What is 'versing'? ‘Whatchamacallit' and other placeholder words. Chicken.

What is 'versing'? ‘Whatchamacallit' and other placeholder words. Chicken.

1109. This week, we look at why kids and video gamers talk about "versing" someone. Then, we look at the linguistics of placeholder words like "whatchamacallit" and "thingamajig," including some fun international examples and the now-obsolete word "whiblin."

The "thingamajig" segment was by Ursula Kania, a Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of Liverpool. It originally appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license.

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Episoder(963)

072 The The -- The Double The

072 The The -- The Double The

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23 Aug 20075min

070 The Asterisk (Trust Me About Grammar, Not About Baseball)

070 The Asterisk (Trust Me About Grammar, Not About Baseball)

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10 Aug 20073min

068 Unlawful Versus Illegal

068 Unlawful Versus Illegal

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20 Jul 20074min

067 Your Versus You're

067 Your Versus You're

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20 Jul 20076min

065 Regionalisms

065 Regionalisms

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29 Jun 20077min

064 Between You and Me

064 Between You and Me

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26 Jun 20074min

056 Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block

056 Generating Story Ideas and Overcoming Writer's Block

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22 Mai 20078min

055 Misplaced Modifiers

055 Misplaced Modifiers

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18 Mai 20076min

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