about"thingie"

try again · Post by **try again** » 13 Nov 2005 08:04

I read this word from the newspapaer "the OBSERVER,MAY 29"...
and the whole sentense goes like this"it's an actress-model thingie"...'
but it din;t give me an explanation below.but it must be a very interesting word.im involved now.....too curious to know.

so any of u guys would be so kind as to tell me,plz? thx veryvery much!

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 13 Nov 2005 09:27

I've seen the word a couple of times but I don't know what it means.
Here's a definition I found in the slang Macquarie Dictionary where it's considered an adjective :
"overly sensitive; anxious; tense"

Maybe it's a derivative from "thing". The French ending -ie is attached to thing to give kind of a glamorous touch. It could mean "matter".

ANTHOS · Post by **ANTHOS** » 13 Nov 2005 10:09

In British English, it's a common colloquial word.

It's used when:
- you can't remember the name of who/what you are talking about
- you can't exactly define what you want to say

I have NEVER seen/heard it being used as the Macquarie Dictionary defines it.

ANTHOS · Post by **ANTHOS** » 13 Nov 2005 11:01

As Mansio says 'thing' is used to mean matter (it is quite a trendy usage) but I don't think 'thingie' is being used as a derivative of 'thing'

It always helps to have more context !

leelou · Post by **leelou** » 13 Nov 2005 12:22

what you say Anthos about the fact that it s used when you don't remeber what you want to say or the name of what you wanna talk is correct. I use it a lot when i speak with my canadian friends !

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 13 Nov 2005 15:05

I think you're right, because the few times I read thingie I couldn't manage to guess what it was about, which corresponds to the definition of the word.
There's also the word thingy.
How is it pronounced, like thing+ee or -gie like jee- in Jesus ?

leelou · Post by **leelou** » 13 Nov 2005 21:29

like thing-ee

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 13 Nov 2005 23:27

Thanks.

try again · Post by **try again** » 19 Nov 2005 12:39

oh,i got it!

thingamabober: A replacement word for a noun.
Example: That thingamabober has something stange on it.

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thingamajig: A term that can be applied to something you've forgotten...also a candy bar in the US, I think...
Example: Pass me that, um, you know, that thingamajig over there...the grey one.

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thingamajiggereedoo: Things unknown

Example: You know...that thingamajiggereedoo.

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thinger: Thing, something, thingamajig, and whatchamacallit.
Used when referring to ome kind of web entity including applications, procedures, etc.
Sometimes used to refer to people as a substitute for whatshisname or whatshername.
Example: I just finished building the spell check thinger for the new email publishing system.

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thingie: Same as thingamajig
Example: Pass me that, um, you know, that thingie over there...the blue one.

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thinglish: when you substitute the word Thing for important nouns ina sentence
Example: Put that thing on the thing next to the thing.

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thingy: A catchall phrase. A proclamation, exclamation or retort.
Example: Wow. Thingy! I can't believe he did that.

Wanna go catch a movie?
Thingy! Let's go!

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thingymabob: a word said when you for some reason cannot remember the name of an object.
Example: You know what I mean that.....that...thingymabob!

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thingymajigger: substitute word for an object's name you can't remember. also see thingymabob
Example: She put the thingymajigger in her purse.

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thingywhatsit: Terminology used when you just cannot remember someone's name.
Example: I was talking to...thingywhatsit last night.

.

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 19 Nov 2005 20:40

Try Again

Where did you get all those definitions from ?

Runa27 · Post by **Runa27** » 20 Nov 2005 01:56

try again wrote:oh,i got it!

thingamabober: A replacement word for a noun.
Example: That thingamabober has something stange on it.

That's correct, though you will more oftensee it spelled thingamabobber. Sometimes also "thingymabobber".

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thingamajig: A term that can be applied to something you've forgotten...also a candy bar in the US, I think...
Example: Pass me that, um, you know, that thingamajig over there...the grey one.

