A placeholder name is used to refer to an object whose name is either irrelevant or unknown in the context which it is being discussed. These placeholders typically function grammatically as nouns—and can be used for people (e.g. John Doe), objects (e.g. Widget), or places (e.g. Timbuktu). They share a property with pronouns because their referents must be supplied by context.
Stuart Berg Flexner and Harold Wentworth’s Dictionary of American Slang (1960) uses the term kadigin to describe this class of words. They define it merely as a synonym for thingamajig; if so, then kadigin is itself a kadigin. The term may have originated with Willard Richardson Espy, though others such as David Annis also used it (or cadigans) in their writing. Its etymology is obscure—Flexner and Wentworth related it to the generic word gin for engine (as in the cotton gin). It may also relate to the IrishsurnameCadigan.
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.
Items which have been or could conceivably be described with a kadigan are torque wrenches, sewing machinebobbins, crochet hooks, dongles, and other objects which are gender or trade specific.
Thingamajigs are typically specialized devices which have a limited number of uses or a single specific use. 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.
Thingamajigs are of such a nature that they are also typically referred to by location: “The doofunny on the kitchen counter”, “the geemie beside the couch”, or “that thing on top of the fridge”. It is assumed by the listener that anything else on top of the fridge, such as the box of tissues, the pictures of the kids, or the can of air freshener, which are more ordinary and thus more nameable than the “thing” for which one is looking, are not the requested object. Where one might request a hammer with no reference to location, one would not similarly request a doohickey.
Even among the world of otherwise nameless things referred to by kadigans, 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.
"Crap", "stuff", "junk", and "shit" are mass noun kadigans in English. The last term (and, to a much lesser extent, the first) is often considered obscene because of its scatological connotation.
Most of these words exist in the less formal register of the English language. In more formal speech and writing, words like paraphernalia, artifact, or utensil are called into play; these words also refer to things made by human hands without getting specific about their form or function. These words also differ slightly in usage: artifacts are usually found objects of indeterminate age and purpose, while utensil suggests cutlery.
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., showing that particular form to be in familiar use in the United States of America in the 1840s. In Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, W. S. Gilbert makes the Lord High Executioner sing of a “little list” which includes:
. . . 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.
The need for such words increases as technology advances. Indeed, kadigans have a grand future, if the Star Trek television franchise predicts accurately: many of the show’s “scientific explanations” of their futuristic technology have a curious placeholder quality to them, causing fans of the show to speak of Treknobabble.
Foo and bar (see Metasyntactic variable) are commonly used as placeholders for file, function, and variable names. The frequent form foobar may have come from the military acronym FUBAR, although the Jargon File makes a reasonably good case "For, it seems, the word 'foo' itself had an immediate prewar history in comic strips and cartoons. The earliest documented uses were in the Smokey Stover comic strip published from about 1930 to about 1952. Bill Holman, the author of the strip, filled it with odd jokes and personal contrivances, including other nonsense phrases such as "Notary Sojac" and "1506 nix nix". The word "foo" frequently appeared on license plates of cars, in nonsense sayings in the background of some frames (such as "He who foos last foos best" or "Many smoke but foo men chew"), and Holman had Smokey say "Where there's foo, there's fire"." [foo] that foo predates fubar.
Frapazoid is sometimes used to denote a generic piece of software.
Hacker slang includes a number of placeholders, such as frob, which may stand for any small piece of equipment. To frob, likewise, means to adjust (a device) in an aimless way, or to toggle a value between alternate states.
Other words used as kadigans
Other words that may have specific technical meanings are occasionally used as kadigans as well. Some words that are so used in English include:
flange (sometimes with the specific meaning removed by spelling it as phlange)
Any number of English swear words can be used as placeholders. The word fuck is noted for being used in many roles and parts of speech, both with and without derogatory intent: a fucker may be any thing or person whatsoever, while fucking with something is equivalent to fooling with or messing with it and denotes no particular action. English is hardly unique in this regard; see below for similar uses in Russian and Spanish.
The words shit and, more rarely, crap are used as mass noun placeholders, cruder equivalents to stuff.
Kadigans in the English language for people
Kadigan-like expressions can refer to people as well. Among words or phrases used in English to refer to people of unknown or irrelevant name are:
Tom, Dick and Harry, for a series of three specific unnamed people; or for any quantity of unknown people, usually with the term "every", for example: "Every Tom, Dick and Harry showed up to the party."
