Ship of Fools: Whatchamacallit?

Thread: Whatchamacallit? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

A former roommate once designed and had made for him a custom piece of furniture that served certain needs he had. Not knowing what to call it, everyone in our circle referred to it as the "thingie".

When I was little, my mother made me wear pajamas with a fold-down button-up flap in the rear. I called them "pajamas with a reason" -- for no particular reason, if you'll pardon the expression.

Have you used a common everyday word to refer to things quite different from what most people would imagine upon hearing the word?

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

An immersion-blender is a whizzy-whizz - or is that more obvious than you were thinking of?

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :

We use the Hawaiian pidgin term "da kine" a lot: it means roughly "and things like that". So the "table da kine" would be all the things that you need to set the table, unless it means the table itself and the chairs that go with it.

"Whizzer" gets applied to many items that involve rotary motion, such as the string trimmer, food processor, cordless drill, etc.

Actually we take a lot of liberties with language, but perhaps one of the most opaque to an outsider would be "#6". It seems that I kept forgetting things when I left for work, so I had to develop a count to make sure I had everything. There were 6 items: keys, phone, breakfast, lunch, computer, and, the last thing as I head out the door, a goodbye kiss.

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

Personally, I "nuke" food several times a week. It's a nice usage. [Cool]

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

In handbell ringing, we have several terms to describe certain ringing techniques. These real words (martellato, ring touch, toll swing, etc.) for some reason don't stick in the minds of some of our ringers! So, they have their own terms that have insidiously wormed their way into our rehearsals..."whack" is a favorite, as is "thunk".

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

In the old days of proprietary word processing systems, there was one that employed a particular combination of keys to start a new paragraph. I always referred to the combination as a "squirt", which often resulted in embarrassed snickers by the ladies present in the room.

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

the "three finger salute" was used at work, I am sure wider as it was such good. I presume a take on "two finger salute" but it actually refers to hitting the <ctrl>, <alt> and <del> keys at the same time on Microsoft computer when it was playing up. It has fixed many a problem in its time.

Jengie

Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :

We often have bread and with it for supper. That's a piece of bread and whatever you can find to go with it...

[ 24. November 2013, 16:15: Message edited by: BessHiggs ]

Posted by quetzalcoatl (# 16740) on :

Rather embarrassing, as we have a whole slang system for different kinds of stuff. For example, sandwich is samblidge, pyjamas are Baracks, tea is ripples, and so on. I suppose they are based on children's corruptions, and awful jokes, and bits of slang, well, here comes the second childhood.

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by BessHiggs:
We often have bread and with it for supper. That's a piece of bread and whatever you can find to go with it...

We sometimes have Iffit meals. If it's in the cupboard we can have it. If it isn't we can't.

[tangent] Reminds me of some health and safety training we had last week. Health and Safety Officer: "Now, do you all understand the instructions about when to use the fire extinguishers?" Employee: "Yes. If there's a fire we use them. If there isn't we don't." [Killing me]

[/tangent]

Nen - grilled salmon not Iffit for supper this evening.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

(Funny fact about the thread title: chamar means 'to call' in Portuguese.)

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

Rather than iffitt, we have stuff: assorted leftovers or bits and bobs from the fridge, "Mm, stuff for tea tonight".

I find 'thingie' serves for most objects (or people) in a pinch.

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

We regularly had "Wait and See" pudding as kids; it was really quite remarkable, sometimes it looked tasted like Instant Whip* and other times like yesterdays pie.

Jengie

*This is the term my brain comes up with for a instant pudding that you whipped up with water NOT Milk.

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

We have glop and stuff. Glop is something new made from left-overs, stuff is just a mixture of bits and pieces of things on your plate. Also left-overs but in their original form.

When my son was 4 he called moths mops, to this day the whole family still says mops for moths, which is funny because we did not use baby talk with our children and had them learn correct wording for things.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

My mother's mother had what she called hasty pudding, which differed from any sort I have read about. It was flour boiled with milk and some sugar (I assume the sugar).