Also correct. Thingamabobber and thingamajig are both sort of "cutesy". So is "thingy" (also spelled "thingie", though not as often) If you want to be more serious, you would want to say "thing", which is the root for all the other terms. "Thing" isn't really slang, so much as a "non-specific noun", I would say, the thing you say when you don't know what to call something (in fact, the word something comes from "some thing"! ).

That's the thing; it's non-specific!

("That's the thing" is an idiom, but it is hard to define, really. It's a thing you say when... um, hard to define, darn it... Well, let's see, a conversation you might use it in: "I don't really think she would break up with him." "That's the thing - he's moving out! He wouldn't do that if she hadn't broken up with him!")

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thingamajiggereedoo: Things unknown

Example: You know...that thingamajiggereedoo.

I have not seen it, and it's a bit long and clunky, but the meaning is clear enough.

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thinger: Thing, something, thingamajig, and whatchamacallit.
Used when referring to ome kind of web entity including applications, procedures, etc.
Sometimes used to refer to people as a substitute for whatshisname or whatshername.
Example: I just finished building the spell check thinger for the new email publishing system.

Whatchamacallit is another word you use when you can't think of the name of something. Like:

"Hand me the whatchamacallit... that blue thing."

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thingie: Same as thingamajig
Example: Pass me that, um, you know, that thingie over there...the blue one.

Yep. Very informal speech, by the way. But commong. I usually see it spelled "thingy" though.

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thinglish: when you substitute the word Thing for important nouns ina sentence
Example: Put that thing on the thing next to the thing.

That there is obviously slang. And amusing slang at that. Not a real word, but funny.

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thingy: A catchall phrase. A proclamation, exclamation or retort.
Example: Wow. Thingy! I can't believe he did that.

Wanna go catch a movie?
Thingy! Let's go!

I have honestly never seen it used like that... not in the US, at least.

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thingymabob: a word said when you for some reason cannot remember the name of an object.
Example: You know what I mean that.....that...thingymabob!

Yeah, another variation on "thingymabobber" and "thingamabobber".

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thingymajigger: substitute word for an object's name you can't remember. also see thingymabob
Example: She put the thingymajigger in her purse.

Yes, though not a commonly used word, I can see what it means.

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thingywhatsit: Terminology used when you just cannot remember someone's name.
Example: I was talking to...thingywhatsit last night.

Uh, not exactly.

That implies they are a thing and not a person, which is kind of rude!

You would say whatshername (for a woman) or whatshisname (for a guy), or maybe either whatsherface or whatshisface, but "face" is ruder in this context, as it gives a vague implication that you can't even remember what they look like ("what's his face", get it?).

But whatsit ("what's it") and thingy, the combination would be understood, but do NOT use them for people, it's cute but rather rude.

-Runa27

try again · Post by **try again** » 20 Nov 2005 11:26

oh,thanks very much again,Runa! it seemed u really know a lot about this word "thingy"..thx for sharing so much more usages about this, well, i guess u must pay much attention to the language u r speaking,rite? coz as we see the info u told us is really in details.~!~

well,as for where i found it, well, i got it from an online slang dic,check it out here:
http://english.exue.com.cn/tools/slang/T.htm

oh,yeah, one more thing, as we saw that someone up there said"thingee" also work, oh, really? well, i could find thingy in the dic but however thingee, not foumd~
but im quite interested in this issue as i saw sth more. as we all know dat, bungee works,right? AND SO DOES bungy, however, bungy also couldn't be found in the dic. and sometimes we add "ee"to instead of "y"to reach some goal. like "tasty",i once saw an ad use"tastee" this word,which just right from"tasty" ,and it attracts a lot of attention.
and another eg, teriffic...sometimes ppl use "tee-rific" for fun and to be cute.

do u guys agree with what i said?

leelou · Post by **leelou** » 20 Nov 2005 18:38

i might use "ee" instead of "y" only if i write quickly like a lot of young people do they dont really write with the good spelling but it sounds the same so thats good enough!