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Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either irrelevant or unknown in the context in which it is being discussed. "Whatchamacallit" (for objects) and "Whatshisname" or "Whatshername" (for men and women, respectively) are defining examples.

Contents

Linguistic role

These placeholders typically function grammatically as nouns and can be used for people (e. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. g. , John Doe, Jane Doe), objects (e. The Name " John Doe " is used as a Placeholder name for a male party in a legal action case or discussion whose true identity is either unknown or g. , Widget), or places (e. A widget is a Placeholder name for an object or more specifically a mechanical or other manufactured device g. , Timbuktu). Timbuktu ( Timbuctoo; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu; French: Tombouctou) is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African They share a property with pronouns because their referents must be supplied by context. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In general a reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates by linking to another object

Many placeholder names are synecdoches, that is, linguistic metaphors where a part of something is used for the whole or vice versa. Synecdoche is taken from Greek sinekdohi (συνεκδοχή meaning "simultaneous understanding" (si-nek-duh-kee (pronounced /sɪˈnɛkdoˌki/ Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects "Average Joe" is an example of this, as not all men are named Joe. Other placeholder names, such as "MacGuffin", "whatchamacallit", or "thingamajig", have no identity beyond their use as placeholder names and so are not synecdoches. A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a Plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story but the details of which are of little or no importance

Stuart Berg Flexner and Harold Wentworth’s Dictionary of American Slang (1960) uses the term kadigan to describe placeholder words. Stuart Berg Flexner (1928–1990 was a lexicographer editor and author noted for his books on the origins of American words and expressions including I Hear America Talking They define kadigan merely as a synonym for thingamajig; if so, then kadigan is itself a kadigan. The term may have originated with Willard Richardson Espy, though others such as David Annis also used it (or cadigans) in their writing. Willard Richardson Espy (11 December 1910&ndash20 February 1999 was a U Its etymology is obscure—Flexner and Wentworth related it to the generic word gin for engine (as in the cotton gin). Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time An engine is a mechanical device that produces some form of output from a given input A Cotton Gin' (short for cotton engine) is a machine that quickly and easily separates the Cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds a job It may also relate to the Irish surname Cadigan. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world A surname is a name added to a Given name and is part of a Personal name. Cadigan is an Irish surname and may refer to Dave Cadigan (born 1965 retired National Football League offensive lineman Pat Cadigan

Words describing generic categories may also be used in this function of a placeholder (e. g. , "flower" for tulips and roses), but they are not considered to be cadigans. Tulipa, commonly called tulip, is a Genus of about 150 species of bulbous Flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. A rose is a perennial flowering Shrub or vine of the Genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species

Connotation

Especially when used to refer to people, some placeholder names can have a connotation, usually negative. This word has distinct meanings in other fields see Connotation (semiotics and Connotation and denotation.

Abbreviations used in this article

Placeholder names in English

Things (inanimate objects or concepts)

Common placeholders in the English language include:

  • blah
  • compuftimacator (to describe a contraption, especially mechanical)
  • crap
  • da kine (Hawaiian Creole English, universal placeholder)
  • dealie, dealy, or deelie (northwestern U. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Hawaii Pidgin English, Hawaii Creole English, HCE, or simply Pidgin, is a Creole language based in part on English S) [1]
  • dingle-dongle
  • dingus [2]
  • diseere (southwestern P. A. )
  • doodacky
  • doohickey [3]
  • do-dad, [4] doodad (North America)[5] and doodah (UK)[6]
  • doofer [7]
  • flask or frasc (Connecticut, U. S. A. ; frasc is derived from the Spanish term "frasco", which is Spanish for flask)
  • foo or foobar (Used primarily in the computer industry)
  • framistat
  • frammis[8]
  • frobnitz [9]
  • gadget
  • geemie
  • gewgaw or geegaw
  • gizmo
  • gubbins (British slang) [10]
  • hickey
  • hingmy (Scottish, derived from thingummy)
  • hodad
  • hoojikapivy (derived from hoojamaflip)
  • jobby or jobber
  • jones
  • junk
  • kludge
  • MacGuffin
  • oojamaflip (Also hoojamaflip)
  • shit
  • stuff
  • thing
  • thingamabob (sometimes spelled thingumabob or thingumbob) [11]
  • thingamajig
  • thing
  • thingmie
  • thingy
  • ting
  • whatchamacallit (originated by the phrase “What you may call it”, and sometimes shortened to whatchacallit)
  • whatnot
  • whatsit (sometimes spelled wotsit)
  • whatsitsname (British form of whatchamacallit, sometimes spelled wossname)
  • widget (especially in economics, for a product whose identity is unimportant)
  • wing wong for a goose's bridle, Australian answer to naïve "What is that?"
  • x
  • yadda-yadda-yadda (popularized by the television show Seinfeld as a placeholder for "various events took place which I do not care to describe in detail". The term foobar is a common Placeholder name, also referred to as Metasyntactic variable, used in Computer programming or computer-related documentation GADGET is a freely available code for cosmological N-body/SPH simulations written by Volker Springel at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. Gizmo is a Placeholder name for any small technological item Other similar names are gadget, widget, thingamajig, etc See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. A kludge (alternately kluge) is a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem or difficulty A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a Plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story but the details of which are of little or no importance A widget is a Placeholder name for an object or more specifically a mechanical or other manufactured device Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Seinfeld is an American Situation comedy, or sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5 1989 to May 14 1998 lasting nine seasons
  • yoke (Commonly used in Ireland)

Thingamajigs are typically specialized devices which have a limited number of uses or a single specific use. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world 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. GADGET is a freely available code for cosmological N-body/SPH simulations written by Volker Springel at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Even among the world of otherwise nameless things referred to by placeholder names, 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.

Most of these words exist in the less formal register of the English language. In Linguistics, a register is a subset of a Language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting In more formal speech and writing, words like accessory, paraphernalia, artifact, instrument, or utensil are called into play; these words also refer to things made by human hands without getting specific about their form or function. A cultural artifact is a human-made object which gives information about the Culture of its creator and users "Saucepan" redirects here In Australia "the Saucepan" is sometimes used as an unofficial name for part of the constellation of Pavo, when finding the These words also differ slightly in usage: artifacts are usually found objects of indeterminate age and purpose, while utensil suggests cutlery. Cutlery refers to any hand Implement used in preparing serving and especially eating Food in the Western world.

These words have been in regular use since at least the nineteenth century. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a short story entitled The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, , showing that particular form to be in familiar use in the United States in the 1840s. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, W. S. Gilbert makes the Lord High Executioner sing of a "little list" which includes:

. Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a Comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and Libretto by W Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 &ndash 29 May 1911 was an English Dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen . . 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.

According to Trey Parker's audio commentary, "schpadoinkle" was composed as a placeholder, and was not initially intended to actually be used in Cannibal! The Musical. Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American Animator, Screenwriter, Film director Cannibal! The Musical is a Student film directed by future creator of South Park, Trey Parker, while studying at the University

Computing-specific

Main article: Metasyntactic variable

Placeholder names are also used in computing. A metasyntactic variable (ˌmɛtəsɪnˈtæktɪk ˈvɛəriəbl is a Placeholder name or an alias term commonly used to denote the subject matter under discussion Computing is usually defined like the activity of using and developing Computer technology Computer hardware and software.

