List Of Placeholder Names By Language

This is a list of placeholder names (words that can refer to things, persons, places, numbers and other concepts whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed) in various languages.

Arabic

Arabic uses , ( / ) and when a last name is needed it becomes , ( / ). When a second person is needed, , ( / ) is used. The use of has been borrowed into Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish and Malay, as shown below.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

''Inna'' ܐܸܢܵܐ or ''hinna'' ܗܸܢܵܐ are used for “thingy”, “thingamabob”, etc. “Ayka dre-li inna?” roughly translates to “Where did I put the thingamabob?”

A verb of the root '-N-L (ܐܢܠ) likely derived from the noun is used to express actions similarly; for verbs that don’t immediately come to mind. Though not directly translatable into English, eg. “Si m’annil-leh” roughly translates to “go do that thing”.

Similarly to other Semitic languages, plān ܦܠܵܢ (masculine) and plānīthā ܦܠܵܢܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ (feminine) are used for “so-and-so”.

Bengali

Bengali uses the universal placeholder ইয়ে ''iay''. Its generally placed for a noun which cannot be recalled by the speaker at the time of his/her speech. ইয়ে ''iay'' can be used for nouns, adjectives, and verbs (in conjunction with light verbs). অমুক ''omuk'' can also be a placeholder for people or objects. ফলনা/ফলানা ''folona/folana'' and its female equivalent ফলনি ''foloni'' is a placeholder specific to people. The phrase এ যে ''e je'' roughly translates to "you know" although the literal meaning is "this that". To refer to an extended family or generation the phrase চৌদ্দ গোষ্ঠী ''chouddo goshthi'' is used. It can also mean "everyone one knows", when used in a context of telling your "chouddo gosthi" something and not keeping a secret.

Bulgarian

In Bulgarian, (, such) or (, lit. the such) can be used in place of a noun, and () as a verb.

Placeholder names for people include: (), () and (); used in this order. is the most common Bulgarian name, while the other two are quite old-fashioned. () is most commonly an ordinary person with no interesting qualities.

A colloquial placeholder name for towns is the railway junction of Kaspichan, which often bears the connotation of a far-off forgotten place. Villages could be referred to as (), literally "Upper Downhill".

Cantonese

In Hong Kong, Chan Tai Man () is commonly used as a placeholder. Chan () was chosen because it is a common surname in the Hong Kong population. Tai Man () is chosen because it has fewer strokes which makes it easy to write. Besides, which means a random passer-by or which means anonymous could also be used.

While English is also an official language in Hong Kong, Chris Wong is used as a common placeholder in Hong Kong English, particularly in school tests and examinations, e.g. HKDSE.

In legal proceedings, Mr/Miss/Mrs X / Y / Z could be used when the court decides to protect the victim's real identity, particularly in sexual criminal case.

Chinese

In Chinese, question words are used as placeholders. An unspecified object is or () and an unspecified location is ().

The particle () often forms part of a placeholder. It occurs as a prefix of generic nouns (e.g. "some person"), perhaps with an intervening measure word (e.g. "a certain show"), or substituting people's actual names (e.g. "Li Something").

Common placeholder names are:
* Zhang San ()
* Li Si ()
* Wang Wu ()
When more than three placeholders are needed, these are also occasionally used:
* Lu Er ()
* Zhao Liu ()
* Sun Qi ()
* Wang Ermazi ()
Zhang, Li, Wang, Zhao and Sun are among the most common Chinese surnames.

In all kinds of English exams in high school, Li Hua () is often used as the character example in writing tests.

The expression ("monkey year horse month") denotes an unknown but remote time in the future. For example, is often translated as "to wait forever".

Czech

Things

There are several placeholder words for things such as , , (gadget), , , , etc.

Persons

or for men and or for women are Czech versions of John Doe/Jane Doe.

Places

A placeholder name for a distant place is , for a remote village or ("Upper Lower"), for a crazy town etc. Another word for remote place is .

The phrase (literally, "where the foxes say goodnight") refers to a remote and isolated place, like "the middle of nowhere".

Danish

Things

In Danish a common placeholder word is (derived from German ), used for small unspecified objects (gadgets). Long, thin and pointy objects may be called or , derived from the verb in the meaning 'thrust'. Other placeholders for objects are , , , , , and ; (lit. 'stuff') and (lit. 'gear').

