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A placeholder name occupies a syntactic space between nouns and pronouns. They typically function grammatically as nouns; their referents, however, must be supplied by context, like pronouns. They serve as placeholders for names of objects that are otherwise unknown or unspecified.
Kadigans
Willard Richardson Espy, David Annis and some others have given the name kadigans (or cadigans) to this class of words. The word is of obscure origin. Stuart Berg Flexner and Harold Wentworth's 1960 Dictionary of American Slang contains the word kadigin, and defines it merely as a synonym for thingamajig; if so, then kadigin is itself a kadigan. Its use as a label for these words as a class may be original with Espy.
Its etymology is also obscure. It may relate to the Irish surname Cadigan. The 1960 spelling suggests that Flexner and Wentworth related it to the element gin, in this context likely a clipped form of engine, as in the cotton gin.
Kadigans in the English language for inanimate objects Prototypical kadigans in the English language include: - blivet
- deelie-bob, deelie-bobber
- device
- dingus
- doodad
- doohickey
- doofunny
- doover
- gadget
- geemie
- gizmo
- hoochamajigger
- kerjigger
- odds and ends
- oojah
- oojamaflip
- thingamajig
- thingamabob
- thingamadoodle
- thingo
- thingum (the early form that was elaborated into the adjacent words on the list)
- thingummy
- thingy
- whatchamacallit
- whatchamajigger
- whatsit
- whosey
- whoseywhatsit
- whosis
- widget
- wossname (British form of whatchamacallit)
Items which have been or could conceivably be described with a kadigan are torque wrenches, sewing machine bobbins, nail pullers, crochet hooks, and other objects which are gender or trade specific. They are typically smaller than a breadbox.
Thingamajigs are typically specialized devices which have a limited number of uses or a single specific use. The term is typically employed by one whose experience with the use of the object is nonexistent or very limited. Regular users of such devices would never refer to them as thingamajigs or any of the related terms listed below.
A thingamajig is different from a widget, in that a widget is an actual, but not yet named or constructed, mechanical component. It is also different from a gadget, in that "gadget" is the generic term for a superfluously useful device, such as a remote garage door opener, whose name is easily remembered.
Thingamajigs are of such a nature that they are also typically referred to by location: "The doofunny on the kitchen counter", "the geemie beside the couch", or "that thing on top of the fridge". It is assumed by the listener that anything else on top of the fridge, such as the box of tissues, the pictures of the kids, or the can of air freshener, which are more ordinary and thus more nameable than the "thing" for which one is looking, are not the requested object. Where one might request a hammer with no reference to location, one would not similarly request a doohickey.
Even among the world of otherwise nameless things referred to by kadigans, there is a hierarchy of specificity. "Thing", as its name implies, is universally applicable. It is likely, however, that a "gizmo" involves some minor degree of technological sophistication, connoting as it does some mechanical or electronic aspect.
"Stuff" and "shit" are mass noun cadigans in English.
Most of these words exist in the less formal register of the English language. In more formal speech and writing, words like paraphernalia, artifact, or utensil are called into play; these words also refer to things made by human hands without getting specific about their form or function. These words also differ slightly in usage: artifacts are usually found objects of indeterminate age and purpose, while utensil suggests cutlery.
These words have been in regular use since at least the nineteenth century. United States of America in the 1840s. In Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, W. S. Gilbert makes the Lord High Executioner sing of a "little list" which includes:
- . . . apologetic statesmen of a compromising kind,
Such as--What d'ye call him--Thing'em-bob, and likewise--Never-mind,
and 'St--'st--'st-- and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who--
The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you. The need for such words increases as technology advances. Indeed, kadigans have a grand future, if the Star Trek television franchise predicts accurately: many of the show's "scientific explanations" of their futuristic technology have a curious placeholder quality to them, causing fans of the show to speak of Treknobabble.
Kadigans in computing In computing, kadigans also exist. Hacker slang includes a number of placeholders, such as frob, which may stand for any small piece of equipment. To frob, likewise, means to adjust (a device) in an aimless way.
Other words used as kadigans Other words that may have specific technical meanings are occasionally used as kadigans as well. Some words that are so used in English include:
Vulgar placeholder names Any number of English swear words can be used as placeholders. The word fuck is noted for being used in many roles and parts of speech, both with and without derogatory intent: a fucker may be any thing or person whatsoever, while fucking with something is equivalent to fooling with or messing with it and denotes no particular action. English is hardly unique in this regard; see below for similar uses in Russian and Spanish.
The words shit and, more rarely, crap are used as mass noun placeholders, cruder equivalents to stuff.
