'Work, the what's-its-name of the thingummy and the thing-um-a-bob of the what d'you-call-it.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker cannot recall the name of an object and uses placeholders to describe it.
- In plain terms
- Someone is struggling to remember a word and fakes it with nonsense.
- What can you take from it?
- Forgetting a word often leads to awkward substitutions.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you handle word loss?
- Is pretending better than admitting ignorance?
Another view
It may not apply to technical jargon where placeholders are inappropriate.
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