Persons

In common parlance and as a placeholder a variety can be used. (Name Nameson) is an example.

In civil law , , etc. are used. In criminal law is used for the accused (), is a non-law enforcement witness (), is a police officer () and or is the victim (). When more than one a number is added, e.g. , and , .

Places

Faraway countries are often called , lit. ''Farawayistan''. was first used in 1959 in the weekly periodical as Sonja Rindom's translation of Remotistan.
Since 2001 it has been included in as an official Danish word.

Backwards places in the countryside are called , lit. ''The fields of Lars Diarrhea''.
Similarly , lit. ''Where the crows turn around'' may also be used for denoting both a far away and backwards place at the same time.

The expression is a placeholder for a place far far away e.g. ''he kicked the ball'' .

Dutch

Things

In Dutch the primary placeholder is (derived from , "thing"), used for both objects and persons, and sometimes turned into a verb (). The diminutive of , (lit. "little thing" or "thingy") serves as a placeholder for objects when used with an article, and for persons without.

In Belgian Dutch you can call a small village ('the hole of pluto').

Persons

The equivalent of ''John Doe'' for an unspecified (but not an unidentified) person is ("Jansen" being one of the most common Dutch surnames), or in vulgar speech ("John Dick"); ("John with the short surname") is used in the place of to avoid vulgarity. ("John Average") is the average consumer and ("John Public") and ("John with the cap") the man in the street while (John Soldier) is the average soldier.

In Belgium, the Dutch name for an unspecified person is sometimes said to be , though most people just use instead. is a common pet form of . Another pet form is . The average couple may be (Molly and Jenny). In 2010 the politician Geert Wilders introduced as to describe the average Dutch couple. For some time, lower class young people were called .

(literally 'Every-body' in old Dutch) is a character from a medieval play (Everyman and Death). It is sometimes used to say ''any mortal''.

Places

Obscure, faraway places are (inspired by Dutch Donald Duck comics) and ('Faraway-i-stan'). , a real village, is also used in this sense. The fictitious village (also spelled as ) is small, not very important and in Flanders. and are equivalents in the Netherlands.

Numbers

Similar to German, the word for an unknown amount is , used like "umpteen". It stems from the suffix used for double-digit numbers ( twenty, forty), and is usually used in an aggravated context. ("I've tried that umpteen times already!").

Egyptian

In Ancient Egypt, the names Hudjefa and Sedjes, literally meaning "erased" and "missing", were used by later Egyptian scribes in kings lists to refer to much older previous pharaohs whose names had by that time been lost.

English

See Placeholder name.

Finnish

Things

one of the most common Finnish placeholder words for technical objects and machinery, it's usually a placeholder for any device which lacks a proper word and often has unknown operating logic, but is useful and has no direct negative association. on the other hand is negative and refers to devices that are apparently useless and make no sense. is a very common ''thing'' word for devices and is by default emotionally neutral, but it is also used as slang for the male genital. can be used instead of .

An idiosyncratically Finnish placeholder word is or , literally "whatever (it) may be". It uses the Finnish verb form or , meaning "(it) probably is" – i.e., "to be" in the potential mood. This inflected word form is quite rare in everyday speech, which has resulted in its grammatical function being (mis)interpreted by native speakers as a grammatical particle instead of a verb. This, in turn, has given rise to constructions such as . Analogously persons are "whoever he may be", locations "in wherever", etc.

has the literal meanings "story", "criminal/court case", or "issue", but may refer to virtually anything inanimate.

Persons

Placeholders for people include the ubiquitous (male) and (female), and the relatively less common (literally Anna the Model, but can also be understood as "Give me an example", female) or ("Tauno the Ordinary", male). In official contexts, the initials (from the Latin , "name unknown") are used.

means literally "one of us, one of our side", but sounds similar to a genuine Finnish surname, many of which end in . Sometimes, ( means "one of you people, one of your side") can be used, where a contrast to is needed.

The names and are sometimes also used, because they are said to combine the most common first names and surnames; however, they are also real names for this reason.

The common nouns "character" or "figure" via Swedish, "fellow" and "someone" may be used as placeholders for persons. is often used in an ironic sense about a known person whose name is unknown, in the same sense as "fellow" is used in English. is usually combined with to form for an unknown character with unknown intentions.

