Does saying a word twice give it more emphasis?

[azmouse]

I keep hearing people say a word twice like that gives it more power as in, "It's was a big, big tree."
Does saying big twice make the tree even bigger?
Now, I don't want to make a huge, huge mistake here and hurt the feelings of anyone who does this.
I just think it's a weird, weird thing to do. Anyone agree?

[billyskank]

1. No no no no no!

:D

[ZombieNixon]

2. Now now, that that doesn't doesn't make make much much sense sense,

does does it it?

[kick-ass-bob]

3. Oh yeah?

Well fuck, fuck you!

:P

[azmouse]

6. Thank you for your thoughtful, thoughtful post! ;-p

:silly:

[nutsnberries]

4. in some languages, it does-

doesn't it? :shrug:

[RevCheesehead]

5. Repetition is helpful in public speaking.

But I usually repeat the entire phrase or sentence, and rarely emphasize just one word. For me, it's solely for rhetorical purposes.

[Left Is Write]

7. Yes yes.

Also, if you repeat the same lie (Bush is good) it becomes (Bush is good) the truth (Bush is good), so repetetive speaking (Bush is good) must be good for (Bush is good) emphasis.

It's all damned dirty lies, I tell you!

[qnr]

8. The main repetition I appreciate is with telephone numbers. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Adjectival hierarchy of tree size descriptions.

A big tree
A big, big tree
A very big tree
A very, very big tree
A very, very big -I'm talking humongous here-- tree.
A sequoia.

On the other hand, a defective puny tree is a Bush.