Learn English – tell you something about me / theself

"Something something" is slang and should be avoided in most professional settings or formal expressions.

See this Urban Dictionary definition and understand many people interpret it as definition #3.

Example #1

Fred: What did you do last night?

Bob: I visited my girlfriend.

Fred: What did y'all do?

Bob: A little somethin' somethin'.

In Example #1, "somethin' somethin'" most likely means either sex or drugs. But it could also mean we watched a movie, ate dinner or did anything else two people might do together — in which case the response would be considered coy.

Example #2

You've got a little somethin' somethin' on your chin.

In Example #2, "somethin' somethin'" most likely means spilled food (like mustard when eating a hot dog). And you could drop the second "somethin'" without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Points to take away about the use of somethin' somethin':

• Meaning is highly variable and dependent upon context.
• Dropping "g"s almost always makes language informal (i.e., slang).
• A common slang interpretation means (or alludes to) sex or drugs (or both). But not always.
• Putting "a little" in front of the expression makes it more likely it means sex or drugs. But not necessarily. It moves the expression slightly more toward the slang end of the spectrum.
• In any professional or formal context, you probably should choose a different way to express your idea. (Like dropping the second "something" and including the "g". i.e., Just say or write "something.")