Kadigans in the English language for people Kadigan-like expressions can refer to people as well. Among words or phrases used in English to refer to people of unknown or irrelevant name are: - So-and-so
- What's his/her face
- What's his/her name
- Miss Thing (cf. French Petit Chose)
Certain fixed expressions are used as placeholder names in a number of specialized contexts. In formal legal contexts, John Does are sometimes mentioned; in more informal English, people sometimes need to speak of Old So-and-so or What's-'is-name or Miss Thing. Tommy Atkins is a mythical Briton who filled out all his forms correctly, and as such lent his name to British soldiers generally. John Smith, often from "Anytown, U.S.A.," and John Q. Public are also used as placeholder names for unnamed citizens, and similarly in Britain one might refer to Fred Bloggs. In theatre, television and motion pictures, the great actors Walter Plinge, David Agnew, and George Spelvin are pseudonyms used for cast members who prefer to go unnamed. The name Alan Smithee is similarly used by film directors who wish to remain anonymous.
Movies and theatre also give rise to another specific type of kadigan, the Chinese term is shenme shenme (什么什么) and its usage mirrors that of the Japanese explained below.
Esperanto has an all-purpose kadigan root um, which has no fixed meaning, which can be inflected in various forms, umi, umo, umilo, etc.
In French, an unspecified artifact can be le bidule; this is from military slang for something in disarray; the word machin, derived from machine, is also used as a kadigan. To call something a truc suggests a gadget that gets its job done with astonishing efficiency. Quebec French also has patente, gogosse and such (most of which have verb forms meaning "to fiddle with").
German also sports a variety of kadigans; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingsda, Dingsbums, cognate with English thing. Also, Krimskrams suggests some sort of technical doodad. In a slightly higher register, Gerät represents a miscellaneous artifact or utensil. The use of the word Teil (part) is a relatively recent kadigan in German that has gained great popularity since the late 1980s. Initially a very generic kadigan, it has obtained specific meaning in certain contexts. For example, to buy ecstasy customers usually simply ask for parts (Teile) without danger of ambiguation.
In Hungarian the word izé (a stem of of ancient Finno-Ugric heritage) is used, referring primarily to inanimate objects but sometimes also to people, places, concepts, or even adjectives. Hungarian is very hospitable to derivational processes and the izé- stem can be further extended to fit virtually any grammatical category, naturally forming a rich family of derivatives: e.g. izé whatchamacallit (noun), izés whatchamacallit-ish (adjective), izébb or izésebb more whatchamacallit(ish) (comparative adjective), izésen in a whatchamacallitish manner (adverb), izél to whatchamacallit (often meaning: screw up) something (transitive verb), izéltet to cause someone to whatchamacallit (transitive verb), izélget to whatchamacallit continually (often meaning: pester, bother -- frequentative verb), izélődik to whatchamacallit (fool, mess) around (durative verb). (In slang izé and its verbal and nominal derivatives often take on sexual meanings). In addition to its placeholder function, izé is an all-purpose hesitation word, like ah, er, um in English.
In Italian the word coso is used, apparently related to cosa, "thing".
In Japanese, naninani (なになに, a doubled form of the word nani, meaning what) is often used as a kadigan. It does not neccessarily mean a physical object; for example, it is often used to stand in for an omitted word when discussing grammar.
In Latin the word res (thing) is used. Some Latin legal writers used the name Numerius Negidius as a John Doe placeholder name; this name was chosen in part because it shares its initals with the Latin phrases (often abbreviated in manuscripts to NN) nomen nescio, "I don't know the name"; nomen nominandum, "name to be named" (used when the name of an appointee was as yet unknown); and non nominatus/nominata, "not named".
In Maori the word taru, literally meaning "long grass" or "weeds" is used.
In Polish most popular kadigans are dynks (see German Dings) and wihajster (equals to Portuguese, common kadigans are treco and negócio, among others. Kadigans for people are usually Fulano/Fulana (optionally surnamed de Tal), Sicrano/Sicrana and Beltrano/Beltrana. João das Couves or José da Silva are also used.
In Russian, the most common kadigans are штука (thing) and хуйня (in mat slang; roughly translatable as "little fucker").
Spanish tends to use fairly self-explanatory phrases as kadigans: el como-se-llama ("what's-it-called"), el que-te-dije ("what-you-say"); they also reach for Latin, and borrow quídam as a word for something or another. Chisme is generally used for any object, whereas a tapa would refer to any sort of food. Both placeholders are often heard, and there are countless restaurants in Spain and other countries that include the word Tapa or Tapas in their name. Mexican Spanish adds chingadera ("fucker"), not to be used in polite circumstances. Kadigans for unspecified persons include Don Fulano/Doña Fulana and Fulano/Fulana de Tal; if a second or third person is needed, they are Mengano and Zutano.
Turkish uses at least the word dalga.
One of the kadigans in Ubykh, zamsjada, may be related to another word meaning useless.
See also
References - Espy, W., An Almanac of Words at Play (Clarkson Potter, 1979) ISBN 0517520907
- Flexner, S. B. and Wentworth, H., A Dictionary of American Slang; (Macmillan, 1960) ISBN 9998065100
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