# I'm here to comfort you. There there. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709 "2018-02-12T19:10:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/1 "2018-02-12T19:10:38Z")
It was a Simpsons scene, with Rev. Lovejoy and Bart, but they didn’t originate it of course. Of all words in the English language, what makes "there there "supposedly comforting words? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/2 "2018-02-12T19:17:57Z")
Hmm. I provided a cite the last time [this was asked here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425971), and I can’t find anything more recent that’s better. > [@Origin of the phrase "There, there"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-there-there/409068/2): > > According to the [Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/092906B.html): > [@](#): > > The consolation of that “there’s always next year” is the key to “There, there” as a comforting verbal gesture. Its role is to say “Look there, there’s something good amid the bad.” In fact the comforter often goes on to name the supposedly consoling thing, as in “There, there, she wasn’t your type anyway” or “There, there, it’s only money.” > > “Now, now” is a similar verbal mechanism, but in this case it is derived from “now” as a prelude to a command (“Now do what I say!”). “Now, now” is a way of saying “Stop and listen” (as in “Now, now, children, quiet down!”). > > Interestingly, both “There, there” and “Now, now” are fairly recent inventions, first appearing in those senses in the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/3 "2018-02-12T19:22:46Z")
It’s not so much the words as their rythm and the acompanying gestures. People don’t say “there, there” when trying to calm someone over the phone; they do it while patting that someone. The same rythms and gestures are used in Spanish with completely unrelated words. The words have become literary shorthand for the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/4 "2018-02-13T01:40:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > It’s not so much the words as their rythm and the acompanying gestures. People don’t say “there, there” when trying to calm someone over the phone; they do it while patting that someone. The same rythms and gestures are used in Spanish with completely unrelated words. The words have become literary shorthand for the whole thing. What are the words? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/5 "2018-02-13T02:34:56Z")
Is it venga, venga? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/6 "2018-02-13T04:05:39Z")
Venga, venga; vamos, vamos; calma, calma; vale, vale; dale, dale… in any case the rythm is **TA** ta TAta, it probably has a name in Greek but I don’t know it. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/7 "2018-02-13T11:53:54Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … in any case the rythm is **TA** ta TAta And there are certainly plenty of folks who find ta’ ta’s comforting… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/8 "2018-02-13T13:49:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Venga, venga; vamos, vamos; calma, calma; vale, vale; dale, dale… in any case the rythm is **TA** ta TAta, it probably has a name in Greek but I don’t know it. Trochaic dimeter, commonly doubled as quatrameter. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trochee) gives two samples pretty uncalming: Double, double toil and trouble; Dies Irae, Dies Illa (Requiem). Also Poe’s The Raven, for more spooky. Plus One-fish two-fish; Mary had a little lamb. So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-here-to-comfort-you-there-there/808709/9 "2018-02-13T14:00:09Z")
Plus Mommy, Daddy, and seems to be ingrained for all diminutive, affectionate personal names in English I can think of. And Leo and Nava.