# Your favourite words for \*thingies\*? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2021, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345 "2021-02-20T12:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/21 "2021-02-20T21:30:23Z")
(nm)… ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/22 "2021-02-20T21:34:26Z")
In our family, it’s “deelywow” or “thingamabob.” In college, we would occasionally say, “neebie.” (I don’t know the origin of the first and third words, except that a friend came up with the third.) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/23 "2021-02-20T21:35:58Z")
It’s not unusual around my house to hear sentences such as, “did you put the thing in the thing?”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/24 "2021-02-20T21:41:32Z")
- Dingie - Whatchamacallit - Whatsit - Thing - Frob - Thingummy - Thingamabob - Deelybopper ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/25 "2021-02-20T22:04:20Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > If necessary, you can say, with firm emphasis, “you know, _ **THAT** _ thing.” Yeah, at that point you’re pretty much drawing a picture for them. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/26 "2021-02-20T22:16:40Z")
Wossnames or whojamaflips. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/27 "2021-02-20T22:23:11Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > “Fiendish thingies,” with a hard “g.” ([_Help!_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help!_(film)) is required viewing if one is to understand our family conversations.) With a _thingie_ like that, I could, dare I say it…rule the world! ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/28 "2021-02-20T22:24:32Z")
Hickeywatchie. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/29 "2021-02-20T22:34:37Z")
Hoobiedoober. Thingamabob. Mark 1 Mod 2 whoosiewhatsit. As in, I need to fabricate the hoobiedoober to build the thingamabob sub-assembly on the Mark 1 Mod 2 whoosiewhatsit. Tripler Some assembly required. Batteries not included. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/30 "2021-02-21T00:23:58Z")
I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/31 "2021-02-21T16:37:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Dealies. > > (Courtesy Homer S.) Same here on both. [You mean a spoon?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2dtpnp8Jgo) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/32 "2021-02-21T20:32:36Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Thingummy I would see this one in British novels – especially ones of a certain age – and, in my head, I always pronounced it “THINgummy.” It sounded weird, but y’know foreign country and all. Took me years to realize it was simply “THINGuhME.” In my head, it’s spelled “thingumee.” ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/33 "2021-02-21T20:56:47Z")
I say it both ways. And I read a lot of British books, plus I lived there for a few years when a child. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/34 "2021-02-21T21:00:04Z")
Do you say it with the hard ‘g?’ ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/35 "2021-02-21T21:40:29Z")
When I say THIN-gum-me, yes. Otherwise, it’s THING-um-me. Wait, that’s not quite how you say it, is it? ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/36 "2021-02-21T22:03:26Z")
She’s the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the spring that drives the rod that turns the knob that works the thing-ummy-bob. She’s the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil that oils the ring that takes the shank that moves the crank that works the thing-ummy-bob. It’s a ticklish sort of job making a thing for a thing-ummy-bob Especially when you don’t know what it’s for But it’s the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the spring that works the thing-ummy-bob that makes the engines roar. And it’s the girl that makes the thing that holds the oil that oils the ring that works the thing-ummy-bob that’s going to win the war. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/37 "2021-02-21T22:17:12Z")
I don’t say it the first way myself (that’s how my brain reads it when I see it spelled thingummy). The second pronunciation is how I say it. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/38 "2021-02-22T16:27:45Z")
> [@eburacum\_45](#): > > She’s the girl that makes the thing that drills the hole that holds the spring that drives the rod that turns the knob that works the thing-ummy-bob. That’s lovely, and I’d quite forgotten it! Wiki he say: " **The Thing-Ummy Bob**" is a 1942 song which was written by [Gordon Thompson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Thompson_(songwriter)) and [David Heneker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Heneker) which celebrates the production line worker of [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II) making components for complex weapons to win the war.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing-Ummy_Bob#cite_note-bush-1) Its chorus is > _I’m the girl that makes the thing_ > _that drills the hole that holds the ring_ > _that drives the rod that turns the knob_ > _that works the thing-ummy bob_ A _thingumabob_ or _thingummy_ is an extended form of the word _[thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_body)_ which the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary) records being used as far back as 1751.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing-Ummy_Bob#cite_note-2) The song was popularised by performers [Arthur Askey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Askey) and [Gracie Fields](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Fields). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/39 "2021-03-17T18:03:52Z")
Purportedly our friend heard a guy at Radio Shack say something like: “This part will work if you break off that little neebie.” And we all picked up the word after that. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345/40 "2021-03-18T18:31:08Z")
My least favorite word for a thing is “guy”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favourite-words-for-thingies/933345.md?page=3)