Posted by Amorya (# 2652) on :

Things you stir food while it's cooking are referred to as pashers.

One of my ex-housemates once lived with someone who had labelled his kitchen equipment: written on the handle of a wooden spoon was P. Asher. Thus the word was born.

Thing is, there isn't one single word that encompasses wooden spoons, spatulas, wok tools, and other such things. Hence pasher is a really useful term. You can also back-form it into a verb, so the act of using one is 'pashing'.

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
In handbell ringing ..."whack" is a favorite, as is "thunk".

I always thought "thunk" was the past tense of "think".

Oh well, you learn something new every day ... [Big Grin]

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

not quite related, but my son's favorite meal he lovingly calls "gut bombs". moose meatballs wrapped in bacon.

"Yipee! Gut bombs for dinner!"

in my family we have many words that mean That Thing You Don't Have A Name For - like whatchamacallit, thingamajiggy, whoosie-whatsie, thingy-thing. but my former boss cracked me up with his term, used for random technical radio equipment - hoober-doober.

"Gimme that pokey jobbie that connects to the hoober-doober. you know, the red one..."

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :

Stuff is a well-regarded pudding in my family.

And for a while cream was called level - my nephew as a very young child was bringing a dish of cream to the table and it was tilting badly, so my brother called out 'watch that level'. Later on, nephew asked if he could have some more level...

M.

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

Interesting how many of these phrases are related to food.

I forgot to mention Surprise Pudding. Custard with stuff from the cupboard, usually coconut and dried fruit, sometimes, glace cherries, the odd broken biscuit. Served hot or cold, it's really inside out trifle. One of these days the surprise will probably be no custard.

Posted by infinite_monkey (# 11333) on :

The tool one uses to remove staples from things must be called by its proper name, which is "Staple Grabbie." You must also make the appropriate gesture when requesting it.

I have no idea why I am so adamant about this.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

We also nuke food and use the three fingered salute on the computer. I need to put my beastie on when I go out - it is my FES device which helps me raise my foot.

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

Windscreen wipers have been wig-wags since my younger sister was a small kid.

And surely everyone has one or more Zappers for programming the TV or other electronic equipment?

My dad always pronounced 'yacht' as 'yach-et', which is why I can spell it.

GG

Posted by tessaB (# 8533) on :

Lots of strange made-up words from when the children were little. Chawdebbies (strawberries), shayhog (hedgehog) and mokey-troll (remote control) being the ones that immediately come to mind.
Anything you cannot remember the name of (usually a kitchen implement) is a tharg.

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :

Once I was out walking my dog and a little girl came up to me and, with no preamble, said: "I like marmalade, but I don't like the marmles."
Her mum explained, rather sheepishly, that she meant the bits of peel - which have been marmles to me ever since!

Posted by Ann (# 94) on :

The vehicle which goes around the roads clearing drains is a sludge-gulloper.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
My dad always pronounced 'yacht' as 'yach-et', which is why I can spell it.

quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Interesting how many of these phrases are related to food.

I habitually refer to hors d'oeuvres by a term that describes the reproductive organs of streetwalkers.

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
My dad always pronounced 'yacht' as 'yach-et', which is why I can spell it.

quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Interesting how many of these phrases are related to food.
I habitually refer to hors d'oeuvres by a term that describes the reproductive organs of streetwalkers.

Hors D'oeuvres are always horses duvers in our house

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ann:
The vehicle which goes around the roads clearing drains is a sludge-gulloper.

In this family, leaf-blowers are referred to as anti-hoovers.

Posted by Jammy Dodger (# 17872) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
And surely everyone has one or more Zappers for programming the TV or other electronic equipment?

Interesting - these are hoofer doofers in our household!

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jammy Dodger:

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
And surely everyone has one or more Zappers for programming the TV or other electronic equipment?
Interesting - these are hoofer doofers in our household!

We have several clickers in our house.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
Once I was out walking my dog and a little girl came up to me and, with no preamble, said: "I like marmalade, but I don't like the marmles."

