why is "thingy" called thingy?

Question

how can i formally translate something like "what's that thingy you bring with you everyday?" or "pls bring that thingy over"..what's with thingy,thingie?! it's stuck in my head now even the prof threatens to slap my hand with his ruler next time i say thingy...OUCH! lol

Answer 1

Typically in English-speaking cultures, if you add the suffix "-y" or sound "ee" after a hard consonant it can be interpreted several ways:
1) It can show affection. Much like mommy (or mommie) or Aunty. The high vowel sounds are considered a feminine ending, but it is commonly used with men too. In rough sport of professional ice hockey, for example, it is quite common for players to nickname each other using the first syllable of their first or last name and adding -y. (Parker, becomes "Park-y", )
2) It can nominate a little or smaller object/person or nominate a diminutive thing in actuality or just in the user's opinion.
3) Informally, the "ee" sound or suffix -ee can be applied to nouns where there is someone or something being the action or actor, and the "ee" suffix or sound nominates the noun being acted upon. (for example, interviewer and interviewee)

For thingy, it could be interpreted as #2 (as a little thing) or #3 (as the thing you are working with or acting upon)

Answer 2

In the army a thingy was called "the obvious". So when you radio'd to somebody and they knew where you were going you could say " am at the obvious now , over" and the enemy listening in didn't latch on. You could try that instead of thingy, and see if you get your knuckles rapped then! Might be interesting!

Answer 3

The thingy is really a doings aka whotsit. Thingymajig is the full blown version. When used they are better accompanied by a wildly pointing index finger in the general direction of the object under discussion together with a frown of annoyance directed towards the person who cannot read your mind and extract the proper word from your muddled mind.

Answer 4

Thingy comes from the word 'thing'. If an object is not known, then someone would call that object 'thing'. But since 'thingy' could be seen as an adjective, then people would say "thingy".

Answer 5

Thingy just means thing. Thing is used to refer to something when you don't know what it's called. Your thingy probably has a name so the best thing to do is to work out what its name is and call it that...

Answer 6

figure out the name of the thingy

Answer 7

Well, I don't remember what the thingy is called. Put your thingy away! lol.

Answer 8

thingy, they say it cuz they forgot or can't get the thing they want in there head so they get lazy and say thingy

Answer 9

Its calle da thingy because its a thingy~! Its that "thing","item",that "I" ahve no clue as to what its called~!

Answer 10

thingy is when you dont no the name of something