Other technical-sounding

Other words that may have specific technical meanings are occasionally used as placeholders as well. Some words that are so used in English include:

People

Kadigan-like expressions can refer to people as well. A flange is an external or internal Rib, or Rim (lip for strength, as the flange of an Iron beam or I-beam A sprocket is a profiled Wheel with teeth that meshes with a chain, track or other perforated or indented material Grommets and eyelets are Metal, Plastic, or Rubber rings that are inserted into a hole made through another material In the sport of Cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings Meanings of wicket Set of stumps Primarily the wicket Among words or phrases used in English to refer to people of unknown or irrelevant name are:

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 What’s-’is-face (cruder) or Miss Thing. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society The Name " John Doe " is used as a Placeholder name for a male party in a legal action case or discussion whose true identity is either unknown or Tommy Atkins is a mythical Briton who filled out all his forms correctly, and as such lent his name to British soldiers generally; his Canadian counterpart is "Corporal (or some other rank) Bloggins". Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that was already well established in the nineteenth century but is particularly 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 Joe or Fred Bloggs. John Smith is a name often regarded as the archetype of a common Personal name in most English -speaking countries a generic name sometimes representing " Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either irrelevant or unknown in the context in which it is being discussed John Q Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a " Common man. The names " Joe Bloggs " and " Fred Bloggs " are a commonly used Placeholder name in United Kingdom Teaching, Programming "Joe Random" or "Joe Average" are also referred to, sometimes more specifically as "Joe Average Voter" or "Joe Random Customer". In Australia, the name John Citizen is used in a similar capacity on samples of forms or cards. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Name " John Doe " is used as a Placeholder name for a male party in a legal action case or discussion whose true identity is either unknown or In America, Joe or Jane Sixpack refers to the perceived average middle or lower class person. The Name " John Doe " is used as a Placeholder name for a male party in a legal action case or discussion whose true identity is either unknown or The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types 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. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works This article is about the pseudonym for the Discworld character see Minor Discworld characters#Walter Plinge Walter Plinge is a Pseudonym David Agnew is a Pseudonym that was traditionally used on BBC television drama programmes in the 1970s where a writer's name could not be used for contractual George Spelvin, Georgette Spelvin, and Georgina Spelvin are the traditional Pseudonyms used in programs in American Theater by actors who don't A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) The name Alan Smithee is similarly used by film directors who wish to remain anonymous (often because their film did not turn out well). For the 1997 film see An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn, Alan Smithee (or the alternate spellings Allen Smithee Alan Smythee Conversely, placeholders can be used to conceal identity, as seen in the above Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics. The Newfoundland entertainer "Buddy Whasisname" derives his stage name from a common local usage (combining two terms) describing an unknown male.

Movies and theatre also give rise to another specific type of kadigan, the MacGuffin. A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a Plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story but the details of which are of little or no importance This is any object or person used to drive a plot or as the goal of a quest, but which otherwise has no relevance to the action, and thus could be replaced in the script with another similar item with no loss of sense. This article is about the word for other meanings see Quest (disambiguation A quest is a journey towards a goal used in Mythology A foozle is a generic enemy or group of enemies that must be defeated for the plot to move on in a game.

Cryptographers conventionally use a fixed cast of characters when describing their systems in general terms. See also CategoryCryptographers for an exhaustive list Pre twentieth century Charles Babbage, UK, 19th century Mathematician The names Alice and Bob are commonly used placeholders for archetypal characters in fields such as Cryptography and Physics. For example, the quintessential cryptographic system has Alice wanting to send a message to Bob without Eve being able to eavesdrop on them. These are even used in formal, peer-reviewed papers in the field, see Alice and Bob. The names Alice and Bob are commonly used placeholders for archetypal characters in fields such as Cryptography and Physics.

Forms of address

Some placeholders are used in second-person to address another, usually — but not always — because the second party's name is unknown.

Sir or Madam/Ma'am. In English-speaking society, the most universally-accepted forms of address to another person, known or unknown, and regardless of station, are "Sir" (to men) and "Madam", sometimes shortened to "Ma'am", (to women). The word Anglosphere describes a concept of a group of Anglophone ( English -speaking nations which share historical political and cultural characteristics rooted "Sir" and "Madam/Ma'am", for example, are considered acceptable forms of address for most of the world's heads of state, including royalty. Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a Monarchic or Republican Nation-state

Friend. "Friend" or other synonyms of amity may be used in its literal sense, but is often used ironically to indicate displeasure or hostility. May also be used between strangers in a non-ironic manner. Used especially among Quakers, the Society of Friends.

Terms of endearment. A term of endearment is a word or phrase used to address and/or describe a person or animal for which the speaker feels Love or Affection. Words such as "honey" or "sweetie" are generally perceived as affectionate between friends, family or intimates. Outside this group, or in more formal or professional settings, the use of these words becomes more problematic. Their use by a person to a member of the opposite sex may be seen as forward or presumptuous, or even patronizing and demeaning (especially when used by a man to a woman). When used by a woman to address another woman, the sense may be friendly or hostile (see Friend, above); when used by a man to another man, it is generally perceived to have homosexual overtones (i. e. , suggesting that either the speaker or the addressee — or both — is homosexual).

Second-person kadigans include:

Places

In some forms of English, placeholder names exist to represent locations, particularly the stereotypical backward, insignificant or isolated town in the middle of nowhere. These include:

Other place names include:

Common components of placeholders for places are -town, -ville, -hampton (in the United Kingdom), -vale, Big-, Mid-, Middle-, Little-, Small-, Bally- (in Ireland), and Any-. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world The National Health Service of the UK, as well as the Department for Transport, use a large variety of placeholders as examples, including:

Numbers

English employs a number of kadigans to refer to unspecified quantity (see Indefinite and fictitious large numbers):

The following particles likewise refer to unspecified quantity, but are not placeholder names as defined in this article:

Dates and times

Placeholder names in other languages

Most other languages have placeholders of some sort in their vocabulary.

Arabic

Arabic uses Fulan / Fulana[h] فلان / فلانة and when a last name is needed it becomes Fulan AlFulani / Fulana[h] AlFulaniyya[h] فلان الفلاني / فلانة الفلانية. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language When a second person is needed, ʿillan / ʿillana[h] علان / علانة is used. The use of Fulan has been borrowed into Spanish, Portuguese, Persian and Turkish, as shown below.

Bengali

Bengali uses the universal placeholder ye (from the Hindi pronoun for he/she/it). Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Ye is used for everything-people, places, things, times, or numbers. ওমুক omuk can also be used as a placeholder for people.

Bosnian

Bosnian uses the name Hepek to refer to any object or person. Bosnian language (Bosnian bosanski jezik) sometimes referred as Bosniak language or Bosniac language is a South Slavic language native The word was often used by Top Lista Nadrealista. Top lista nadrealista (trans Top Chart of Surrealists) was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo and later a Television show on TV

Bulgarian

In Bulgarian, "takova" or "takovata" can be used in place of a noun, and "takovam" as a verb. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group The latter often can have obscene connotations, but it's generally not considered profane.

Catalan

Catalan uses the names daixonses / daixonsis and dallonses / dallonsis to refer to any object or person; d'aixo (in English: "of this") and d'allo (in English: "of that") are also used with the same purpose

Chinese

In Chinese, question words are used as placeholders. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States An unspecified object is shénme or shénme shénme (Simplified Chinese: 什么什么; Traditional Chinese: 什麼什麼) (literally, "what what"), an unspecified location is nǎlǐ (哪里) , literally "where," an unspecified person mǒu (某), literally "someone," and so on.

Zhang San, Li Si and Wang Wu are Chinese placeholder names. Zhāng Sān ( Lǐ Sì ( Wáng Wǔ ( and Zhào Liù ( or Wáng Èr Mázi (王二麻子 are Placeholder names ( Metasyntactic

Czech

In Czech, there are several placeholder words for things like toto, tentonoc, udělátko (gadget), hejble, etc. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the For persons, týpek placeholder word is becoming increasingly popular (in slang, among young people, etc. ). Czechs and Slovaks would also usually understand each other placeholder words.

Danish

In Danish a common placeholder word is dims (derived from German Dings), used for small unspecified objects (gadgets). Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the

Dutch

In Dutch the primary placeholder is dinges (derived from ding, "thing"), used for both objects and persons. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The diminutive of ding, dingetje (lit. "little thing" or "thingy") serves as a kadigan for objects when used with an article, and for persons without. The equivalent of John Doe for an unspecified (but not an unidentified) person is Jan Jansen ("Jansen" being one of the most common Dutch surnames) while Jan Modaal ("John Average") is the average consumer and Jan Publiek ("John Public") the man in the street. Obscure, faraway places are Timboektoe and Verweggistan (lit. "Farawayistan"); the archetypal small village is Nergenshuizen ("Nowhereville"), or more informally Boerenkoolstronkeradeel ("Kalestumperadeel", -eradeel being an archetypal suffix for municipalities in Friesland), or in vulgar speech Schubbekutterveen (literally "Scales-cunt-moor"). Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known Lutjebroek is also used in this sense, but is actually a real village. Lutjebroek is a village in the Netherlands in the community Stede Broec. The nonsense word hutsefluts is used as a placeholder for just about any proper name. Sint-Juttemis is used as a nonsensical date, meaning "never", even though it may be derived from a real saint's day. Stront met streepjes ("Shit with stripes") is a placeholder name for food. Generally used after some-one asks what food is going to be eaten. Flemish usually makes use of either Steenokkerzeel (genuine place name) or Koekelorekapelle (may place names end in -kapelle, meaning "chapel"). Flemish (Vlaams in Dutch) is a popular informal term to refer to Belgian Dutch ( Belgisch-Nederlands in Dutch Dutch as spoken in Belgium

The Flemish name for an unspecified person could be Jef Van Pijperzele. Jef is a common pet form of Jozef. Another pet form, Jos, carries slightly condescendant undertones. Elckerlyc (Every-body, literally) is a character from a medieval play Elckerlyc en de Dood (Everybody and the Death). It is occasionally used to say any mortal.

