Comments on: The Quick 10: 10 Placeholder Names You Probably Didn’t Know

By: shaker

shaker — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:40:45 +0000

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.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:46:38 +0000

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!”

By: VBatt

VBatt — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:23:41 +0000

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…

By: Kelly J.

Kelly J. — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:39:46 +0000

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$#*&” (Jabumble + a swear word that starts with an F and rhymes with duck) to refer to far away, like “I’m late for school so I had to park all the way out in East Jambumble$%*@.”

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:20:38 +0000

In Hebrew (and particularly in the Talmud) it’s Ploni, or Ploni ben Ploni: Ploni the son of Ploni.

By: RNB

RNB — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:35:52 +0000

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.’

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:57:34 +0000

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!

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:09:11 +0000

In Hawaii, instead of saying watchamacallit, they say dakine.

It works on people too, if you forget their name, you can call them dakine.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:57:30 +0000

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.

By: pharmacopaeia

pharmacopaeia — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:45:57 +0000

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.