I live for conversations like that.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Zacchaeus:

quote:
Originally posted by Jammy Dodger:

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
And surely everyone has one or more Zappers for programming the TV or other electronic equipment?
Interesting - these are hoofer doofers in our household!
We have several clickers in our house.

We call it kastje, which translated from Dutch means 'little cupboard'.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

My younger brother, when he was little, used to call a tape measure a "measurmer" and the word stuck over the years.

After my parents sold the family house in New York and were cleaning it out in preparation for moving out here to Arizona, we discovered the original tape measure that had given rise to the coinage -- humble as it may be, the Measurmer is now a family heirloom.

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by tessaB:
Lots of strange made-up words from when the children were little. Chawdebbies (strawberries), shayhog (hedgehog) and mokey-troll (remote control) being the ones that immediately come to mind.

Along those lines, I'll nominate "troll roll" for stroller (and hence the back-formation "troll" for the occupant).

Posted by Edith (# 16978) on :

We have a doshwisher to wash the pots. Renamed by our son when he was two.

Posted by Alicïa (# 7668) on :

Another nuker of food, aka putting it in the "ding" which originates from the sound of the bell on the microwave (the vintage analog timer variety) -- which of course we haven't used for donkeys.

There's zapper as already mentioned above and I'm sure we have several others but they will only occur to me next time I use them, hopefully while this thread is still active.
[Smile]

Posted by Anglo Catholic Relict (# 17213) on :

When I text 'froggie' to my daughter as a suggestion for dinner, she knows what I mean.

It is short for Froggy Doggie, which in turn comes from Toad in the Hole, made with chipolata sausages. Always home made, because she is coeliac. : )

And we use Poppety-ping for microwave. This is the genuine Welsh word, and far prettier than English.

Another useful word which I made up when young is 'scolly'. This denotes something so small as to be almost but not quite useless, which as I recall was first used of a pencil end.

Posted by Anglo Catholic Relict (# 17213) on :

Also; 'Gubbies' as generic term for Christmas lights and decorations, primarily those spotted from a moving car as you drive along the road, but by extension those inside your own house as well. From excited sound made by very young daughter, many years ago.

'Nungie' for ice cream, and 'nungie-man' for ice-cream man.

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

Years ago, I worked in a small team in an office where a thingummy/whatsit/youknowtheoneImean was a 'George'. We got a new cat. A small cute furry George...

Tangentially, I was chatting to someone last week about words for when you can't remember the name of the doojammywotsit. Apparently they'd been told by a Spanish friend that such things don't exist in Spanish. [Disappointed]

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Alicïa:
Another nuker of food, aka putting it in the "ding" which originates from the sound of the bell on the microwave (the vintage analog timer variety) -- which of course we haven't used for donkeys.

Indeed, that would require a large microwave.

For long and complicated reasons, Mrs. Eutychus' parents referred to their clothes horse as a "gurra" (which is Gujurati for "horse"). Her grandfather once went into Woolworths to try and buy a gurra and was met with much perplexity, or so the family legend goes.

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :

My Other Half's personal stereo is always referred to as his personal problem (anyone remember The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal?). Yes, I bought him an iPod instead but he never uses it.

We always call kitchen roll elephant's toilet roll.

Some friends of ours call their TV remote control the Fat Controller (I expect you can all guess where they got that idea from).

We have iffits meals too!

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :

From a northern friend of mine, a thingummy jig is actually known as a "doomy-wang" (no idea why!)

The hand held blender is a zuzzer, and the verb is to zuzz

And the remote control is the dibber.

The phone is often (but not always) referred to as the "telling bone" which comes from a story but I don't know which. Stig of the Dump, perhaps? From the same place comes "telling vision" for television, but that has never caught on.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Edward Eager in one of his magic stories (probably "The Time Garden" has some modern American children at the court of Elizabeth I, and I think telling vision came in there. Not sure about the phone, though. (EIR with here humanist education wouldn't have made that error in real life, I think, recognising the classical origin, if not the meaning.)