In Brussels Flemish dialect, an unspecified far-ago time is den taaid van de blieke pataten (the time when potatoes were pale blue). In Flanders, an obsolete object is said to date van het jaar Stillekes (from year Gently).

Esperanto

Esperanto has an all-purpose placeholder suffix um, which has no fixed meaning and simply tells that an object or action has something to do with some purpose or object, for instance butonumi (“to button up” or “to press a button”). It has acquired a specific meaning in some compounds, like brakumi, "to embrace", from brako, "arm".

The placeholder suffix was originally devised as a catch-all derivation affix. Once affixes became routinely used as roots and inflected, um became a placeholder lexeme, which would take affixes of its own: umi "to thingummy", umilo "a thingummy tool", umado "thingummying" etc. A common popular derivative is umaĉi (with pejorative suffix -aĉ-), "doing something fishy". The affix-turned-lexeme aĵo "thing" is also arguably a place holder, since it is less specific than the older lexeme objekto. afero "business" is a lexeme used as an astract placeholder.

The particle "ajn" (= "any") can also be used as a placeholder. A generic object may be referred as «io ajn» (anything, some thing), or «ajno» (informal); the forms "ajna" and "ajne" ("any kind of" and "in any way") are acceptable colloquial synthetic variants of the longer and more formal "ia ajn" and "iel ajn".

Filipino

In the Tagalog language "kwan" can be used for any object that cannot be remembered or identified. It can even be used for people. "Si ano" (personal singular case marker+"what") is also used to refer to people whose names escape the speaker.

People

Placeholders for people include "Juan Dela Cruz", the Philippine Uncle Sam and, "Poncio Pilato" another term for the everyman.

Finnish

Things

Sampo can be considered the oldest placeholder word in the Finnish language. In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder nobody knows exactly what Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside In folk mythology and in the Kalevala, it refers to a mystical object which was a source of immeasurable wealth and whose exact nature remains a mystery. The Kalevala is a book and epic poem which the Finn Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian Folklore in the nineteenth The word is still in use – in particular, it can be found in expressions such as rahasampo ("a cornucopia of money"). The cornucopia ( Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn 'o' plenty

Hilavitkutin is one of the most common Finnish placeholder words for technical objects and machinery. It refers to "a device for vitkuttaa-ing a lattice". The ordinary meaning of the verb vitkuttaa is nonsensical in this context, as it means "to do something slowly in order to delay it". Arguably, vitkuttaa can also evoke associations of oscillation, "shaking back and forth", in native speakers of Finnish. Oscillation is the repetitive variation typically in Time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of Equilibrium) or between two or more different states This is a word derivation of interrogative pronoun mikä (what) and suffix -tin, referring to a tool or device. It basically denotes the same as English whatsit. WHATSIT? is a freeform database program that was available for the Apple II and the CP/M Operating system.

An idiosyncratically Finnish placeholder word is mikälie or mikä lie, literally "whatever (it) may be". It utilizes the Finnish verb form lie or lienee, meaning "(it) probably is" – i. e. , "to be" in the potential mood. Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. This inflected word form is quite rare in everyday speech, which has resulted in its grammatical function being (mis)interpreted by native speakers as a grammatical particle instead of a verb. In Linguistics, the term particle is a word lacking a strict definition but has the function of changing the relation of the parts of the sentence to one another and is therefore For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. This, in turn, has given rise to constructions such as mikälie.

Other generic placeholder words in colloquial use include systeemi or sydeemi ("system"), and juttu (also jutska or judanssi, both from juttu), homma and hommeli ("thing", "thingy"). Stiiknafuulia was introduced by the author Teuvo Pakkala in 1895 and has more or less fallen out of use. Tilpehööri derives phonetically from the Swedish language "tillbehör" (that which is included), and can refer especially to very small items, often found in small plastic bags, needed to put together furniture (say from IKEA) or other kits (model planes for example). Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the IKEA is a privately-held international home products retailer that sells flat pack Furniture, accessories bathrooms and kitchens at retail stores around the world Tilpehööri is always clearly useful and needed to something; unnecessary, unneeded or obscure small items are called höhä or sälä.

People

Placeholders for people include the ubiquitous Matti Meikäläinen (male) and Maija Meikäläinen (female), and the relatively less common Anna Malli (literally Anna the Model, but can also be understood as "Give me an example"), Tauno Tavallinen ("Tauno the Ordinary") or Veijo Luuseri ("Veijo the Luser"). In official contexts, the initials N. N. (from Nimi Nimi meaning Name Name) are used.

Numbers

Placeholders for large numbers include ziljoona and biljardi. The latter is a portmanteau of miljardi (109) and biljoona (1012, see Billion). The long and short scales are two different numerical systems used throughout the world Short scale is the English translation of the French It has an intentional double meaning, as the word also means "billiards", and can also mean 1015.

Places

The most common placeholder name for a remote location or a "backwater town" is Takahikiä. Actual locations in Finland that have acquired a similar status include Peräseinäjoki and, to some extent, Pihtipudas, though the latter is mostly associated with the proverbial Pihtiputaan mummo ("the grandmother from Pihtipudas"). Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Peräseinäjoki is a former municipality of Finland. It was located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia Pihtipudas is a municipality of Finland. It is located in northern Central Finland along Highway E75 about 140 km north of Jyväskylä in They are usually spelled with a small initial letter when they are used as placeholder names. A faraway place can be found in Pippurlandia, which translates as "pepper-land"; "as far as the pepper grows". Black pepper ( Piper nigrum) is a flowering Vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its Fruit, which is usually dried Other places, whose actual coordinates are unknown and obscure, but which clearly are far away, are Hornantuutti (chute of Hell), Huitsin-Nevada and Vinku-Intia (Whine-India). Hell, according to many Religious beliefs, is a location in the Afterlife, which may be described as a place of suffering Nevada ( is a state located in the western region of the United States of America.

Dates and times

Obscurity in time can be expressed as viidestoista päivä (fifteenth day). Tuohikuussa pukinpäivän aikaan refers to an obscure future date (literally at Buck's day on Barkember). "Nappisodan aikaan" refers to something that happened a long time ago. (literal meaning is "at the time of the button wars") Another commonly used term is "Vuonna keppi ja kivi" which litelary means "at the year stick-and-stone", but the word keppi (stick) and kivi (stone) may be replaced with other word like nakki (a kind of sausage), miekka (sword), kilpi (shield) or other word that relates to old times.

Military usage

In Finnish military slang, tsydeemi has traditionally been used to refer to a special type of socks worn during wintertime. However, it has become a common generic placeholder word outside the military, possibly due to its phonetic similarity to the aforementioned systeemi.

In the Finnish Defence Forces, placeholder names for soldiers include Nönnönnöö (no meaning, derived from N. The Finnish Defence Forces is responsible for defence of Finland. N. ), Senjanen (rendered from genitive Senjasen expanding into sen-ja-sen (this-and-that), Omanimi ("Private His-name") and Te ("Private You"). Any weapon, device or piece of equipment is called vekotin. This has actually pointed to the abbreviation VKT, Valtion Kivääritehdas (State Rifle Factory), and referred to pikakivääri (rapid fire rifle) VKT23, which originally was called vekotin.

ICT usage

In information technology, a small program which is supposed to do one thing well, is called kilke. This word has a connotation of "makeshift". Software consisting of several kilke may be called tsydeemi (system). Another word for systems like this is judanssi.

A program that takes something as input and turns it into something other useful, but always human-readable information, is called pulautin. This is perhaps most often applied to web services that do this.

French

Things

In French, an unspecified artifact can be:

These may be combined in several variations, with truc possibly being appended with the meaningless -muche: "machin-truc", "machin-chose", "bidule-truc-muche" are common combination.