So-and-so; also often used as a euphemism for a stronger, possibly vulgar epithet, for example, "that stupid...so-and-so!"
Buddy (Newfoundland English), any male of unknown identity, often used in conjunction with "Whasisname".
What’s his/her name or Whasisname/Whassername
What’s his/her face (also what’s his/her nose or what’s his/her bucket)
Joe Bloggs (British male, referring to anyone of unknown identity)
Fred Bloggs (British male, referring to a subsequent unknown person)
Joe Public (British English, refers to an average person in the street)
Joe Soap (Average male person)
Josephine Soap (Average female person. Often married to Joe)
John Doe (American male; generally used when referring to unnamed/unknown deceased man)
Jane Doe (American female; generally used when referring to unnamed/unknown deceased woman)
Joe Blow (average male person - North America)
Joe Six-Pack (average male person; generally lacking technical knowledge)
The Joneses (used as a placeholder for the typical average family)
Miss Thing (cf. French Petite Chose)
Mrs Kafoops (Australian, slightly derogatory)
Dat fella (Malaysian/Singaporean, for "that fellow")
Yer man (Irish male)
Yer one (Irish female. Unlike the male form, sometimes used to connote contempt)
Himself/Herself (Irish male/female)
Lord/Lady Muck (Male/Female who is acting as if others are their servants)
Frick and Frack (Indistinguishable Male pair)
Dave Random (British English, a person one doesn't know but frequently sees)
Grandma (a usually older adult lacking technical knowledge)
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. 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". 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. In Australia, the name John Citizen is used in a similar capacity on samples of forms or cards. In America, Joe or Jane Sixpack refers to the perceived average middle or lower class person. 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. The name Alan Smithee is similarly used by film directors who wish to remain anonymous (often because their film did not turn out well). 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 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. 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. A foozle is a generic enemy or group of enemies that must be defeated for the plot to move on in a game.
Kadigans as a form of address
Some kadigans are used in second-person to address another, usually — but not always — because the second party's name is unknown.
Sir or 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 "Ma'am" (to women). "Sir" and "Ma'am", for example, are considered acceptable forms of address for most of the world's heads of state, including royalty.
Friend. "Friend" or other synonyms of amity may be used in its literal sense, but is often used ironically to indicate displeasure or hostility.
Terms of endearment. 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:
Baby or Babe
Boss
Brother (man) Sister (woman)
Buddy or Bud ("Buddy" is especially common in Newfoundland English)
B'y: Newfoundland pronunciation of "Boy", used as a general form of address primarily to a male but now increasingly to females. It does not hold any of the derogatory meaning that the term "Boy" does in standard English, especially when directed at minorities
Chum
Darling
Dear
Dude (man)
Friend
Grandpa, Grampa, or Gramps, often a disrespectful address for an older man
Honey or Hon
Jack (man), generally in an unfriendly sense
Lady (woman)
Ma'am, Madam, or Madame (woman)
Mac (man)
Man (to a man). It may also be used as an interjection, not addressed to anyone in particular, in which case it is not truly a kadigan ("Aw, man!").
Mate (UK, man)
Miss, generally addressed to a young woman or girl. In some dialects, it is a form of address for a female teacher, regardless of her marital status.
Missus, Newfoundland English term of respect or affection for a mature woman
Neighbour
Pal or Pally
Padre, from the Spanish word for "father", a military kadigan for any man of the cloth, regardless of denomination
Pop or Pops, often a disprespectful term for an older man
Sir (man)
Sister (woman)
Skipper; Newfoundland English term of respect or affection for a mature man
Son: generally used by an older man to one at least a generation youger; or by a man who, by virtue of rank or position, has charge or authority over the other, such as a drill sergeant over a private soldier. In the latter instance, it may be in a highly hostile context: "Son, you'd best move your ass before you find my foot up it!"
Sweetheart or Sweetie
Kadigans in the English language for places
In some forms of English, kadigans exist to represent places, particularly the stereotypical backward, insignificant or isolated town in the middle of nowhere. These include:
Waikikamukau (pronounced ‘Why kick a moo-cow’) in New Zealand
Black Stump in Australia and New Zealand (“Beyond Black Stump” indicates an extremely remote location).
Timbucktoo is still commonly used to refer to an unspecified but remote place.
