# Doodads, hickies, thingamabobs, etc.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 31, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208 "2007-05-31T16:41:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/1 "2007-05-31T16:41:55Z")
Does it strike you as odd that we have so many names for stuff that either doesn’t have a name of its own or else we can’t remember it – if we ever heard it to start with?
How many names for that sort of thing can we come up with?
Gizmo
Whatchamacallit
Thingum
Whatzit
Dololly
Who will name the 100th one?
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### Author:  [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/2 "2007-05-31T16:55:11Z")
Thingamajig.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/3 "2007-05-31T17:00:49Z")
[QUOTE=wasson]
Thingamajig.
[/QUOTE]
By my count, that’s #9.
I’m trying to think of the one that’s used so much when describing some mystery product that some fictional company is supposed to produce. Anybody?
Frabastat
Guzinta
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### Author:  [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/4 "2007-05-31T17:22:24Z")
Doo-hickey
Thingy
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/5 "2007-05-31T17:26:08Z")
Thingie-bobber.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/6 "2007-05-31T17:31:31Z")
My favorite, that I learned from a college buddy:
Utebanger.
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/7 "2007-05-31T17:32:07Z")
My mom calls them “hoobleygogs”
I’ve also heard:
Dealy-boppers
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/8 "2007-05-31T17:32:58Z")
Maybe that product I was trying to remember is a widgit. I know that a grommet is like an eyelet and so it’s a real name for a real thing, but this thing I’m trying to remember may be a variation on grommet and widgit or something fused from the two – or something totally different.
Je ne sais quoi
hoopdooley
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/9 "2007-05-31T17:41:04Z")
Festeris (fa-STAIR-is)
The name of the thing you’re looking for when you can’t recall the name of the thing you’re looking for.
“Susan, where’s the…the…oh, you know…the…where the hell’s the festeris?”
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### Author:  [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/10 "2007-05-31T17:44:56Z")
Whoozamafitzle. I have no idea how to spell it, but that’s what I say.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/11 "2007-05-31T17:59:22Z")
Whoseawhatzit
I have that Little Mermaid song in my head now.
"._…I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty,
I’ve got whosits and whatzits galore.
Want a thingamabob?
I’ve got twenty!"_
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### Author:  [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/12 "2007-05-31T18:15:51Z")
Doojamahflop(per)
Widget
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### Author:  [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/13 "2007-05-31T18:48:30Z")
Hootus
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### Author:  [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/14 "2007-05-31T18:51:21Z")
whatchamo
framis
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/15 "2007-05-31T18:51:23Z")
_Frobnitz_ (pl. _frobnitzem_. Sometimes shortened to _frob_.)–An unspecified physical object, usually of a technological nature. Related terms _frobnule_, _frobule_, or _frobozz_ may refer to either physical or nonphysical objects.
The verb _frobnicate_, which means roughly “manipulate a frobnitz” is also often shortened to _frob_. This can lead to constructions like, “Please frob that frob.” This sort of sentence may be confusing to the unintiated.
There is also _gorets_, the unknowable ur-noun, which can only be defined by implication. “The gorets were falling when the aliens came for our echinoderms.”
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### Author:  [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/16 "2007-05-31T18:51:29Z")
Sorry \*\* badbadrubberpiggy \*\*, but Dealy-boppers are the antennaes on a headband.
Whatisface is the equivalent of whatzit for when you don’t know a persons name.
Sumnabitch = when you are frustrated that you can’t find the part and also can’t remember its name. “I was fixing the lawn mower and I lost that….sumanbitch in the grass.”
Fuzzlewuzzle
Doodlefritzer
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### Author:  [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/17 "2007-05-31T19:55:27Z")
Dooder.
Example: “Girls, each of you needs a hair-dooder after you comb your hair, to keep it nice.”
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/18 "2007-05-31T19:59:21Z")
Summarizing (with counts):
Doodads
hickies
thingamabobs
Gizmo
Whatchamacallit
Thingum
Whatzit
Dololly
Thingamajig
Frabastat (10)
Guzinta
Doo-hickey
Thingy
Thingie-bobber
Utebanger
hoobleygogs
Dealy-boppers
widgit
Je ne sais quoi
hoopdooley (20)
Festeris (fa-STAIR-is)
Whoozamafitzle
Whoseawhatzit
Doojamahflop(per)
Widget
Hootus
whatchamo
framis
Frobnitz (pl. frobnitzem)
frobnule (30)
frobule
frobozz
gorets
Whatisface
whatzit
Sumnabitch
Fuzzlewuzzle
Doodlefritzer
Dooder (39)
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/19 "2007-05-31T20:09:56Z")
[QUOTE=erie774]
Sorry \*\* badbadrubberpiggy \*\*, but Dealy-boppers are the antennaes on a headband.
[/QUOTE]
Really? I thought those were “feely-boppers”. Though that’s what the Dope is for, fighting ignorance & all!
I used to think “ooks” was a term my mom made up for those little picture-hangy gadgets. Then she bought me some when I got my first apartment, and I discovered that’s actually what the package says.
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doodads-hickies-thingamabobs-etc/406208/20 "2007-05-31T20:21:42Z")
Doomaflahdgy (do ma floj ee)
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