Pihtiputaan mummo ("the grandma from Pihtipudas") is the proverbial least knowledgeable and therefore least capable person to adapt to a new technology, such as the euro or digital TV.

Places

The most common placeholder name for a remote location or a "backwater town" is . Actual locations in Finland that have acquired a similar status include and, to some extent, , though the latter is mostly associated with the proverbial "grandmother from Pihtipudas" explained above. They are usually spelled with a small initial letter when they are used as placeholder names.

Stereotypical foreign, distant places are and . Other places, whose actual coordinates are unknown and obscure, but which clearly are far away, are , (chute of Hell), and ("Horse's Spruce" cf. ''in the sticks'').

Numbers

Placeholders for large numbers include and . The latter is a portmanteau). It has an intentional double meaning, as the word also means "billiards", and also mean 10¹⁵.

Military usage

In Finnish military slang, traditionally refers to a special type of socks worn during wintertime. However, it has become a common generic placeholder word outside the military, possibly due to its phonetic similarity to the aforementioned .

In the Finnish Defence Forces, placeholder names for soldiers include (no meaning, derived from ), (rendered from genitive expanding into (this-and-that), ("Private His-name") and ("Private You"). Any weapon, device or piece of equipment is called . This has actually pointed to the abbreviation VKT, Valtion Kivääritehdas (State Rifle Factory), and referred to light machine gun VKT23, which originally was called .

Time

Popular expressions for "really long ago" in Finnish include variations of ("in the year sword and helmet"). Various other words evoking connotation with medieval or even pre-historic times can also be used in the expression.

French

Things

In French, an unspecified artifact can be:
* (n.m.); this is from military slang for something in disarray. It most probably comes from a dialectal word meaning "mud".
* (n.m.), derived from ''machine''
* (n.m.), whose primary meaning is ''trick''
* (n.f.), ''thing''
* or (plural): '' things'', which is an old term and is seldom used nowadays.

Some of these may be combined in several variations, with possibly being appended with the meaningless : , , are common combinations.

was a placeholder name in a 60s radio game show for a mystery object discovered by asking questions. It gained fame from a well-known sketch by Coluche and is now commonly used for any strange object. The strip series , whose characters (blue midgets) used for any object and for any action, led to the use of those two as common placeholders, although it is mainly used for persons. This was recast in English as the Smurfs.

Quebec French also has , , , , and such (most of which have verb forms meaning "to fiddle with"). Acadian French has , and . Louisiana French has and .

In Brussels slang, is either a heap of random small objects, or a nondescript object of little value.

In computer science research, , , and sometimes replace the English ''foo'' and ''bar'' as placeholder names for variables, functions and the likes.

Persons

Common placeholder names for people are
* In slang: , , , , , , , , ; to refer to people who carry longish, noble names
* In proceedings and other more formal settings: (), , , ... (see XYZ Affair)
* or designates anyone and everyone at the same time, in the third person, in an informal context. The very common is used the same way as ''John Doe'' is in English.
* or (Mr. Everybody), is the average citizen.
* is the average homemaker or (when speaking about technology) a relatively unsophisticated user.
* , as an adjective, means 'average': (the average driver), (the average citizen).
* are the average extended family; they could also be a couple looking for a bargain, e.g. buying an apartment.
* (the widow from Carpentras, a city in southern France) is the archetypal absolute bear customer in stock exchange literature.
* are common characters in jokes. They often appear in mathematical literature about probability theory: many problems begin with (Peter and Paul are throwing dice).
* is also a commonly used name in jokes; when a female character is needed, it is feminized into . It is mainly used to evoke a young boy or a naïve person.
* (in Acadian French) which literally means ''boot with no laces-guy''.

Places

In France:
* (small village)
* , , or (for a place that is far away)
* (genuine city name in Mali)
* (Neighbourhood east of Algiers)
* (genuine city name in Tunisia).

In French-speaking Belgium, Outsiplou or even (Outsiplou-the-footbath) is a generic village of Wallonia. There is an actual but little known village near Liège named , whose name means "Listen whether it rains" in Walloon, and a hamlet named in Belgian Luxemburg.

Among French people of North African origin (''Pieds-Noirs''), is the generic village and (Tataouine-the-Baths, les-bains is frequent in the name of spa towns) is the average city, possibly from the village of that name in Tunisia.

