Do you ever momentarily find yourself not remembering the
name of a thing or person? But not wanting to stop the story to think of it you
just substitute “what’s-his-name” or “whatchamacallit” or "thingamajigger" or "thingamabop" or "whosey-whatsy" or any number of similar
terms.
This is not limited to English speakers, not at all. Around here “kuan” is used for the same purpose, “Oh, I saw Sir Kuan yesterday. He was wearng that kuan I saw in the store!”
Folk on the island south of here have a special word “anu” which can substitute for a wide variety of things – names, places, things, and even verbs. You can talk about Mr Anu living in Anu town. Perhaps you lost your anu or are looking for your anu or someone wishes to tell you something about anu. You may have been invited to an anu. Or someone may be anu-ing at that very minute! I have heard “anu” used several times in a single sentence!
Folk on the island south of here have a special word “anu” which can substitute for a wide variety of things – names, places, things, and even verbs. You can talk about Mr Anu living in Anu town. Perhaps you lost your anu or are looking for your anu or someone wishes to tell you something about anu. You may have been invited to an anu. Or someone may be anu-ing at that very minute! I have heard “anu” used several times in a single sentence!
