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Dooma-flodgies

Posted by ESC on November 12, 2007

In Reply to: Dooma-flodgies posted by Victoria S Dennis on November 05, 2007

: : We have heard of thingamajigs and deely-boobers, whatchamacallits and whim diddlies, but in Oklahoma I have also heard of dooma-flodgies (SP?) Has anyone else heard this word or know it's origin?

: Afraid not, but in Britain we also have doodahs, oojahs, widgets and wossnames.

Doomawadja, doomiejig, dommiewadjie. See doojigger. Doojigger/doohickey has a bunch of variations listed dating back to 1905. There is a separate entry for doofunny/doojumfunny. And a separate entry for dooflicker that has several variations, dating back to 1905, including dooflicker, dooflinkie, doofloppie, doofloppus.

Those mean "a thing not easily described" or "something not readily recalled."

Then there's dooflunky or dooflicker: "an impersonal reference to someone whose name is either no recalled or not provided." 1989. Current in southern Alabama.

"Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Pages 136-135.

Another reference says doohickey, any small object or device, goes back to 1914: "Our Navy." Doojigger, 1927, mechanical contrivance. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994. Page 631-632.

But no dooma-flogies.

Isn't this fun?

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