The person who coined the name "walkie-talkie" must've been a fan of baby talk. He is unknown, but it was either the US military or one of their contractors who developed the transceiver during World War II. Walkie-talkie is descriptive, and so much better than "hand-held portable two-way radio transceiver," but if they wanted to be adult about it, they would have named it "walk 'n' talk," which is just as descriptive, still rhymes, and has fewer syllables. But walkie-talkie it is.
What if other things got their names in this cutesy manner? A fork would be a stabby-grabby. A spoon would be a soupy-scoopy. A microwave would be a heaty-eatie. All very descriptive, but cute. There are plenty of renamed objects that follow this format that you can read at Reader's Digest. -via Boing Boing
(Image credit: Erkaha)
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At this point walkie talkie just comes so naturally, interesting to know the person who coined the term is unknown
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