In Quebec:

Far away rural places:
*, , or (far away rural region; is the onomatopoeia for mooing)
* (Moukmouk Islands, some far away islands)

Numbers

* (one thousand and one) or (thirty-six) are used for an unknown large number, as in (I said it to you umpteen times).
* (forty-twelve) and (probably short for , thirty-twelve thousand) are used for random numbers and particularly high random numbers respectively.
* (some dust specks) can be joined to any number or measure to add an indefinite small amount, as in (two meters and a bit).
* (thrice nothing) is used for a very small amount, as in (I bought it for a song).
* (some potatoes, slang) and (some wheel-barrows) are variations of in increasing amounts.

Galician

A research in Galician language (and Spanish and Portuguese) classified the toponymic placeholders for faraway locations in four groups:
* related to blasphemies and bad words (, );
* related to religious topics (, , );
* local (Galician) real toponyms (majorly , but also or );
* international toponyms (, , , , );
There is apart a humoristic, unfrequent element, as in . Some can add more than one element (). It is also noted the prevalence of the adjective ("fifth").

German

Things

German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element , (also for towns), , , cognate with English ''thing''. Also, , , suggests a random heap of small items, e.g., an unsorted drawerful of memorabilia or souvenirs. (from ) may be used for any kind of machinery or technical equipment. In a slightly higher register, represents a miscellaneous artifact or utensil, or, in casual German, may also refer to an item of remarkable size. The use of the word (part) is a relatively recent placeholder in German that has gained great popularity since the late 1980s. Initially a very generic term, it has acquired a specific meaning in certain contexts. or (compare , can be loosely translated as 'stuff') usually refers to either a heap of random items that is a nuisance to the speaker, or an uncountable substance or material, often a drug. Finally, , as a placeholder, loosely corresponding to Latin , describes an event or a condition. A generic term used especially when the speaker cannot think of the exact name or number, also used in enumerations analogously to ''et cetera'', is the colloquial or (literally "strike/shoot me dead", to indicate that the speaker's memory fails him/her).

A generic (and/or inferior) technical device (as opposed to i.e. a brand item) is often called a (after the WWI-era MG 08 machine gun, whose extensive mass production gave it its "generic" character) pronounced in individual numbers .

Persons

The German equivalent to the English ''John Doe'' for males and ''Jane Doe'' for females would be (Max Exampleperson) and , respectively. For the former, (after the protagonist of the 1948 movie , named in turn after the ''standard consumer'' for ration cards) is also widely known. or is often used as a placeholder in jokes for a mischievous little boy (little Johnny), for a person related to something, as in (literally Bicycle Fred, the (unspecified) person who repairs, or is in some way connected to, bicycles). In a similar vein there is (lit. Uncle Fred).

There is also , , or for everybody similar to the English ''Tom, Dick and Harry'' if not in a slightly more derogatory way. For many years, Erika Mustermann has been used on the sample picture of German ID cards ("Personalausweis"). In Austria, is used instead. Sometimes the term is used as the last name placeholder, possibly because it is felt to be more politically correct gender-wise. When referring to an "Average Joe", the names and (female) are commonly used, corresponding to the American "The Joneses". is taken from bureaucratic jargon of post-World War II food rationing via the name of a 1948 film character (played by Gert Fröbe), while the name became popular in the year 1961 due to the movie . Military jargon also includes ("Private Tinned-Cabbage") and ("Private Beat-Me-Blue") as derogatory placeholders for the name of a (poorly-performing) recruit. In Cologne, (which can also refer to a gadget) and are popularly used for men or boys and women/girls with unknown first names. also had some popularity as a placeholder for names in the past.

Places

For remote or exotic locations, Germans use , , (), ( = ''far away''), ("where the pepper grows"). Other, somewhat derogatory terms for remote locations are ("arse of the world") or ("arse of the heath"). For towns or villages in the German-speaking world, or or just (lit. "cow village", somewhat derogatory) and (lit. "Little-Messy-Village"), (lit. "Little-you-don't-see-it"), / (usually implies some small, rural and old-fashioned village) or ( is German for "thing" and is a common ending of village names which is derived from meaning "church"); in Austria is also used. , which derives from usage in newspapers ("Mr. X from town Y. on the river Z."), is used occasionally. Other terms such as (lit.: "Somewhere-Else Spa upon Whatever iver) have been suggested. For remote and rural places there is also the term (lit. "where fox and hare tell each other good night"). The abbreviation (short for in a Berlin accent that replaces /g/ with /j/), meaning "very far away", is used for remote towns or suburbs (far from the city center). Staycations are spent on (sounding like a country, "Balconia", but meaning one's balcony) or at (sounding like a spa, but means "my garden").