Schmilblick was a placeholder name in a 60s radio game show for a mystery object discovered by asking questions. It gained fame from a well-known sketch by Coluche and is now commonly used for any strange object. Michel Colucci ( October 28, 1944 – June 19, 1986) better known as Coluche, was a French Comedian and actor The strip series les Schtroumpfs, whose characters (blue midgets) used schtroumpf for any object and schtroumpfer for any action, led to the use of those two as common placeholders. This was recast in English as the Smurfs. The Smurfs ( Les Schtroumpfs) are a fictional group of small Sky blue creatures who live in Smurf Village somewhere in the woods

Quebec French also has patente, gogosse, cossin and such (most of which have verb forms meaning “to fiddle with”). There are various lexical differences between Quebec French and Metropolitan French in France Acadian French has amanchure. Acadian French ( le français acadien) is a variety or Dialect of French spoken by Francophone Acadians in the

In Brussels slang, brol is either a heap of random small objects, or a nondescript object of little value. Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is

Numbers

People

Common placeholder names for people are

Places

In France:

In French-speaking Belgium, Outsiplou or even Outsiplou-les-Bains-de-Pieds (Outsiplou-the-footbath) is used for a generic village of Wallonia (there is an actual but little known village named Hout-si-Plout, whose name means "Listen whether it rains" in Walloon), and a hamlet named Hoûte-si-Ploût. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Wallonia, or Wallonie, (Wallonie Wallonien Wallonië Waloneye is the Meridional part of Belgium belonging to the Romance linguistic field Walloon ( Walon) is a Romance language spoken as a second language by some in Wallonia, Belgium.

Among French people of North African origin (pieds-noirs), Foun-Tataouine is the generic village, possibly from the village of that name in Tunisia. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Pied-Noir ("Black-Foot" plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced /pje Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. The Star Wars planet Tatooine most probably owns its name from the same village, as many scenes were filmed nearby. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Intelligent lifeforms Humans &mdash Settlers Hutts &mdash Slug-like crime lords Jawas &mdash Short humanoid

In Québec:

Far away rural places:

Dates and times

To refer to an event that will never occur, it can be set "à la Saint-Glinglin" or "La semaine des quatre jeudis" (the week with four Thursdays, because in the past children didn't have school on Thursday). Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Saint Glinglin is a fictional French saint The name probably represents humorous Onomatopoeia. One can also refer to an event which will never occur saying "tous les trente six du mois", meaning "Every thirty-sixth of the month" There is a well-known judgment about a debtor who committed himself to pay on the day of Saint-Glinglin, his creditor apparently not knowing it doesn't exist. The judge decided the discharge would take place on All Saint's day, since that's the proper moment for honouring Saints who don't have their dedicated day, including fake ones.

Georgian

Chichiko Bendeliani may be used for the indefinite person, e. g. when one is telling a story about someone which identification is not necessary or does not affect the sense. It is important to use the full name of Chichiko Bendeliani when used singly, as anything else would make the name too specific and lose the placeholder sense. The second metasyntactic variable would be Bichiko. When used together with Chichiko, last names are not necessary. For example:

"Chichiko Bendeliani was crossing the road", or "Chichiko and Bichiko walk into a bar" to begin a joke.

Places

Jandaba is an indefinite placename for an unspecified (and assumed to be remote) location in Georgia.

German

German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingens (also Dingenskirchen), Dingsda, Dingsbums (sometimes even Dingsdabumsda), cognate with English thing. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Cognates in Linguistics are words that have a common origin They may occur within a language such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from Also, Kram, Krimskrams, Krempel suggests a random heap of small items, e. g. an unsorted drawerful of memorabilia or souvenirs. In a slightly higher register, Gerät represents a miscellaneous artifact or utensil, or, in casual German, may also refer to an item of remarkable size. The use of the word Teil (part) is a relatively recent placeholder in German that has gained great popularity since the late 1980s. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. Initially a very generic term, it has obtained specific meaning in certain contexts. For example, to buy ecstasy customers usually simply ask for parts (Teile) without danger of ambiguation. MDMA ( 34-methylenedioxy- N -methylamphetamine) most commonly known today by the street name Ecstasy (often abbreviated E, X, Zeug or Zeugs (compare Dings, can be loosely translated as stuff) usually refers to either a heap of random items that is a nuisance to the speaker, or an uncountable substance or material, often a drug. Medication, also referred to as medicine, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease Finally, Sache, as a placeholder, loosely corresponding to Latin res, describes an event or a condition. Recently, the placeholder Nupsi for something small protruding from something larger has become somewhat popular (via TV comedy, it is believed).

The German equivalent to the English John Doe for males and Jane Doe for females would be Max Mustermann and Erika Mustermann, respectively. Max Mustermann is a fictional person in Germany and is used as a Placeholder name like John Doe. For many years, Erika Mustermann was used on the sample picture of German id-cards (“Personalausweis”). [7] In Austria, Max Mustermann is used instead. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Sometimes the term Musterfrau is used as the last name placeholder, possibly because it is felt to be more politically correct genderwise. In Cologne, Otto (which can also refer to a gadget) and Gerdi are popular used names for men/boys and women/girls with unknown firstname. GADGET is a freely available code for cosmological N-body/SPH simulations written by Volker Springel at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. Bert also had some popularity as a placeholder for names in the past. For remote or exotic locations, the Germans also use Timbuktu or Buxtehude, as is common in the English language; for towns or villages in the German-speaking world, Kuhdorf or Kuhkaff (lit. cow village, somewhat derogatory) and Kleinkleckersdorf (lit. Little Make-a-mess village), Kleinsiehstenich (lit. Small-can't-see) or Hintertupfing/Hintertupfingen (usually implies that some small, rural and old-fashioned village is meant), in Austria Hinterdupfing are in usage. Herr X. aus Y. an der Z. , which derives from usage in newspapers, is used occasionally. Other kadigans such as Bad Sonstwo an der Irgend have been suggested. Otto Normalverbraucher ("Otto Average-Consumer"; this is taken from bureaucratic jargon of post-WW2 food rationing via the name of a 1948 film character played by Gert Fröbe) corresponds to the American "The Joneses", or John Sixpack. Karl Gerhart Fröbe, better known as Gert Fröbe (geɐt fʁøbə ( February 25, 1912 &ndash September 5, 1988) was a German

Greek

In Greek mostly two "official" placeholders for people are used, tade (original meaning was 'these here') and deina (which has been a placeholder since antiquity). Eg. 'If Tade comes and asks me, I know what to say'. There is also the name Foufoutos used more jokingly. Unofficially, most cadigans are improvised, derived from pronouns, such as tetoios "such", apotetoios "the from-such", apaftos, o aftos "the that" or o etsi "the like-that". For locations, stou diaolou ti mana "at the devil's mother" serves as a placeholder for a distant place.

Hawaiian Pidgin (English)

Da Kine

Hebrew

In Hebrew, the word זה (zeh, meaning 'this') is a placeholder used in place of any noun. "Da kine" is a word in Hawaiian Pidgin, derived from "the kind" that usually functions grammatically as a Placeholder name (compare The most popular personal name placeholders are מה-שמו (mahshmo) or 'whatsisname' (thus: 'Tell mahshmo to put the zeh on the zeh'), מֹשֶׁה (Moshe = Moses) and יוֹסִי (Yossi, diminutive form of Joseph) for first name, and כֹהֵן (Cohen, the most popular last name in Israel) for last name. Moses ( Latin: Moyses,; Greek: grc Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: ar موسىٰ A diminutive is a formation of a Word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning smallness of the object or quality named encapsulation intimacy or endearment Cohen (כֹּהֵן kōhēn', means "A Priest " is a Jewish Surname of Biblical origins (see For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. However, in ID and credit card samples, the usual name is Israel Israeli for a man and Israela Israeli for a woman (these are actual first and last names).

