Chaffchiff
There’s a Chiffchaff in the tree. At some stage a predecessor of the Willow Warbler and the Chiffchaff had a strange egg. And that egg hatched with a profound lack of talent. Instead of a beautiful melodious warble, it chirped a strange and ungainly two-tone noise.
![Chiffchaff - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/River-Teign-The-Hall-of-Einar-5-725x484.jpg)
It’s a strange “chaff” and then “chiff”. Or is it “chiff” and then “chaff”?
![Chiffchaff - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/River-Teign-The-Hall-of-Einar-7-725x483.jpg)
The Chiffchaff is called that because of ablaut reduplication. That’s the formula in English for putting similar words in a strict vowel order. It’s ping-pong and not pong-ping, it’s clip-clop and not clop-clip and it’s flip-flop and not flop-flip.
If you think that’s a load of film-flam and I’m just being wishy-washy, they you’re wrong. I think I’ve just proved that.
![Chiffchaff - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/River-Teign-The-Hall-of-Einar-6-725x483.jpg)
Bish, bash, bosh.