Numbers

For abstract large numbers the numeral suffix (as in = 20, = 40, = 60) is used like 'umpteen': ('I already said so umpteen times'). An unknown ordinal number is ("what do I know how many-th") or (fictional integer whose name is a portmanteau of the words , 12, and , 13). Exponents of 10 are also used as in English.

Time

For an indefinite point in the (far) past (lit.: "in/since Olim's Time") may be used, being Latin for "once", or , with taken from and being an antiquated word for tobacco. Alternatives include , , and . An indefinite point in the future may be called ("feast day of St. Never-Again")

Greek

In Greek mostly two "official" placeholders for people are used, (original meaning was 'these here') and (which has been a placeholder since antiquity). There is also the name used more jokingly. Unofficially, most placeholders are improvised, derived from pronouns, such as "such", "the from-such", , "the that" or "the like-that". For locations, "at the devil's mother" and "to hell/to the place with no return" serve as a placeholder for a distant place.

For time, 30 or 31 February serves as a placeholder for events that will never happen.

The Greek equivalent of John Smith is () which is considered to be one of the most common names in Greece.

Hawaiian Pidgin (English)

*

Hebrew

In Hebrew, the word (, meaning 'this') is a placeholder for any noun. The term (, meaning a protuberance, particularly the diacritical mark geresh), a borrowing of Russian (, a diminutive of "forelock") is also used by some speakers.

The most popular personal name placeholders are (, 'whatsisname'), ( = Moses) and (, common diminutive form of ''Yosef'') for first name, and ('' Cohen'', the most common surname in Israel) for last name. However, in ID and credit card samples, the usual name is () for a man and () for a woman (these are actual first and last names) – similar to John and Jane Doe.

The traditional terms are () and its counterpart () (originally mentioned in Ruth 4:1). The combined term () is also in modern official usage; for example, addressing guidelines by Israel postal authorities use as the addressee.

In the Talmud and in Jewish religious reasoning, and notably in History of responsa in Judaism, responsa, personal placeholder names are often () and (), the names of the first- and second-born of the patriarch Jacob's twelve sons (as told in Book of Genesis).

A placeholder for a time in the far past is (pronounced , which somewhat resembles a year in the Hebrew calendar but is not quite one).

Especially older Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi often employ the Yiddish placeholders and ( meaning "look for me" in Yiddish). (a typical Moroccan Jews, Moroccan Jewish surname) is a somewhat derogative placeholder for a simple lower-class citizen, particularly of Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahi descent (that is, Jews of Middle Eastern or North African origin). The term ''Buzaglo test'' was coined in the 1970s by Aharon Barak, the Israeli Attorney General at the time, for the proposition that the law should apply with equal leniency (or severity) to a senior public official and to the simplest ordinary citizen.

Hungarian

In Hungarian language, Hungarian the word (a stem of ancient Uralic languages, Uralic heritage) refers primarily to inanimate objects but sometimes also to people, places, concepts, or even adjectives. Hungarian is very hospitable to Derivation (linguistics), derivational processes and the stem can be further extended to fit virtually any grammatical category, naturally forming a rich family of derivatives: e.g. whatchamacallit (noun), whatchamacallit-ish (adjective), or more whatchamacallit(ish) (comparative adjective), in a whatchamacallitish manner (adverb), to whatchamacallit something (transitive verb), to cause someone to whatchamacallit (transitive verb), to whatchamacallit continually (often meaning: pester, bother – frequentative verb). (In slang and its verbal and nominal derivatives often take on sexual meanings). In addition to its placeholder function, is an all-purpose Speech disfluency, hesitation word, like ''ah'', ''er'', ''um'' in English. Words with a similar meaning and use are , usually translated as 'stuff', and , translated as either 'thing'/'thingie' or 'gadget'. More complex objects such as electronic devices, and especially novelty items could be referred with either (gadget) or (roughly 'contraption').

