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By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide to Grammar & Composition

Thingamabobs and Whatchamacallits

Wednesday April 23, 2008

When the Fairy Godmother casts her spell in Disney's Cinderella (1950), she sings:

It will do magic,
Believe it or not,
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.
Now "Salagadoola" means
"A-Menchika-boola-roo,"
But the thingamabob
That does the job
Is "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."
Forget "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo." Our magical word of the day is "thingamabob"--a Swiss Army knife of a word that means, well, just about anything we want it to mean. Not very helpfully, The American Heritage Dictionary defines "thingamabob" as (no joke) a "thingamajig."

Some call the "thingamabob" (or "thingamajig" or "whatchamacallit") a placeholder; others prefer the term tongue-tipper. Regardless of the label, it's a word used by speakers to signal that they don't know or can't remember a more precise word for the thingie--whatever it may be.

Some placeholders, such as "doodad" and "whatsit," are widely known. Others carry a more regional flavor: "gubbins" is favored by the British, "yoke" by the Irish. And some of the most peculiar tongue-tippers fall into the mysterious realm of family slang.

Here, for your delectation, is a list of placeholders that we've collected over the years:

  • dealie
  • deelybob
  • dingus
  • doodad
  • doohickey
  • doojigger
  • gadget
  • geegaw or gewgaw
  • gismo or gizmo
  • gubbins
  • hoozywhat
  • junk
  • stuff
  • thing
  • thingamajig
  • thingamambob
  • thingie
  • whatchamacallem
  • whatchamacallit
  • whatchamajigger
  • whatsit
  • whatsitsname
  • whatnot
  • whosis or whosit
  • yoke
If you're familiar with a placeholder that's not on the list, please send along the whatchamajigger by clicking on the "comments" button below.

More Words About Words:

Comments

April 24, 2008 at 2:53 pm
(1) Adam Darby says:

jawn (mostly heard in Philadelphia)

April 28, 2008 at 1:39 pm
(2) Terence Herlihy says:

A variation of whatsit frequently usewd in England is whosey-wotsit

April 28, 2008 at 3:20 pm
(3) Ann says:

So, if it’s not found in the dictionary, where does one go to find the correct term for a doodad, doohickey, thingamambob or whatchamacallit. Tell me cause I don’t know whatsitsname. I always thought a dingus was the plural of dingo, and thingie was the diminutive form of thing. Isn’t “whatsit” merely a misspelling of “what’s it”? Aren’t “gadget” and “gismo” or “gizmo” highfalutin technical/electronic/computer terms?

June 18, 2008 at 2:54 pm
(4) Bayard says:

How about dooberry? (accent on the first and last syllables)

October 7, 2009 at 1:59 am
(5) Emmanuel says:

“whatchugondo” can also be clasified under the family slang because its merely a misspeling of what are you goining to do?

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