Blackacre, Whiteacre, and Greenacre are widely used in law courses to represent hypothetical estates in land.
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 National Health Service of the UK, as well as the Department for Transport, use a large variety of placeholders as examples, including:
squillion (hence squillionaire = multi-millionaire), bajillion, buhmillion, frillion, gazillion, jillion, kajillion, schmillion, zillion and many others — these usually refer to large numbers that would be impractical to count;
The following particles likewise refer to unspecified quantity, but are not placeholder names as defined in this article:
few
a few
several
lots
many
Kadigans in the English language for dates
Composite names such as "Juvember" (combining June and November), "Febtober" (February and October), and "Decemuary" (December and January) are sometimes used to refer to an indeterminate month.
"Tib's Eve", named for the nonexistent Saint Tib, is a date which does not exist.
Saint's days of saints with obscure or odd-sounding names, such as Saint Swithin's Day.
Kadigans in the English language for times
"Two hairs past a freckle", (or "a freckle past a hair") said when one is asked the time but is not wearing a watch
"God-thirty in the morning" and "silly o'clock", referring to a time very early in the morning
"Oh-dark thirty" or "Oh-dark hundred," also referring to some time early in the morning (before the sun rises); usage is derived from military parlance, where 4:00 a.m. is referred to as "oh-four-hundred"
"Dark plus thirty" meaning (loosely) just after dawn in Rainbow Gathering or Deadhead (or other festival) vernacular, meaning or thirty minutes after sundown, or more humorously, in at some indeterminate time after dark, Rainbow Gatherings tending not to happen according to any sort of schedule.
"Dark o' clock" may mean early or late.
"Yonks" is used in British English to mean a long but indefinite duration; it is conjectured to derive either from "donkey's years" or from "years, months and weeks".
Kadigans in other languages
Most other languages have kadigans 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. When a second person is needed, ʿillan / ʿillana[h] علان / علانة is used. The use of Fulan has been borrowed into Spanish and Portuguese as shown below.
Chinese
In Chinese, question words are used as kadigans. An unspecified object is shenme or shenme shenme (Simplified Chinese: 什么什么; Traditional Chinese: 什麼什麼) (literally, "what what"), an unspecified location is nali (哪里) , literally "where," an unspecified person shei (谁), literally "who," and so on.
Dutch
In Dutch the primary kadigan is dinges (derived from ding, "thing"), used for both objects and persons. 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"). The nonsense word hutsefluts is used as a placeholder for just about any proper name.
Esperanto
Esperanto has an all-purpose kadigan 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 can be used as a root and inflected in various forms, umi, umilo, umecaĵo etc.
It has acquired a specific meaning in some compounds, like brakumi, "to embrace", from brako, "arm".
Finnish
Sampo can be considered the oldest placeholder word in the Finnish language. 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 word is still in use – in particular, it can be found in expressions such as rahasampo ("a cornucopia of money").
Hilavitkutin is one of the most common Finnish placeholder words for objects. 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 "shaking back and forth" in native speakers of Finnish.
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. 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. This, in turn, has given rise to constructions such as mikälie.
Other generic placeholder words in colloquial use include systeemi ("system"), and juttu, jutska, 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 "till behöver" (that which is needed), 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).
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"). They are usually spelled with a small initial letter when they are used as placeholder names.
Placeholders for people include the ubiquitous Matti Meikäläinen (male) and Maija Meikäläinen (female), and the relatively less common Tauno Tavallinen ("Tauno the Ordinary"). In official contexts, the initials N.N. are used. Placeholders for large numbers include tsiljoona and biljardi. The latter is a portmanteau of miljardi (109) and biljoona (1012, see billion). It has an intentional double meaning, as the word also means "billiards".
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.N.), Omanimi ("Private His-name") and Te ("Private You").
Perpète, Perpète-les-Oies or Diable vauvert (for a place that is far away)
In French-speaking Belgium, [fr|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).
Among French people of North African origin (“pieds-noirs”), Foun-Tataouine is the generic village, although a small village by that name actually does exist in Tunisia, lending its name.
In Québec,St-clinclin and Diable au vert are both used to distuish far away rural places.
People
Common kadigans for people are
In slang: Tartampion, Machin, Machin-chose, Trucmuche.
In proceedings and other more formal settings: "X" (Monsieur X), "Y" etc.