To name things, Hungarians also use (what-is-it), or (what-it's-called), (what-the-heck), (thingie), ('what-the-fuck', literally 'what-the-dick').

John Smith (US: John Doe) is or (lit. John Smith or Jake Gypsum, or Jakob Gipsch, with surname followed by given name, as normal in Hungarian). However these names are not used in official reports (for example instead of US John/Jane Doe (unknown male/female) would appear in a police report). Samples for forms, credit cards etc. usually contain the name (John Sample) or (Kate Sample). and , which are actual, though now relatively uncommon, female nicknames, are often used to refer to stereotypically obnoxious and ineffective female bureaucrats. Jokes sometimes refer to an older person named (a quite common male given name), especially if it is implied that he is perverted or has an unusual sexual orientation despite his age.

As for place names, there is or , little villages or boonies far out in the countryside, and or , villages or small towns somewhere in the countryside. A general place reference is the phrase , meaning "behind the back of God", i.e. 'middle of nowhere'.

Icelandic

In Icelandic, the most common placeholder name is for men, while is used for women. The common or average Icelander is referred to as (average Jón).

The Icelandic version of the Nordic words for faraway places is . This and the other Nordic counterparts come from Donald Duck comic magazines, in which Donald tends to end up in that country if he doesn't play his cards right.

Indonesian

There is no single name that is widely accepted, but the name of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, can be found in many articles; it has the advantages of being Javanese (about 45% of the Indonesian population), a single word (see Indonesian name), and well-known.

Other male names: (Indonesian for Johnny), and (widely used in elementary textbooks). (this is Budi's mother) is a common phrase in primary school's standardized reading textbook from 1980s until it was removed in 2014. Popular female placeholder names are , , , .

(male) and (female) are also often found, especially in religious articles (both are derived from Arabic).

(the era when horses bite iron) and indicates a very long time ago.

Irish

Things

Common Irish placeholders for objects include "that thing over there", "that other thing", and "whatever its name is".

Persons

In Irish, the common male name is part of the very old phrase (Tadhg of the market-place) which combines features of the English phrases "average Joe" and "man on the street".

This same placeholder name, transferred to English-language usage and now usually rendered as , became and remains a vitriolic derogatory term for an Irish Catholic and has been used by Unionism in Ireland, Unionists in Northern Ireland in such bloodthirsty slogans as "If guns are made for shooting, then skulls are made to crack. You've never seen a better Taig than with a bullet in his back" and "Don't be vague, kill a Taig".

A generic male person can also be called ("Sean O'Something", from "thing") or ("O'Something's son"). Additional persons can be introduced by using other first names and inflecting the family name according to normal Irish conventions for personal names, such as ("Sheila O'Something") for a married or elder woman and for a young or unmarried woman.

, another derogatory placeholder name for an Irish people, Irish person, lacks the sharpness of and is often used in a jocular context or incorporated into mournful pro-Irish sentiment (e.g. the songs "Poor Paddy on the Railway" and "Paddy's Lament"). By contrast, the term remains a slur in almost every context. (from the name Bridget (given name), Bridget) is a female equivalent placeholder name for Irish females.

Also note that the Hiberno-English placeholder names noted above (, and ) are long-established idioms derived from the Irish syntax, syntax of the Irish language. and are a half-translation of a parallel Irish-language phrase, , literally "my person". This has appeared in songs, an example of which is The Irish Rover in the words .

Italian

Things

In Italian, standard placeholders for inanimate objects are (literally 'stuff'), (related to , 'thing'), less commonly (literally 'deal' or 'business'), and even less commonly ('device' or 'gadget').

(literally 'what's it called') is also used for inanimate objects, expecting to be prompted by the listener with the correct word.

("go and catch it"), was once very much used for rare or uncommon objects. Now this term is quite obsolete.

The verb , derived from , is sometimes used as placeholder for any other verb.

Persons

For people, widely used words are again as a substitute for a proper noun, while a generic person is a (see below for the Latin origin of this) or a ('type') as well as ('one'). The latter is not accompanied by any article and disappears when used along with a demonstrative; thus, ''a guy'' is or , whereas ''that guy'' is or just . The feminine versions are , (colloquial), and , respectively. In the Venice area one can say ("Peter the Lost") for an unknown person.

is a generic placeholder for people, especially in examples where first name and family name should appear, like in credit cards advertising. is formed coupling one of the most used male first names in Italy, with one of the most frequent family names. Other common placeholder names for people are and .