The traditional terms are Ploni פלוני and his party Almoni אלמוני (originally mentioned in Ruth 4:1). This article is about the ancient Hebrew religious text For the 20th-century English-language novel see The Book of Ruth (novel The Book of Ruth Ploni Almoni also is used in official, contemporary situations. For example, addressing guidelines by Israel postal authorities utilize Ploni Almoni as the addressee. [8]

A vulgar term for an unspecified place mostly popular in the Israel army is פִיזְדֶלוֹך (pizdelokh, formed from the Russian pizda, pussy, and the German and Yiddish Loch = hole). The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) (צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, lit Pussy is an English word meaning Cat. It may also refer to the female genitalia in slang among other definitions Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High Also quite common is תיז (א)נביא (Tiz (e) Nabi “the prophet’s ass”, from Arabic), and again Timbuktu. A kadigan for a time in the far past is תרפפ"ו (pronounced Tarapapu, which somewhat resembles a year in the Hebrew calendar but is not quite one). The Hebrew calendar (הלוח העברי ha'luach ha'ivri) or Jewish calendar is a Lunisolar calendar used by Jews for predominantly religious

Especially older Ashkenazi speakers often employ the Yiddish placeholders "Chaim Yankel" and "Moishe Zugmir". Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, ˌaʃkəˈnazim sing Buzaglo (a typical Moroccan-Jewish last name) is a placeholder for a simple lower-class citizen. The term Buzaglo test was coined by then-Attorney General Aharon Barak in the 1970s for the proposition that the law should apply with equal leniency (or severity) to a senior public official and to the simplest ordinary citizen. Aharon Barak (אהרֹן ברק birth name Arik Brick, born September 16, 1936) is a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and a lecturer

The suffix -shehu can be added to any question word to indicate something unknown. Thus, ma ('what') > mashehu ('something'); mi ('who') > mishehu ('someone'); eyfo ('where') -> eyfoshehu ('somewhere').

Hungarian

In Hungarian the word izé (a stem of ancient Finno-Ugric heritage) is used, referring primarily to inanimate objects but sometimes also to people, places, concepts, or even adjectives. Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe. 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. In Linguistics, derivation is "Used to form new words as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from 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). Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. In addition to its placeholder function, izé is an all-purpose hesitation word, like ah, er, um in English. Speech disfluencies are any of various breaks irregularities or utterances that are often not consistent with any specific grammatical construction and occur within the flow of otherwise A word with a similar meaning and use is the word "cucc", usually translated as "stuff", and "bigyó", translated as either "thing"/"thingie" or "gadget".

To name things, Hungarians also use micsoda (whatisit), hogyhívják or hogyishívják (whatitscalled), miafene (whatdaheck), bigyó (thingie), miafasz (whatdafuck, literally "whatthedick" or "whatthepenis").

John Smith (US: John Doe) is the same in Hungarian; Kovács János or Gipsz Jakab (John Smith or Jake Gypsum, or Jakob Gipsch).

Place names: Mucsaröcsöge (ending sounds similar to röfög - to grunt), Bivalybasznád (literally: buffaloyouwouldfuck), Tiszaszétszaród or Jászbivalyhónalja: little village or boonies far out in the countryside, Kukutyin or Piripócs: νillage or small town somewhere in the countryside

Indonesian

There is no single name that is widely accepted, but the name of Indonesian first president, Sukarno can be found in many articles. Sukarno ( June 6, 1901 – June 21, 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. Sukarno being a Javanese name that's representing about 45% of the Indonesian population, and the fact that his name is one-worded (see Indonesian name), make it popular as example because he's a well know political figure. Indonesia is an Archipelago of over 17000 islands only 6000 of which are inhabited that extends in an arc along the equator

Other male names: Joni (Indonesian for Johnny), and Budi (widely used in elementary textbook).

Popular female placeholder names: Sinta, Sri, Dewi

Interlingua

Interlingua placeholders include cosa, meaning 'thing', and typo, meaning 'guy' or 'type'. Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA Cosalia – a collection of things, especially useless things – is a less common placeholder. Like other Interlingua words, placeholders have been selected for internationality. Words can be included in Interlingua in either of two ways through regular derivation using roots and affixes or by establishing their eligibility as international words

Irish

In Irish, the common male name "Tadhg" is part of the very old phrase "Tadhg an mhargaidh" (Tadhg of the market-place) which combines features of the English-languages phrases "average Joe" and "man on the street". Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Tadhg, often Anglicized as Teague, is an Irish name that was very common in the past

This same placeholder name, transferred to English-language usage and now usually rendered as Taig, became and remains a vitriolic derogatory term for an Irish Catholic and has been used by Unionists in Northern Ireland in such bloodthirsty slogans as "If guns are made for shooting, then skulls are made to crack. Taig (also Teague, Teg and Teig) is a derogatory term for a Catholic. Irish Catholics is a term used to describe people of Roman Catholic background who are Irish or of Irish descent. Unionism in Ireland, is a belief in the desirability of a full constitutional and institutional relationship between Ireland and Great Britain based on the terms and Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of You’ve never seen a better Taig than with a bullet in his back"[9] and "Don’t be vague, kill a Taig". [10]

Paddy, another derogatory placeholder name for an Irish person, lacks the sharpness of Taig and is often used in a jocular context or incorporated into mournful pro-Irish sentiment (i. The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate e. the songs Poor Paddy On The Railway and Paddy's Lament). By contrast, the term Taig remains a slur in almost every context. "Biddy" (from the name "Bridget") is a female equivalent placeholder name for Irish females.

Also note that the Hiberno-English placeholder names noted above (Yer man, Yer one and Himself/Herself) are long-established idioms derived from the syntax of the Irish language. Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English Irish Syntax is rather different from that of most Indo-European languages, notably because of its VSO word order Yer man and "yer one" are a half-translation of a parallel Irish-language phrase, mo dhuine, literally "my person". This has appeared in songs, an example of which is the The Irish Rover in the words "Yer man, Mick McCann, from the banks of the Bann".

Italian

In Italian, standard placeholders for inanimate objects are roba (literally, "stuff"), coso (related to cosa, thing), affare (literally, "an item of business"), and aggeggio (literally, "device" or "gadget"). Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy.

A much-used term is also vattelapesca' ("go and catch it"), especially for rare or uncommon objects.

For people, widely used words are tizio and tipo (literally, "type", colloquial) as well as uno (literally, "one"). The latter is not accompanied by any article and disappears when used along with a demonstrative; thus, a guy is un tipo or uno, whereas that guy is quel tipo or just quello. Demonstratives are deictic words (they depend on an external frame of reference that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others The feminine versions are tizia, tipa (colloquial), and una, respectively. In the Venice area one can say Piero Pers ("Peter the Lost") to refer to an unknown person.

Also, there are specific terms (from male names common in ancient Rome) for six unnamed people. These terms, from administrative and jurisprudential texts, are Tizio, Caio, Sempronio, Mevio, Filano, and Calpurnio, but only the first three are used in current speech. They are always used in that order and with that priority; that is, one person is always Tizio; two persons are always Tizio e Caio; and three persons are always Tizio, Caio, e Sempronio.

One typical expression for a time very late at night is alle mille di notte (literally, "at one thousand o'clock"). Other related expressions are fare le ore piccole ("to do the small hours"), for the activity of staying up late at night, and alla buon'ora ("at the good time"), meaning "very early in the morning" or, in a joshing tone, "finally".

Alle calende greche ("on Greek kalendae"), un domani ("a tomorrow"), and other similar expressions mean "never". Ad ogni morte di papa ("at every death of a pope") means "very rarely". Il giorno di San Mai ("St. Never's Day") means that an event is never going to take place.

Placeholders used for numbers are cinquantaquattro (54), cinquantaquattromila (54,000), and diecimila (10,000). The suffix -anta is used for ages in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s (from quaranta, 40; cinquanta, 50; sessanta, 60; settanta, 70; ottanta, 80; and novanta, 90); thus, the expression essere sui quaranta is used to say that someone is in his or her forties, although the same meaning is also commonly expressed by essere sulla quarantina, and so on along the same pattern (on the model of the suffix -antina).

A place far away and out of reach is a casa del diavolo (literally, at the devil's home) or, more vulgarly, in culo ai lupi (in the wolves' butt). The same idea can be expressed by the name of the Sicilian town of Canicattì, as well as by the two regional expressions (mostly confined to Sicily) dove ha perso le scarpe il Signore (literally, "where the Lord has lost his shoes") and dove ha perso la camicia Cristo ("where Christ has lost his shirt"). Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. Canicattì ( Caniattì in Sicilian) is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region

Japanese

In Japanese, naninani (なになに, a doubled form of the word nani, meaning what) is often used as a placeholder. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities It does not necessarily mean a physical object. For example, it is often used to stand in for an omitted word when discussing grammar. Similarly, daredare (だれだれ, doubled form of who) can be used for people, and nantoka nantoka (なんとかなんとか, doubled form of something) as a variant for things. Hoge (ほげ, no literal meaning) has been gaining popularity in the computing world, where it is used much like foo and bar.

nyoro nyoro (literally "tilde tilde") is also a popular placeholder name.