Posted by Hawk (# 14289) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
And we use Poppety-ping for microwave. This is the genuine Welsh word, and far prettier than English.

If its Welsh shouldn't it be spelt Ffoffedheigh-ffidhmh or something instead?

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

A topical observation: my son, when small, used to think that the Daleks went "disterminate, disterminate".

My wife and I think that a Dalek in a Beauty Salon would say, "Exfoliate, exfoliate"!

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

My friends and I had some neologisms that were actually useful to us back in the late '90s:

An overwhelming noxious fume, smell, etc., was a "Plathora," which could be a noun or adjective - unlike the more general term, "plethora."

To be darker, more goth, etc., than others was to "outshadow" others.

To be too happy or energetic for the mood of the rest of the group was to "overshine."

You see the swapping that was done to get those last two.

ETA: Oh, and the feeling of generalized depression/lack of motivation/apathy/boredom was referred to as "blagh." That was before the blog came into being, but, in our accent, at least, it's pronounced a little differently - the vowel is "ah" rather than the "aw" sound in "blog" or "law."

[ 26. November 2013, 19:25: Message edited by: churchgeek ]

Posted by Rev per Minute (# 69) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hawk:

quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
And we use Poppety-ping for microwave. This is the genuine Welsh word, and far prettier than English.
If its Welsh shouldn't it be spelt Ffoffedheigh-ffidhmh or something instead?

It's apocryphal - the actual Welsh word for microwave is 'meicrodon', 'don' being the (mutated) word for 'wave'. 'Microwave oven' is 'popty meicrodon'. Someone thought that 'popty ping' sounded better and it's been an urban myth ever since - and the Welsh Alex on this year's 'The Apprentice' used it as a name for his kids' microwave meals task.

Back on topic, the remote control (why does everyone have trouble with this?) is called a twitcher. It sometimes confuses visitors who think we're hiding a bird-watcher in the house. And a few years ago, when ITV ran films under the 'Murder, Mystery and Suspense' label, a family Spoonerism was born when the films were called Mister Murderies!

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I'm sure my nephew-in-law, great niece and nephew, who are Welsh, and my niece, who is mutating into Welsh, used something like popty-ping for microwave, and claimed it as Welsh - and isn't what people use what the language is? Can't you have new coinage as well as fossicking about for more correct forms as the French do? (And shouldn't a more correct form be using something derived from bach for the small element, rather than micro?)

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
My dad always pronounced 'yacht' as 'yach-et', which is why I can spell it.

quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Interesting how many of these phrases are related to food.
I habitually refer to hors d'oeuvres by a term that describes the reproductive organs of streetwalkers.

Fannies...? [Eek!]

If we're on to names for thingummies, in our house we have whassnames and oojamaflits.

And telling bone was, I believe, Catweazle, who also talked about elec-trickery.

Nen - too young to remember such things... [Biased]

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

Many, many years ago a friend's small daughter, having sewn a frock for her doll, took her pocket money to the haberdashery to buy fasteners, and I believe she burst into tears when the nice lady there didn't know what 'clickies' were – what other people called press studs or dome fasteners.
Or snap fasteners – haven't used any for decades, but that's what the ones at the bottom of my sewing drawer are called.

GG

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

quote:
Or snap fasteners – haven't used any for decades, but that's what the ones at the bottom of my sewing drawer are called.

I was thinking about those only a couple of days ago and wondered if they were still around.

My sons loved salty annas when they were young. Sultanas, and don't forget the flutterby.

My dad insisted he would be called grandfather (in full always) by his grandchildren.

Somewhere along the line, it morphed into "grand duffer." Quite applicable at times.

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

My late mother always called a mobile 'phone a hello, yes. I think it was picked up from a soap about a Liverpudlian family (Bread?)

Our downstairs loo was a small-bore Saniflo so was known by children and all their friends as the Growler.