Also, there are specific terms (from male names common in ancient Rome) for six unnamed people. These terms, from administrative and jurisprudential texts, are , , , , , and , but only the first three are used in current speech. They are always used in that order and with that priority; that is, one person is always ; two persons are always ; and three persons are always .

Places

A place far away and out of reach is ('at the devil's house') or, more vulgarly, ('in the moon's butt') or ('in the wolves' butt'). The same idea can be expressed by the name of the Sicily, Sicilian town of , as well as by the two regional expressions (mostly confined to Sicily) ('where the Lord lost his shoes') and ('where Christ lost his shirt').

Numbers

Placeholders used for numbers are (54), (54,000), and (10,000). The suffix is used for ages in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s (from , 40; , 50; , 60; , 70; , 80; and , 90); thus, the expression is used to say that someone is in his or her forties, although the same meaning is also commonly expressed by , and so on along the same pattern (on the model of the suffix ).

ICT usage

In information technology, especially in textbooks,

Japanese

In Japanese, (, a doubled form of the word , meaning 'what') is often used as a placeholder. It does not necessarily mean a physical object. For example, it is often used to stand in for an omitted word when discussing grammar. Similarly, (, doubled form of 'who') can be used for people, and (, doubled form of 'something') as a variant for things. (, no literal meaning) has been gaining popularity in the computing world, where it is used much like ''foo'' and ''bar''. (literally "~~") is also a popular placeholder name.

On forms requiring a first and last name, the name ( or ) is often used as a place holder. was once an extremely common name for boys, but it has lost popularity significantly in recent years. is still a common family name, literally meaning 'mountain rice field'. Occasionally will be replaced with the name of the company who created the form, for example () for forms from Rakuten.

The symbol (, , meaning 'circle-circle') is used as a general-purpose placeholder, as is (, 'blankety-blank' or 'blah blah blah').

Kannada

In Kannada language, Kannada, one placeholder name for a common man/woman is (), which translates to 'Unidentified'. Most police reports in Karnataka use this name. E.g., (). ( is a gender-neutral way of addressing someone, similar to the English word 'person'.) Most of the articles/reports use gender, as they describe the state of location and conditions of the persons found, followed by skin-tone, height, age, birthmarks, and gender. When addressing a possible living but unknown person, or (), meaning "nameless", are used. (), which translates to "respectable commoner", is another common term used to refer to a living person in general.

Korean

In Korean language, Korean, (, a tripled form of , which is a short form of , the word for ''what'') is used in casual speech. (, reduplication of ''who'') and (, reduplication of ''where'') can be heard as well.

(), the name of a legendary Korean outlaw, is commonly used as a placeholder name in instructions for filling out forms. () is another placeholder name, similar to John Doe.

() as a male name, and () as a female name is also widely used as placeholder names.

Latin

In Latin the word (thing) is used. Some Latin legal writers used the name as a John Doe placeholder name; this name was chosen in part because it shares its initials with the Latin phrases (often abbreviated in manuscripts to ) , "I don't know the name"; , "name to be named" (used when the name of an appointee was as yet unknown); and , "not named".

Formal writing in (especially older) Dutch uses almost as much Latin as the lawyer's English, and, for instance, was and is commonly used as a "John Doe" placeholder in class schedules, grant proposals, etc.

Emperor Justinian I, Justinian's codification of Roman law follows the custom of using and as names for Roman citizens, and and as names for slaves.

Latvian

Names

In Latvian language, Latvian there is no universal placeholder name. Most entities tend to simply use popular real names, such as the male first name (John) or the common surname (Birch). As alternative "generalized" names, the male name (Peter) and surname (Hill) may be used. These are quite popular Latvian names and surnames and there are quite a number of real people bearing these names and surnames. See, for instance, the disambiguation page for in the Latvian Wikipedia.).
For female first names , and may be used slightly more often than others.

Places

is a universal placeholder for small town/village located away from civilization. As a contrast location – somewhat larger, still quite remote – may be used. Literally these two are translated as "Smallfuck" and "Bigfuck". Also may be used as a placeholder name for remote town. ("God only knows where") may also be used.