Kannada

In Kannada the placeholder name for a trivial task is kaanji-pinji (these two terms have Tamil origin but used in colloquial Kannada). Kannada (kn [[wiktಕನ್ನಡ ಕನ್ನಡ]] Kannaḍa) is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. And placeholder name for a person can be shaat-nayaka (vulgar) (literally "pubic-chief").

Korean

In Korean, mwomwomwo (뭐뭐뭐, a tripled form of 뭐, which is a short form of 무엇, the word for what) is used in casual speech. This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Nugunugu and eodieodi (reduplication of who and where, respectively) can be heard as well.

Hong Gildong, a male name, is commonly used as a placeholder name in instructions for filling out forms. Hong Gildong is a fictitious character in an old Korean novel The story of Hong Gildong ( written in the Joseon Dynasty.

Kurdish

In Kurdish the placeholder name for people is Yaro, derived from the word Yar meaning companion, friend, lover or person. The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds.

Latin

In Latin the word res (thing) is used. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. 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 initials 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”. Numerius Negidius is a name used in Jurisprudence in Ancient Rome based on a play on words Numerius Negidius means "one who denies ( negat) that he Nomen nescio, abbreviated to NN, is used to signify an anonymous or non-specific person

Formal writing in (especially older) Dutch uses almost as much Latin as the lawyer's English, and, for instance, "N. N. " was and is commonly used as a "John Doe" placeholder in class schedules, grant proposals, etc.

Emperor Justinian's codification of Roman law follows the custom of using "Titius" and "Seius" as names for Roman citizens, and "Stichus" and "Pamphilus" as names for slaves. Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ( Greek: Φλάβιος Πέτρος Σαββάτιος Ιουστινιανός; known in English as Justinian I or Roman law is the legal system of Ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting [11]

Lithuanian

A universal placeholder for a person in Lithuanian are the variations of names Jonas (John), Petras (Peter) and more rarely Antanas (Anthony), like Jonas Petraitis for a full male name and Janina Jonienė for a full female name. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. The names are often used in the examples of form filling.

Probably the best known derogatory placeholder name for a village or a rural town is Bezdonys (an actually existing village). The name literally means "Farting village" in Lithuanian, although the actual origin of the name is Slavonic name of the nearby lake Бездонный (Bezdonniy), meaning "Bottomless". Another also well known derogatory placeholder name for a village or city is Kalabybiškis ("Chiseled Penis village").

Macedonian

In Macedonian џиџе [jeeje] - for one, or џиџи-миџи [jeejee-meejee] for more than one (usually small) object is used. Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Other words used are: ваквото, таквото, онаквото (in English: "the like this", "the like that"), речи-го (in English: "say-it"), ова-она (in English: "this and that"), and ваму-таму (in English: "here and there")

Malay

In Malay the word anu which may be prefixed with si can be used to refer to a person whose name has eluded the speaker. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the It can also be used for a generic person as in Mr/Ms So-and-so. Another not so commonly used term is polan, also coupled with si in front. The term is generally regarded as old use, and originated from the Arabic word fulan, which means nameless.

Maori

In Maori the word taru, literally meaning “long grass” or “weeds” is used.

Marathi

In Marathi the complete generic name (First Middle Surname) for a male is 'Aamajee Gomaajee Kaapse' (आमाजी गोमाजी कापसे) like 'John Doe' in English. Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The other generic first names for men include 'Somya-Gomya' (सोम्या-गोम्या) like 'Tom-Dick-Harry' in English. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Norwegian

In Norwegian the placeholder names for people are Ola and Kari Nordmann (male and female, respectively). Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Ola Nordmann is a name for to the average Norwegian a representative for the whole population in general

In formal legal contexts, Peder Ås (occasionally spelled Aas) and Kari Holm are the generic male and female examples. These are often joined by their adversaries Hans Tastad (male) and Marte Kirkerud (female), together with various members of the extended Ås and Holm families. The first names Marte, Lars, and Kari seem to be very common in both of these families. All these people reside and work in the Lillevik ("Small bay") area and most have accounts in Lillevik Sparebank ("Small Bay Savings Bank"). This probably has nothing to do with the Washington law firm of Carey & Lillevik, PLLC. [24]

When referring to unspecified objects, the words "dings" and "greie" is commonly used. Translated to English, they would mean "thingy" or "gadget".

Persian

In Persian, for Places the word فلان جا, for people the word فلانی (in slang: يارو) is used mostly. generic word that's used for calling anything, regardless of which type, is چيز.

Polish

In Polish, the most popular placeholders are to coś (meaning this something), cudo (miracle), dynks (from the German Ding), wihajster (from the German wie heißt er? - what's its name?) and a general placeholder "ten teges" which can also be used as a filled pause. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Speech disfluencies are any of various breaks irregularities or utterances that are often not consistent with any specific grammatical construction and occur within the flow of otherwise There are also other terms, such as elemelek, pipsztok or psztymulec, but they are much less common. Also used are dzyndzel (equivalent to dynks) and knefel (similar to frob, unknown object that can be adjusted or manipulated).

The generic name for a village or a remote small town is Pipidówka, or its more derogatory version Pipidówa. A vulgar, but frequently used term to describe a small and dull place is Zadupie which is an equivalent of English shithole. Sometimes, although rarely, Pacanów can also be used, which has the same meaning that US Dullsville but is actually a little town in central Poland. Pacanów is a village in Busko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland

A universal placeholder name for a person is Jan Kowalski (for a man) and Janina Kowalska (for a woman; used less often, sometimes with a different first name). A second unspecified person would be called Nowak, choice of first name being left to the author’s imagination, often also Jan for a man; this surname is unisex. Jan is the most popular male first name in Polish, Kowalski and Nowak are the most popular Polish surnames. In logical puzzles fictitious surnames frequently follow a uniform pattern: they start with consecutive letters of Latin alphabet and are followed by identical root: Abacki, Babacki, Cabacki etc. for men, Abacka, Babacka, Cabacka etc. for women. In official documents however, an unidentified person’s name is entered as NN (abbreviation of Nazwisko Nieznane – name unknown, or Nomen Nescio). Nomen nescio, abbreviated to NN, is used to signify an anonymous or non-specific person

A rare placeholder name for a time and date w grudniu po południu (in a December afternoon) is also used.

Portuguese

Common placeholders for objects in Brazilian Portuguese are treco, troço, bagulho, lance, coisa and negócio, among others. Brazilian Portuguese ( Language code pt-BR Portuguese: português brasileiro or português do Brasil) is a group of Portuguese In European Portuguese coiso or cena are often used. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Placeholder names for people are usually Fulano (optionally surnamed de Tal), Sicrano and Beltrano, and the corresponding feminines (Fulana, Sicrana, Beltrana). Gajo is used in Portugal. João das Couves, Zé das Couves, José dos Anzóis or Zé da Silva are also used, the feminine being Maria (instead of José, which is also often abbreviated to Zé). João Ninguém or Zé Ninguém are used for someone who is unimportant. Cascos-de-rolha (cork hooves) is used to designate a remote and uninteresting location. Onde o vento faz a curva (where the wind turns around) or Onde Judas perdeu as botas (where Judas lost his boots) is a very far away place. Cu-do-conde (Count's ass) or Cu-de-Judas (Judas' ass) are used for the same as "Cascos-de-Rolha", but are considered more un-polite. Also, like English fuck described above, both Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese have the offensive general-purpose porra (a curse word that in European Portuguese means "club" and refers to the penis — thus not being considered so offensive —, while in Brazilian Portuguese is a short form for "sperm"), being a placeholder for objects, actions, adjectives and other.

Quechua

In Quechua, there is a noun radical na (whatever) to which verbal (nay = to do whatever), agentive (naq = the doer of whatever), or affective (nacha = cute little thing) suffixes may be added. Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America.