German
German also sports a variety of kadigans; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingens (also Dingenskirchen), Dingsda, Dingsbums (sometimes even Dingsdabumsda), cognate with English thing. Also, Krimskrams 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 kadigan in German that has gained great popularity since the late 1980s. Initially a very generic kadigan, it has obtained specific meaning in certain contexts. For example, to buy ecstasy customers usually simply ask for parts (Teile) without danger of ambiguation. Zeug oder Zeugs (compare Dings, can be loosely translated as stuff) usually refers to either a heap of random items that is a nuisance to the user of the kadigan, or an uncountable substance or material, often a drug. Finally, Sache, as a placeholder, loosely corresponding to Latin res, describes an event or a condition. Recently, the kadigan 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 Hans Mustermann and Erika Mustermann, respectively. For many years, Erika Mustermann was used on the sample picture of German id-cards (“Personalausweis”)."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] In Austria, Max Mustermann is used instead. 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. Bert also had some popularity as a placeholder for names in the past. For remote or exotic locations, the Germans also use Timbuktu, as is common in the English language; for towns or villages in the German-speaking world, Kleinkleckersdorf or Kuhdorf (lit. cow village) is in usage. 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.
Greek
In Greek mostly two "official" cadigans are used, tade (original meaning was 'these here') and deina. 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 improvisional, derived from pronouns, such as tetoios, apotetoios, apaftos, o etsi etc
Hebrew
In Hebrew, the word זה (zeh, meaning 'this') is a kadigan used in place of any noun. 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. 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. A vulgar kadigan for a place mostly popular in the army is פִיזְדֶלוֹך (pizdelokh, formed from the Russian pizda, pussy, and the German and YiddishLoch = hole). 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).
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 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.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 slangizé and its verbal and nominal derivatives often take on sexual meanings). In addition to its placeholder function, izé is an all-purpose hesitation word, like ah,er,um in English.
To name things, Hungarians also use micsoda (whatisit), hogyhívják or hogyishívják (whatitscalled), miafene (whatdaheck), bigyó (thingie), miafasz (whatdafuck).
John Smith (US: John Doe) is the same in Hungarian; Kovács János or Kovács István (John Smith or Steve Smith).
Place names: Mucsaröcsöge (ending sounds similar to röfög - to grunt) or Bivalybasznád (literally: buffaloyouwouldfuck): little village or boonies far out in the countryside, Piripócs: νillage or small town somewhere in the countryside
Italian
In Italian the standard kadigans for unanimated objects are roba (literally "stuff"), coso (related to cosa, thing), affare (literally "business"), and aggeggio.
For people, common words are tizio, tipo (literally, "type"), and uno (literally, "one"). The latter is not accompanied by an article, and disappears in presence of a demonstrative (e.g. a guy is un tipo or uno, that guy is quel tipo or just quello). The feminine versions are, respectively, tizia, tipa, una.
Also there are specific kadigans (from ancient Roman typical male names) for three unnamed people: Tizio, Caio and Sempronio. They are always used in that order and with that priority (i.e., one person is always Tizio, two people are always Tizio and Caio).
One typical expression for a time very late in the night is alle mille di notte (at one thousand o'clock).
Often, Canicattì is used to refer to a place far away and diffcult to reach (even though that's the name of a real town in Sicily).
Japanese
In Japanese, naninani (なになに, a doubled form of the word nani, meaning what) is often used as a kadigan. It does not necessarily mean a physical object; for example, it is often used to stand in for an omitted word when discussing grammar. A similar phrase is nantoka nantoka.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.
Latin
In Latin the word res (thing) is used. 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”.
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. It can also be used for a generic person as in Mr/Ms So-and-so.
Maori
In Maori the word taru, literally meaning “long grass” or “weeds” is used.
Norwegian
In Norwegian the placeholder names for people are Ola (male) and Kari (female) Nordmann.
Polish
In Polish most popular kadigans are cosik (comming from the word coś - something), dynks (see GermanDings) and wihajster (equals to Germanwie heisst er? - how do you call this?). Others like elemelek or pipsztok are probably not so well known. Also used are dzyngiel (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.
Portuguese
In Portuguese, common kadigans are treco and negócio, among others. Kadigans for people are usually Fulano/Fulana (optionally surnamed de Tal), Sicrano/Sicrana and Beltrano/Beltrana. João das Couves or José da Silva are also used.
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.
Romanian
In Romanian,
chestie is used for objects and concepts,
cutare for both persons and things.
