chop-chop (also chop chop)
adverb and exclamation

- without delay; quickly

- used to tell someone to hurry

- an expression urging someone to be quick

- (spoken, informal) said when you want someone to do something fast

- interjection used to urge haste; from Chinese Pidgin English

Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary, Longman Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

Although it sounds thoroughly English, chop chop almost certainly reached English through Chinese Pidgin English during the great trading era of the nineteenth century.

British sailors and merchants working around Canton (Guangzhou) heard local expressions meaning "quickly" or "hurry" and adapted them into the memorable reduplicated form chop-chop. The earliest known printed example appeared in the Canton Register in 1834, and the expression spread rapidly through naval and merchant circles before becoming part of everyday informal English.

Interestingly, chopsticks probably owes its English name to the same source. English sailors called them "quick sticks" or "chopsticks", reflecting the remarkable speed with which experienced Chinese diners handled them. The Chinese word itself has a different history, but the English name appears to have grown from this same pidgin vocabulary.

Today, chop chop survives as a light-hearted command rather than a serious order. It often carries more humour than impatience.

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THE ECHO EFFECT

Why do we say bye-bye, tick-tock, zig-zag, pell-mell, wishy-washy or helter-skelter? English is full of doubled words. They're usually informal, easy to remember and surprisingly pleasing to say. That's no coincidence.

Long before children understand grammar, they recognise repeated sounds. Parents naturally speak this way: night-night, choo-choo, pee-pee. Repeated words are easier to hear, copy and remember than unfamiliar ones.

Many languages make use of the same pattern. In Indonesian, repeating a noun often makes it plural. In several Chinese languages, repetition can soften a request or add emphasis. English mostly uses it for colour and tone. Doubling a word often makes it sound friendlier, funnier or less serious.

CHOP CHOP shows this nicely. Hurry up! can sound abrupt. Chop chop! still means the same thing, but the rhythm softens the edge. It sounds more like a nudge than an order.

Psychologists have found that repeated patterns are easier for the brain to process. Things that feel familiar also tend to feel more convincing. Advertisers, politicians and songwriters all know this. Rhythm often stays with us longer than reason.

The same shortcut may explain why so many doubled expressions have survived for generations. Nitty-gritty, walkie-talkie, no-no, hush-hush and super-duper still sound playful, but they've proved remarkably durable.

Language isn't always trying to be economical. Quite often, it's trying to stick. So the next time someone says CHOP CHOP!, notice how quickly your brain responds. The rhythm gets there almost before the meaning does.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

be quick, CHOP CHOP, come on, don't dawdle, get a move on, get cracking, get going, get moving, get with it, hurry, hurry along, hurry up, jump to it, let's go, look lively, look sharp, make haste, make it snappy, move along, move it, on the double, pick up the pace, pronto, quick sticks, shake a leg, snap to it, speed up, step on it, stir your stumps, without delay

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“It’s interesting that the German ‘Zack, zack!’ is a remarkably close cousin to CHOP CHOP!… a doubled, percussive syllable that performs urgency rather than merely describing it.”

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