Romanian

In Romanian, chestie is used for objects and concepts, cutare for both persons and things. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance Cutărică, tip (masculine) or tipă (feminine) are sometimes used for persons. Drăcie ("devilish thing") is a derogative placeholder name for objects (but the derogative nuance is not diabolical, it may simply suggest unfamiliarity or surprise, rather like the adjective "newfangled" in English). More emphatic form used as a question, "ce drăcia dracului?" (lit. "what the devil's devilish [thing]?", similar to "what the hell").

Other expressions used include cum-îi-zice / cum-se-cheamă ("what's-it-called"), nu-știu-cum/ce/care/cine/când ("I-don't-know-how/what/which/who/when"), cine știe ce/cum/care/cine/când" ("who-knows-what/how/which/who/when), and un din-ăla (masculine) or o-din-aia (feminine) ("one of those things").

Placeholders for numbers include zeci de mii ("tens of thousands"), often contracted to j'de mii (or even țâșpe mii; from -șpe, an informal numeral suffix equivalent to "-teen" in "sixteen", attached to ț, a Romanian letter sometimes seen as "extra", analogue to the English "a zillion") and also mii şi mii ("thousands and thousands"). Diverse colloquial formulas for "a lot" exist, including o căruță (lit. "a cart-full"), o grămadă (lit. "a pile"), "căcălău" (vulgar; it doesn't mean anything other than "(really) lots of (smth. )"; it sounds both scatological and augumentative in Romanian; comparable with "shit-load") or the poetic "câtă frunză, câtă iarbă" (lit. "as many leaves and blades of grass", referring to a large number of people).

Cucuieţii-din-Deal is a name for obscure and remote places. La mama dracului or la mama naibii ("where the devil's mother dwells", lit. "at the devil's mother") also means a very remote place.

Russian

Things

In Russian, among the common placeholder names are это самое (this particular [object]), штука (thing; diminutive forms also exist), ботва (leafy tops of root vegetables), фигня (crud) and хуйня (in mat slang; roughly translatable as something dickish), хреновина (). Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Mat (мат матерщи́на ма́терный язы́к is a Russian Patois language based on the use of specific generally unprintable Obscene words The penis (plural penises, penes A term for something awkward, bulky and useless is бандура (bandura, an old Ukrainian musical instrument, big and inconvenient to carry). Bandura (Банду́ра refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. A kadigan for a monetary unit is тугрик (Tögrög, the monetary unit of Mongolia). The tögrög (төгрөг (MNT Tugrik, ₮ is the official currency of Mongolia. A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East

People

In Russian, there's a special placeholder personal name Imyarek (from Church Slavonic expression Imya Rek meaning having said a name) which is used (sometimes ironically) to a person whose real name is unknown. Church Slavonic (also Church Slavic, Old Bulgarian) is the Liturgical language of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox

Placeholders for personal names include variations on names Иван (Ivan), Пётр (Pyotr/Peter), and Сидор (Sidor), such as Иван Петрович Сидоров (Ivan Petrovich Sidorov) for a full name, or Иванов (Ivanov) for a last name. Василий Пупкин (Vasiliy Pupkin) is also (jokingly) used as a generic name.

Words like парень, товарищ, бродяга, трудяга, чувак, друг, подруга, молодой человек, девушка, гражданин, уважаемый, дорогой all have their own meaning but may be and are used as second-person kadigans as well.

Places

Obscene

Dates and times

Slovak

In Slovak, the most common placeholders are oné (originally an indefinite pronoun) or tento (originally a definite pronoun, close deixis) which can be used for both things and names. The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" The most common placeholder for a full personal name is Janko Mrkvička or Jožko Mrkvička (lit. "Johnny/Joe Little Carrot"). The standard placeholder for a place name is Horná Dolná (lit. "Upper Lower", a reference to a common type of village name which takes the form of a feminine adjective ending in -á, e. g. Terchová). Terchová is a large Village and Municipality (population 4073 in the Malá Fatra mountains in Žilina District in the Žilina Region It is often used in derogatory fashion to indicate a tiny and remote village (compare US English Hicksville). Dzindzík is used as a placeholder for (control) elements of various devices. It is often used interchangeably with bazmek (derived from Hungarian "bazd meg" meaning "go fuck yourself") which can also be used to refer to entire devices or machines. Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe.

Spanish (Europe)

Things

Cacharro is generally used for objects and/or devices around the kitchen. "Bicho" , a pejorative term, (from the Latin bestius-bestia) is used when the specific animal species is unknown. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank.

People

Placeholder names in the Spanish language have a pejorative or derogatory feeling to them. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt Fulano/a, (from the Arabic fulán meaning whomever), (the female version Fulana should be used carefully as it also means "prostitute"). Mengano (from the Arabic man kán –quien sea-whomever). Perengano (from the combination of the very common last name of Perez and Mengano). Zutano (from the Castilian word citano from the Latin scitanus "known"). All placeholder words are also used frequently in diminutive form, Fulanito/a, Menganito/a, Perenganito/a or Zutanito/a.

Numbers

tropecientos ("trope hundred"), chorrocientos or chorromil are used for big numbers. "pico" or "algo" can be added for approximations, for time ("las cuatro y pico" or "las cuatro y algo" for an undefined time between 4:00 and 5:00) or quantity ("treinta y pico" for thirtysomething);

Spanish (Latin America)

Ciclano and Esperancejo are used in Cuban Spanish.

Feria, thus turning "thirty and change" into "treinta y feria" is used in Mexican Spanish.

Carajo is commonly used only among Central and South American Spanish speakers when referring to an unknown and/or unpleasant place, hence vete pa'l carajo(go to el carajo) may translate as "go to hell" or "get lost" in English.

Mexican Spanish speakers use the words chingadera ("fuckery") or madre (lit. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Mother), not to be used in polite circumstances, also using the word mierda which in most of the contexts has the same function as the word 'shit' in English, the word huey (from buey) used between young people to refer each other.

Argentinian Coso (Thing) is used for a generic physical object, usually replaces a noun when the speaker doesn't remember the name (i. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. e. Pasame el coso ese que esta en la mesa, Hand me that thing on the table). Also Chirimbolo (Trinket, Tchotche), Pendorcho (Small object, possibly a fastener or small mechanical device). Pirifilar los rembos (To perform a technical sounding action Pirifilar onto devices called rembos)

In Chilean Spanish the word hue'ón (from huevón, from hueva, a euphemism for testicle) is often used when referring to unspecified individuals or friends in a casual context. Chilean Spanish ( Spanish: Español chileno or Castellano chileno) is the variety of Spanish spoken in most of Chile The testicle (from Latin testiculus, diminutive of testis, meaning "witness" virility plural testes) is the male Also, huevón is considered an insult when used unproperly. The word hue'á (from huevada) is used to refer to unspecified actions or objects. Another group of placeholders is weon (male person, weona (female person) and wea (thing).

Colombian Spanish

Things

For a generic thing vaina is used for things not well known, but it indicates anger or lost of temper. The Colombian Spanish accent is the variation of Spanish language with an Accent spoken in Colombia, which have some distinctive features in comparison

People

Juan perez (John Doe, Perez being a common surname, like Smith)

Argentina: Fulano, Mengano and Zutano. Placeholder names for generic people, usually used in that order if one two or three are needed.

Argentina: NN, No nominado (Unnamed, used in police reports, famously used for unidentified bodies found during the dirty war. This article refers to the Argentine Dirty War for the British film of the same name see Dirty War (film.

Argentina: Magoya Non-existent person used sarcastically ("Que te ayude magoya", may magoya help you, meaning: You are on your own)

Argentina: Mandrake Magician with supernatural powers. (No lo arregla ni mandrake, Not even Mandrake can fix it, usu. applied to a economic conundrum) (No soy Mandrake, I'm not Mandrake Meaning: Explain yourself I can't read your mind)

For small children or young people Colombians normally use to call children, chino/a (as in Chinese), pelao/á (a more vague form of the also used pelado), sardino/a (Spanish for sardines (to imply little fish). For the hide and seek-like game see Hide and seek. Sardines, or pilchards, are a group of several types of small Oily In Argentina Pendejo means small children or somebody very young. (From pendejo=pubic hair, something small) (Note that this word has a completely different meaning in Mexico).

Juanito, is an hypocoristic of the name Juan, Juanito is used to refer to a small school age boy, and its usually used in jokes to refer to the smart mouth kid who is the center of the joke. A hypocoristic, hypocorism, or hypochorisma (from Greek el ὑποκορίζεσθαι el-Latn hypokorizesthai, "to use child-talk" Juan ( is a Spanish form of the Given name John (qv It was the 55th most popular name in the United States As of 2003. Pepito/a (little dot) is also used in the context of jokes often, Jaimito in Argentina.

