(nm)…
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.)
It’s not unusual around my house to hear sentences such as, “did you put the thing in the thing?”.
mmm
- Dingie
- Whatchamacallit
- Whatsit
- Thing
- Frob
- Thingummy
- Thingamabob
- Deelybopper
Yeah, at that point you’re pretty much drawing a picture for them.
Wossnames or whojamaflips.
With a thingie like that, I could, dare I say it…rule the world!
Hickeywatchie.
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.
I don’t think so.
Same here on both.
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.”
I say it both ways. And I read a lot of British books, plus I lived there for a few years when a child.
Do you say it with the hard ‘g?’
When I say THIN-gum-me, yes. Otherwise, it’s THING-um-me.
Wait, that’s not quite how you say it, is it?
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.
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.
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 and David Heneker which celebrates the production line worker of World War II making components for complex weapons to win the war.[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 which the Oxford English Dictionary records being used as far back as 1751.[2]
The song was popularised by performers Arthur Askey and Gracie Fields.
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.
My least favorite word for a thing is “guy”.