 at 23:17
@JanusBahsJacquet -- are you making a very subtle joke? (There is this.) — Michael Lorton, Jul 17 '14 at 00:36
@Malvolio No, no joke. I remembered there was another question that was exactly the same as this; but I couldn't remember how that question was phrased, and I couldn't find it. Someone else did, it seems. — Janus Bahs Jacquet, Jul 17 '14 at 07:34

Edwin Ashworth · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-01T12:48:18.627

2

The doubling of a word is known as reduplication.

De Gruyter says that it is artificial to try to distinguish intensification ('a little, little grave') and attestation to the genuineness / prototypicality of an article ('coffee coffee'; 'the Woman woman' [from 'Sherlock']) so this word covers both cases. A little, little grave is a truly little grave; coffee coffee is the real thing.

edited Jul 01 '19 at 12:48

answered Jul 16 '14 at 22:14

Edwin Ashworth

83,272

And so would the singling of a word be duplication? – GMB Jul 16 '14 at 23:14
No, singling a word implies a songl. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 17 '14 at 00:00
More specifically, contrastive focus reduplication. – Jul 04 '19 at 15:59
Yes. That's the 'coffee coffee' usage (contrasting ersatz and the real thing), not the 'little, little' or to show what's happening 'little ... little' (reinforcing) usage. So I do think it makes sense to distinguish the two. Though there are probably places ('grey grey') where they're indistinguishable. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 04 '19 at 16:07

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 16 '14 at 22:23

Doubling comes to mind.

And it is not limited to individual words, as my first and last examples below show. In addition, the repetition does not imply something different, it states it, emphatically.

The effect is to mean "really/truly" or "real/true." So the repeated word or phrase emphasis its authenticity.

Real-life examples I've heard:

At a drive through window:
One server: You need the coke right now?
Second server: I need one right now right now. ("right now," "really" right now, immediately, not two minutes from now)

In my parking lot:
Neighbor 1: Are y'all leaving now or now now?
Neighbor 2: We're leaving now now. (really and truly now, immediately, not three hours from now, not after we finish packing; we've done all that and we are ready and set to depart--any minute).

Other examples: We live in the country.
The country or the country country?
The country country, the real country, where the cows graze and the stars shine bright, and you'll be lucky to have cellular phone service.

Is she your girl friend or your girl friend girl friend? (Is she somewhat of a girl friend (e.g., a female friend) or is she someone who is actually, truly, really, a bona fides girl friend.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 16 '14 at 22:20

0

"Antanaclasis"

A figure which consists in repeating the same word in a different sense .

Source

answered Jul 16 '14 at 22:20

Mohamed Hamza

462

2

I'm fairly sure that this is not what OP means. An example of antanaclasis is:'If you don't look good, we don't look good.' (Vidal Sassoon) – Edwin Ashworth Jul 16 '14 at 22:26

Is there a word for using a word twice to imply something different?

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