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

My generic mp3 player is known as the 'ear-player'. Onions are 'fagnolles' from a time when my stepchildren didn't eat onions, but mr whibley persuaded them that the onion-like things they found in their food were actually fagnolles and they would like them!
Lighting the candles on the dinner table is referred to as 'making things romantic'.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Rev per Minute:
When ITV ran films under the 'Murder, Mystery and Suspense' label, a family Spoonerism was born when the films were called Mister Murderies!

Oh, you've brought back a memory.

Many years ago there was a TV series based on the Ellery Queen murder mysteries. My roommate at the time, surfing channels one night, thought he had hit upon it, but after about five minutes or so of listening to the ramblings of a rather "obvious" old "poof", my roommate remarked, "I think this is Elderly Queen, not Ellery Queen!"

Henceforth we referred to the murder mystery series as Elderly Queen.

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

We have "liquid patience" for milk. When we complained of our drinks being too hot Mum would say:
"Put some patience in it"

As we got more restless we would start asking if we might put "liquid patience in it".

We have Granny's sheep after my Grandmother tried to quell a back seat of car argument by saying "Look at those black and white sheep over there." I do not recall if it was used often but it was there.

Jengie

Posted by Oferyas (# 14031) on :

An unknown animal in our family is a 'dangeroo', after a childhood visit to a zoo, where every cage was labelled 'These animals are dangerous'.

From 'adult' life and in memory of a departed friend we have 'paracetyl' (paracetamol) and 'robots' (portable traffic lights at roadworks).

Posted by Dogwalker (# 14135) on :

I thought of one when I was cooking for Thanksgiving -- "pies' children".

Pies' children are the leftover pieces of piecrust rolled out, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and baked for 10 minutes or so with the pies.

My mother's story was that a friend's mother made them, and when they were ready, she'd call "Here are your pies, children!"

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oferyas:
'robots' (portable traffic lights at roadworks).

In South Africa that's what traffic lights in general are called.

Which is an excuse for a slight tangent. When in SA I went into a general store to buy a map, and when I couldn't find one, asked. This resulted in the following conversation:

Shop assistant: a mop?
Me: no, a map.
Shop asssistant: oh, a mep!

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

Ok family story. Dad was looking for somewhere to buy something like plasters only this was South Africa. Dis-chuffed Englishman mode

Dad: "What you guys need is Boots!"
Grandpa: "We have veldtschoens!"

But we have never called a chemist Veldtschoens so technically a tangent.

Jengie

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

My friend is an avid flower photographer. Many times she will throw out the names of flowers that we see, so I figure she is something of an expert. We were walking by a road in Wyoming, and I asked about the beautiful blooms that were growing there. Her answer was "Roadsidea". After that, I heard her describe some as "Waysidea". Works for me.

Posted by nickel (# 8363) on :

I was reminded today about the "Wrong Way" lanes. Everyone else calls them car pool or HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes ... two extra lanes that go into the city in the morning, and are reversed to leave the city in the afternoon. No matter when we travel up that way, they always seem to be going the wrong way for us to use.

Posted by Angel Wrestler (# 13673) on :

The pacifiers that babies and very young children use, in our house, are called "bobs."

It started when I was a very little girl (around 4) and my friend's brother referred to his as his bob. I got a sister around that time and she, also, liked her pacifier, but by then the term, "bob," had been established forever in my mind.

My daughters' pacifiers were also called bobs, and it led to a cute little time of sweet-talk between Mr. Wrestler and the then-non-verbal Little Angel #2. He said she could have her bob, and that his real name was Robert. So - that particular bob was then known as Robert. I actually saved it for a couple years, remembering that exchange and LA 2's infancy, but then decided to throw Robert away.

Posted by Angel Wrestler (# 13673) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
My younger brother, when he was little, used to call a tape measure a "measurmer" and the word stuck over the years.

After my parents sold the family house in New York and were cleaning it out in preparation for moving out here to Arizona, we discovered the original tape measure that had given rise to the coinage -- humble as it may be, the Measurmer is now a family heirloom.

awww.

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