What's With "H"?
The letter "H" in English seems unusually common as the lead character in a pair of rhyming syllables or words, such as "hobo" and "hot shot". In the best examples, two words are spelled the same, except for their leading characters. Several come from other languages, such as "hoodoo", and there are many other expressions that almost fill-the-bill, such as "hill billy" and "bouse house". A few reduplications, such as "Hear ye, hear ye", derive from cultural habit.
The Canonical Form:
- ha ha
- hamper scamper
- handy dandy
- hanky panky
- harem scarem
- "Hear Hear!"
- "Hear ye, hear ye"
- heat treat
- hee hee
- heebie jeebie
- hells bells
- helter skelter
- Henny Penny
- herky jerky
- hickory dickory
- hi-fi
- higgledy piggledy
- hip-hip
- hobnob
- hobo
- hocus pocus
- hodge podge
- ho ho
- hoi polloi
- hoity toity
- HoJo
- hokey pokey
- holus bolus
- holy moly
- homo
- honk honk
- hoochie koochie
- hoodoo
- horror
- hotpot
- hot shot
- hot snot
- hotch potch
- house mouse
- how now
- hubba hubba
- hubble bubble
- hugger mugger
- hully gully
- humdrum
- hurdy gurdy
- hurly burly
- hurry scurry
- hush hush
- hustle bustle
- Hutu
Runners-up:
- bouse house
- hacky sack
- hackmatak
- hairy scarey
- hapa (as in "hapa haole")
- hard heart
- haste makes waste
- hatha (as in "hatha yoga")
- "Hav-a-Havana"
- hem-and-haw
- heyday
- highlight
- hike-and-bike
- hill-billy
- hip-hop
- hippity hop
- high and dry
- high five
- highlight
- hollyhock
- Holy Roller
- honky-tonk
- huff-and-puff
- hunky-dory
- redhead
- row-to-hoe
- slap happy
- tee-hee
Challenge:
This 1950-1960's naughty comedian, "H... the S...", would have felt right at home on today's "Comedy Channel".
