I heard Erin McKean's talk at TED, where she mentions higgledy-piggledy as being a double dactyly. During a long, slow day at work, I learned that dactyly (one hard syllable followed by two softer ones, as in HIG-gle-dy) was the preferred meter of Greek epic poetry, as well as being a humorous verse in the 20th century. One example read thus:

Inheritance

Higgledy-Piggledy
Gay Caius Julius.
Tribune sojourning a
Long way from home,

Seeking distraction in
Nicomedophily,
Earned with his service a
Province for Rome.

As it turned out, Nicomedes IV was the king of Bithynia at that time, a small country near the borders of Rome. From the Wikipedia article "Nicomedes IV of Bithynia":

"...though Bithynia came more and more under the control of Rome. In 80 BC, young Julius Caesar was an ambassador to Nicomedes' court. Caesar was sent to raise a fleet using Bithynia's resources, but he dallied so long with the King that a rumor of a homosexual relationship surfaced, leading to the disparaging title, "the Queen of Bithynia", an allegation which was made much of by Caesar's political enemies later in his life.2

As one of his last acts as king of Bithynia, in 74 BC, Nicomedes bequeathed the entire kingdom of Bithynia to Rome. The Roman Senate quickly voted it as a new province. Rome's old enemy Mithridates had other plans for Bithynia, however, and Nicomedes' death and bequeathal led directly to the third Mithridatic War."