Marica, (faggot), is a placeholder name popular in the Caribbean Region, although its derogatory, marica is often used in the north and not as an insult, but more in the context dude would be used, and people do not respond angrily at this, as is believed that if you do get mad, is because you are in fact gay. The Caribbean Region or Caribbean Coast Region is a natural region of Colombia mainly composed of eight Departments located contiguous to

For older people for whom one has respect, Don or Doña can be used without a name to refer to someone important, also sumercé is used in this manner. The Spanish language has a range of Pronouns that in some ways work quite differently from English ones

Places

Cochinchina, an actual term used to refer to various southern regions in Vietnam, is used commonly to refer to a remote and extremely far place, and most likely non-existential, it is also commonly place after China and at the end in a list of remote places or to mean "here and everywhere" (aquí, en la China, y en la Conchinchina). Cochin China is also a type of domestic fowl. Cochinchina, from Cochin-China (see note below (known locally as Nam Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially

La loma de la mierda: (Lit. The hill of the shit) A very remote place (Argentina, Vulgar). La loma del orto (Lit. The hill of the anus) (Also vulgar)

La concha de la lora: (Argentina, Vulgar), Lit. The female parrot's vagina) An unspecified, possibly remote place, usually used as an insult, (The speaker commands someone to go there). Plumas verdes (Green feathers, a more polite euphemism for Concha de la lora)

Irse al Carajo (Argentina, vulgar) To leave, to behave in an unacceptable manner,(i. e. cross the line))

Swedish

Swedish has a large vocabulary of placeholders: Sak, grej, pryl, mojäng/moj (from French moyen) and grunka are the neutral words for thing. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Some plural nouns are grejsimojs, grunkimojs, grejs and tjofräs, which correspond to thingamabob, and the youth loan word stuff, which is pronounced with the Swedish u. Apparat (or, more slangy, mackapär) more specifically refers to a complex appliance of some kind, much like the German Gerät. More familiarly or when openly expressing low interest, people use tjafs or trams (drivel) and skräp or krams (rubbish). Like in English, various words for feces can be used: skit (shit) and bajs (poop - often anglified by youth into bice) are standard, well known local variations are mög, bös and dret. Vadhannuhette and vaddetnuhette correspond to whatshisname and whatchamacallit respectively, except that they use the past tense. Det där du vet means "that thing you know". Den och den (that and that) corresponds to so and so. Gunk may refer to any fairly large quantity of unwanted substance or objects of varied or indeterminate identity, much like the English "junk".

Place names in Swedish are colorful: Someplace far away can be called Tjotaheiti (which is derived from "to Tahiti") or Långtbortistan, Farawaystan, a play on -stan created in the Swedish edition of Donald Duck. Donald Duck is a cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Häcklefjäll is a commonly used as a name for a generic remote village, which is actually a synonym for the Icelandic volcano Hekla. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Hekla is a Stratovolcano located in the south of Iceland with a height of.

The common swede is referred to as Jan Banan ("Banana Ian") or Medel-Svensson. Medel is Swedish for medium or average, while Svensson is a common Swedish surname, which is often used to express genericness or mundaneness. Common first names used as placeholders are Kalle for boys and Lisa for girls, Anna and Maria for women, Johan and Anders for men.

Turkish

Turkish has many colorful kadigans. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. "Falan" seems to be borrowed from Arabic, and comes in variations like "filanca" (what’s his name) and "falan filan" (stuff, etc. ). "Ivır zıvır" is a common kadigan for "various stuff". Kadigans for persons exist in abundance, one example being "Sarı Çizmeli Mehmet Ağa" ("Mehmet Ağa with yellow boots") which generally is used to mean pejoratively "unknown person". In addition, otherwise meaningless words such as "zımbırtı" and "zamazingo" are used similarly to the English words "gadget" and "gizmo", but not necessarly related to technology.

Vietnamese

In Vietnamese, Nguyễn Văn A and Trần Thị B are usually used as placeholder names for a male and female, respectively, due to the ubiquity of the family names Nguyễn and Trần and middle names Văn and Thị in Vietnamese. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) (ŋwjěʔn in Vietnamese approximated as /wɪn/ in English is the most common Vietnamese family name. Chén ( is one of the most common Chinese family names It ranks at the 5th most popular surname in Mainland China and the most popular surname in Singapore Vietnamese names generally consist of three parts a Family name, a Middle name, and a Given name, used in that order

Welsh

In Welsh, the word bechingalw has been used, meaning whatdyoucallit and beth'na, meaning that thing. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic

Ubykh

One of the kadigans in Ubykh, zamsjada, may be related to another word meaning useless. Ubykh or Ubyx is a Language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people up until the early 1990s

Yiddish

In Yiddish, der zach is often used, similar to the German die Sache above. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High Stand-up comic David Steinberg did a routine about his attempt to identify an object, based only on his father’s description of it as "In Yiddish, we used to call it der zach". Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where the performer speaks directly to the audience with the absence of the theatrical " Fourth wall " See also David A Steinberg, David H Steinberg David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian actor director Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where the performer speaks directly to the audience with the absence of the theatrical " Fourth wall "

The Talmudic placeholder names Ploni and Almoni (see under Hebrew) are also used; more specifically Yiddish placeholder names are Chaim Yankel (Yankel is the Yiddish diminutive of Jacob/Yaaqov) and Moishe Zugmir (literally: Moses Tell-Me).

Yoruba

In Yoruba, Lagbaja and Temedu are the most common placeholder names. Yoruba (native name èdè Yorùbá, 'the Yoruba language' is a Dialect continuum of West Africa with over 25 million speakers

Moore (Burkina Faso)

Raogo (male) and Poko (female) are common place holder names used in proverbs as well as stories.

See also

References

  1. ^ World Wide Words: Emmet and grockle
  2. ^ Bryson, Bill Mother Tongue London:Penguin 1990 p36 "It [Cornish] survives only in two or three dialect words, most notably emmets ('ants'), the word locals use to describe the tourists who come crawling over their gorgeous landscape each summer. A metasyntactic variable (ˌmɛtəsɪnˈtæktɪk ˈvɛəriəbl is a Placeholder name or an alias term commonly used to denote the subject matter under discussion In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder nobody knows exactly what The Name " John Doe " is used as a Placeholder name for a male party in a legal action case or discussion whose true identity is either unknown or In English grammar, generic you or indefinite you is the use of the Pronoun You to refer to an unspecified The word expletive is currently used in three senses syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and "bad language". ISBN 014014305X
  3. ^ J. Random
  4. ^ Waterman, Shaun. "Military interpreter 'used false identity'", UPI Security & Terrorism, 2005-10-24. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus the commander of the Danube armies loyal to Vespasian, defeat Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy.  
  5. ^ Makeig, John. "Mute suspect nabbed, but identity still at large", Houston Chronicle, 1991-12-28, p. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of  29.  
  6. ^ Nash, Bruce M. ; et al. (2001). The New Lawyer's Wit and Wisdom. Running Press, 199. ISBN 0762410639. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy.  
  7. ^ "In 1987/88, Bundesdruckerei launched the central personalisation of identity cards and passports. This innovation gave us the first Ms Mustermann: Erika Mustermann, née Gabler, advertised the new ID and passport card from 1987 to 1997. The lady with the blond fringe, photographed in plain black-and-white, was Germany's first fictitious model citizen. A large fan club grew during this Ms Mustermann's long term of office, and they still sing her praises today on a special homepage created in her honour. " The changing ms Mustermann over the years
  8. ^ Israeli postal documentation with the Universal Postal Union. The Universal Postal Union ( UPU, French: Union postale universelle) is an International organization that coordinates postal policies among member
  9. ^ "In Belfast, Joblessness And a Poisonous Mood" by Bernard Wienraub
    New York Times, 2 June 1971
  10. ^ "On Belfast’s Walls, Hatred Rules" by Paul Majendie
    Sydney Morning Herald, 29 November 1986
  11. ^ Justinian, The Digest of Roman Law ISBN p. Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ( Greek: Φλάβιος Πέτρος Σαββάτιος Ιουστινιανός; known in English as Justinian I or 188
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