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stranger
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stranger
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A friend recently asked me: 'What do you call an arbitrary word / sound that replaces another word / concept (thingamajig, watchamacallit and gizmo, or words found often in pop songs, 'my ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling, I want you to play with my ding-a-ling', or words like bling)'
I am unable to answer him - any help? I am not certain that the examples he gives all fall within the same category, but a lead on this would be gratefully received.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Last edited by dalehileman; 09/05/07 03:06 PM.
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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These may be too specific, but all I can come with are patter and doo-wop.
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stranger
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stranger
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Thanks - what he is looking for is the definition of such words - what does one call this category of words, technically? They are not Onomatopoeic - what are they?
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addict
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addict
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In the song, the ding-a-ling is (supposedly) a bell, so that's an onomatopoeia since bells make that sound (the euphemistic meaning in the song is something that dangles like a bell). Bling (shortened from bling-bling) is also more or less an onomatopoeia - the cartoon sound of light glistening off gold/gems or the sound of lots of jewelery clinking together. thingamajig, watchamacallit, gizmo, etc. are often called placeholder names. A rather extensive list in multiple languages can be found here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placeholder_nameSome doo-wop lyrics can be placeholders (Who put the bomp in the bomp-shu-bomp-shu-bomp?) because they are taking the place of other words, but some are merely exclamations or a possibly form of scatting (Be-bomp-a-loo-bop, a-whamp-bam-boom) or maybe early beatboxing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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and jazz vocalists "scat".
perhaps vocalese?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Rut-roh, Myridon, I think you just got mantled.
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addict
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addict
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Vocalese is somewhat the opposite - putting lyrics to an instrumental piece. --- Why did Ludwig write this silly tune? It wasn't free. That's for sure. The money, all in cash, Came from Elise. Thus it was she He wrote it Für.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A bell? I don't think so.
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