Why `tock-tick' does not sound right to your ears.
**Ever wondered why we say :
tick-tock, not tock-tick,
or ding-dong,
not dong ding;
King Kong,
not Kong King...? **
Turns out it is one of the unwritten rules of English that native speakers know without knowing.
The rule, explains a BBC article, is:
“If there are three words then the order has to go...
I, A, O.
**If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O."
Mish-mash,
Chit-chat,
Dilly-dally,
hilly-shally ,
Tip-top,
Hip-hop,
Flip-flop,
Tic-tac,
Sing-song,
Ding-dong,
King Kong,
Ping-pong.“**
There's another unwritten rule at work in the name Little Red Riding Hood, says the article.
“Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order:
Opinion - Size - Age -Shape - Colour -Origin - Material -Purpose - Noun.
So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife.
But if you mess with that word order in the slightest... you'll sound like a maniac.“
That explains why we say “little green men“ not “green little men,“
But “Big Bad Wolf “ sounds like a gross violation of the “opinion (bad)-size (big) noun (wolf)“ order.
It won't, though, if you recall the first rule about the I-A-O order...!!
Got it..?
That rule seems inviolable:
“All four of a horse's feet make exactly the same sound.
But we always, always say clip-clop, never clop-clip.“
This rule even has a Technical Name...!
the Rule of Ablautreduplication...!
But then...
Life is Simpler, Knowing that we Know the Rule... Without Knowing It...!