‘Whatchamacallit’, ‘gizmo’ and ‘thingamajig’: what we say when we can’t find the right word – and why

By Ursula Kania, Senior Lecturer in English Language/Linguistics, University of Liverpool

Over 50,000 years ago, humans started speaking and we’ve not shut up since. Sometimes, though, we struggle to remember the name of an object, a place, or a person we want to talk about. The technical term for this phenomenon is “lethologica”.

While severe word-finding difficulties can be due to serious neurological issues, such as a stroke or dementia, drawing the occasional, temporary blank is very common. Unsurprisingly, stress…

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