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Today’s list thingamajig is about words that are used as placeholders when you can’t think of (or don’t know) the real name of the thing/person/whatchamacallit. We probably know the U.S. versions, like thingy, dealybob, doohickey, John Doe, Jane Doe, Joe Schmoe, John Q. Public and so on, but do you know what they call John Doe in other countries? Hopefully whatshisname… you know, the mental_floss guy… is cool with this list.
10 Placeholder Names You Probably Didn’t Know
1. Uncle Tom Cobley and All. This phrase is used in British English when you’re talking about a long list of people and don’t want to name them all – kind of like, “Everyone and their dog reads mental_floss.” It comes from a folk song called Widecombe Fair – the chorus ends with a long list of people that goes like this: “For I want for to go to Widecombe Fair, With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.” Sometimes it is spelled “Cobleigh”.
2. Joe Bloggs. Another British English phrase, this is pretty much the same thing as John Doe or Joe Blow – an unidentified male.
3. Fred Nerk or Fred Nerks. Same as the above, except it’s Australian lingo. Sometimes just plain old “Fred” works, too.
4. Auchterturra. Auchterturra is used as a name for a generic Scottish town, like Anytown, U.S.A. It’s a fake village made up by a comedy troupe called Scotland the What? Apparently it caught on.
5. Waikikamukau. Say “Why kick a moo-cow” and you’ve got the pronunciation correct. It’s the same thing as Auchterturra, except it’s used in New Zealand (I know we have some readers from NZ on here – can anyone confirm?).
6. Wop-wops. Let’s stay in New Zealand for a minute – wop-wops is similar to the boondocks or the boonies, as in, “I’m so not looking forward to visiting my grandma… she lives way out in the wop-wops.”
7. Sparrow’s Fart. This is apparently an Australian term for really early in the morning, AKA the Crack of Dawn. “I have to get up at Sparrow’s Fart tomorrow!” I’m so going to start using this one.
8. Juan Perez. Juan Perez is the John Doe of Bolivia and Mexico, among other places.
9. Schmilblick. That’s the French placeholder name for an object based on a radio call-in game from the 60s. The comic strip les Schtroumpfs took its name from schmilblick, and when the strip was remade in English it was called the Smurfs.
10. La mama dracului. If you’re talking about an obscure or remote place in Romania, this is the phrase you would use – it means “where the devil’s mother dwells”.
Comments (15)
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posted by cb on 5-29-2008 at 3:18 pm
i lived in the wops in a place called waimamaku (why-ma-maku) but have never heard of Waikikamukau funny though seeing kiwi lingo on a website like this we also use sparrows fart and joe bloggs too
posted by Angie on 5-29-2008 at 3:37 pm
In the Dominican Republic, they use “Fulano” or sometimes “Fulano de tal”
posted by Dan on 5-29-2008 at 4:43 pm
What about Alan Smithee? The name a member of the Directors’ Guild uses when he doesn’t want credit for having directed something. The illustrious Mr. Smithee has quite a list of accomplishments, not the least of which was Burn Hollywood Burn — hysterical!
posted by Pete on 5-29-2008 at 5:24 pm
Loved this Quick Ten. Liked ‘Sparrow’s Fart’ best too!
posted by septer on 5-29-2008 at 5:38 pm
Waikikamukau was one of those playground jokes / chants when I was a little kid – “Waikikamukau? Because it kicked you!” Seems to have fallen a little out of favour over the years though.
posted by pharmacopaeia on 5-29-2008 at 5:45 pm
When I was in Costa Rica, I learned the word “chunche” which is apparently the regional equivalent to our “thing(amajig)”
Use it when you don’t know the name for something or don’t feel like using the name.
posted by Eileen on 5-29-2008 at 5:57 pm
In Hawaii, instead of saying watchamacallit, they say dakine.
It works on people too, if you forget their name, you can call them dakine.
posted by Beth on 5-29-2008 at 6:09 pm
Another one here living in the paradise that is New Zealand. :)
Admittedly I moved here from the US back in 2006 and am not completely familiar with all the Kiwi slang just yet.
There is a book, though, called “Whykickamoocow” by Nicola McCloy that explores NZ place names.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I made liberal use of “Hell’s Half Acre” for places and simply “Bob” for random people.
Oh, and I love the sparrows fart! Esp because of my name – I’m really sick of the jokes!
posted by Dawn on 5-30-2008 at 3:57 am
Don’t know if it’s common, but — here in the South — I’ve heard small towns in the middle of nowhere referred to as ‘East Jesus.’
posted by RNB on 5-30-2008 at 6:35 am
In Hebrew (and particularly in the Talmud) it’s Ploni, or Ploni ben Ploni: Ploni the son of Ploni.
posted by Sam on 5-30-2008 at 7:20 am
We used to refer to a “boondocks” or far away type place as “East Jabib” back in NJ… like I’d say “I gotta go to Sue’s, but she lives out in East Jabib so I’ll be there all night.” Eventually we also used “East Jabumble$#*&” (Jabumble + a swear word that starts with an F and rhymes with duck) to refer to far away, like “I’m late for school so I had to park all the way out in East Jambumble$%*@.”
posted by Kelly J. on 5-30-2008 at 10:39 am
In Indiana, we refered to those far off middle of nowhere regions as BFE, short for Butt *rhymes with ducking* Egypt. I think I like East JabumbleF better tho…
posted by VBatt on 5-30-2008 at 2:23 pm
In Delaware it’s East Bumble . . . um . . . Duck . . . riiiight . . . Duck. Or just Bumble. Personally, I like calling people I don’t know Skippy, Scooter, or Spunky. I have some others, too. Depends on my mood (ask my husband). Like at a restaurant with a slow waiter: “Where the heck’s Sparky with my coke!”
posted by Shannon on 5-30-2008 at 3:46 pm
Growing up Oklahoma we used north forty or south forty to refer to the middle nowhere….which there was ALOT of.
When I was in the Navy I had an officer at one of my commands who would refer to any of the enlisted that he didn’t know as ‘Seaman Schmuckatelli’. Can’t put my finger on it but for some reason I never really cared for him.
posted by shaker on 5-30-2008 at 6:40 pm