Cutărică, tip (masculine) or tipă (feminine) are sometimes used for persons.
Drăcie ("devilish thing") is a derogative placeholder name for objects.
Other expressions used include
cum-îi-zice/cum-se-cheamă ("what's-it-called"),
nu-ştiu-cum ("I-don't-know-how"),
nu-ştiu-ce ("I-don't-know-what"),
nu-ştiu-care ("I-don't-know-who"),
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; and also mii şi mii ("thousands and thousands").
Cucuieţii-din-Deal is a name for obscure and remote places.
Russian
In Russian, among the common kadigans 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) together with its minced forms such as хрен (horseradish). A kadigan for something awkward, bulky and useless is бандура (bandura, an old Ukrainian musical instrument, big and inconvenient to carry). A kadigan for a monetary unit is тугрик (tugrik, the monetary unit of Mongolia; as is the case with Timbucktoo, most speakers are unaware of its actual existence). A placeholder name for obscure and remote places is Тьмутаракань (Tmutarakan, an ancient Crimean city). Mukhosransk ("Fly's Shit Town") is a derogatory kadigan for a remote and uninteresting town. Duduevo and Novoyebenyovo (obscene) are sometimes used for a remote village or a suburban settlement. Kadigans 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.
Spanish
Spanish tends to use fairly self-explanatory phrases as kadigans: el como-se-llama ("what's-it-called"), el que-te-dije ("what-I-said-to-you"), el no-sé-que ("I-don't-know-what") ; they also reach for Latin, and borrow quídam as a word for something or another. Chisme, chirimbolo, cacharro are generally used for any object or device. Mexican Spanish adds chingadera ("fucker"), not to be used in polite circumstances. Kadigans for unspecified persons include Don Fulano/Doña Fulana from Arabic (see above) and Fulano/Fulana de Tal (Fulana should be used with care as it has acquired the euphemistic meaning of "prostitute", it may be defanged with the diminutive Fulanita; if a second or third person is needed, they are Mengano and Zutano. Also used in dimunitive form, Fulanito, Menganito or Zutanito.
Further less used names are Perengano or Perencejito/a and in Cuba Esperancejo.
Pepe ("Joe") is used as a generic person name and metasyntactic variable.
For numbers, veinticatorce ("twenty-fourteen") or cuarentiquince ("forty-fifteen") for small numbers and tropecientos ("trope hundred") for big numbers are used.
The actress Lina Morgan used to answer with taytantos ("ty-something") when asked about her age.
Swedish
Swedish has a large, but fairly unimaginative vocabulary of kadigans: Sak, grej, pryl, mojäng/moj (from French moyen) and grunka are the neutral words for thing. “Pryl” is also a small sharp tool used to make holes in tough materials, but this usage is less common. An older word for thing is ting, which is common in idioms, and a pretty much obsolete one is tingest. 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 more colorful: Someplace far away can be called Tjotaheiti (which is derived from "to Tahiti") or Långtbortistan, Farawaystan, a play on -stan. Häcklefjäll is a commonly used as a name for a generic remote village, which is actually a synonym for the Icelandic volcano Hekla. Common names used as placeholders are Anna and Maria for women, Johan and Anders for men and Svensson, Karlsson and Andersson for surnames (Svensson is a common Swedish surname, and is often used to express genericness or mundaneness).
Turkish
Turkish has many colorful kadigans. "Falan" seems to be borrowed from Arabic, and comes in variations like "filanca" (what’s his name) and "falan filan" (stuff, etc.). "Ivir zivir" is a common kadigan for "various stuff". Kadigans for persons exist in abundance, one example being "Sari Cizmeli Mehmet Aga" ("Mehmet Aga with yellow boots") which generally is used to mean "unknown person".
Vietnamese
In Vietnamese, Nguyễn Văn A and Nguyễn Thị B are usually used as placeholder names for a male and female, respectively, due to the ubiquity of the family name Nguyễn and middle names Văn and Thị in Vietnamese.
Welsh
In Welsh, the word bechingalw has been used, literally whatdyoucallit.
Ubykh
One of the kadigans in Ubykh, zamsjada, may be related to another word meaning useless.
Yiddish
In Yiddish, der zach is often used, similar to the German die Sache above. Stand-up comicDavid 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’”.
Yoruba
In Yoruba, Lagbaja and Temedu are the most common placeholder names.
