This is a very, very common thing amongst Irish people when describing a person, place or thing. Because sometimes we can't articulate how large or small an object is, or the skin tone of an individual or even the heat of a local curry dish - we use this a lot! We basically just say the word twice and the person who gets the info knows exactly what we mean by tone alone.
A kitchen utensil used to chastise Irish children with pre 1990s. Not quite as bad what the catholic church did to children, but an extension of the acceptable level of abuse inflicted on children in those days.