Lojban

The constructed language Lojban uses the series (namely , , , , ), (namely , , , , ) and (namely , , , , ) as pro-forms with explicitly assigned antecedents. However, Lojban speakers had begun to use them as placeholder words, especially in technical discussions on the language. To distinguish both uses, some special markers were created to unambiguously differentiate between anaphoric and metasyntactic usage.

Lithuanian

A universal placeholder for a person in Lithuanian language, Lithuanian are the variations of names (John), (Peter) and more rarely (Anthony), like , , or for a full male name and for a full female name. The names are often used in the examples of form filling. Also, ("Name Lastname") is a common placeholder.

A well-known derogatory placeholder name for a village or a rural town is (an actually existing village). The name literally means "Farting village" in Lithuanian, although it actually originates with nearby lake (), meaning "Bottomless" in Russian.

Malay

People

"Si fulan" and "fulanah" are classical Malay terms for anonymous or unknown people.

In modern Malay, "mat" and "minah" are used in slang for generic people.

Places

In Malay language, Malay, the term "tempat jin bertendang" (the place where the jinn-spirits gather) is used for "the middle of nowhere". This is especially used in the Sarawak, Johor, and Kelantan dialects and nearby Indonesian.

In classical Malay literature, the expression "negeri berantah-antah" means "in a place that is unknown".

Norwegian

In Norwegian language, Norwegian the placeholder names for people are (male and female, respectively). A placeholder name for the ordinary Norwegian is also ("Everymanson").

In formal legal contexts, (occasionally spelled ) and are the generic male and female examples. These are often joined by their adversaries (male) and (female), together with various members of the extended and families. The first names , , and seem to be very common in both of these families. Most of these people reside and work in the ("Small Bay") area and most have accounts in ("Small Bay Savings Bank"). Some also live in the larger ("Big City").

A placeholder name for a far away country is ("Far away-stan"). A placeholder name for a far away place is , which originally refers to Tahiti. refers to a cold and unpleasant place and is often used by people from Southern Norway about remote locations in Northern Norway. is a notion similar to , and translates as "where the pepper grows".

Common words for unspecified objects include , and (thingy, gadget). A is a small and sometimes useless object. (almost always plural) are similar to , usually something slight weird and fancy. (almost always plural), borrowed from German, is a random heap of small items.

Persian

In Persian language, Persian, for general purposes the word or (borrowed from the Arabic ) and or is used. It is possible to combine the word with the word for the places, for humans and for things. For people also the word or (both from Arabic) and in slang are used. A generic word that's used for calling anything, regardless of which type, is "thing" (from the old Persian language).

Polish

Common nouns

In Polish language, Polish, the most popular placeholders are (literally meaning "this something", a widget), ("miracle"), (from the German – regional, specific to the region of Wielkopolska, also used in Silesia where it is spelled ), (from the German "What's its name?") and a general placeholder or, even more often (lit. "this" in Nominative case, nominative and Genitive case, genitive), which can also be used as a Speech disfluency, filled pause. There are also other terms, such as , or , but they are much less common. Also used are (equivalent to ) and (similar to , unknown object that can be adjusted or manipulated). For a semi-jocular term equivalent to "contraption" the Russian loan word (Russian "arrangement, mechanism") is often employed. Amongst young people sometimes is used, literally meaning "all this", which is a phrase often used by comedian Wojciech "Major" Suchodolski.

Places

In press, to avoid details, journalists use the initial letter of a given name of a town, not especially the right one, with N. as predominant. The generic name for a village or a remote small town is , or its more derogatory version . A vulgar, but frequently used term to describe a small and dull place is (lit. "somewhere behind the arse") or (lit. "somewhere behind the cunt") which is an equivalent of English ''shithole''. Sometimes, although rarely, can also be used (almost always in a jocular sense), which has the same meaning as American English ''Dullsville'', but is actually a little town in central Poland.

A more picturesque descriptions include the common phrase ("where dogs bark with their tails (arses)"), or ("where the devil says ''goodnight"''). An unspecified place situated far from the speaker is called ("over the mountains, over the forests"). Other terms include ("Lower Pcim", a non-existent quarter of a village of Pcim) and (lit. "Goat's Wola (settlement), Wolka", and being frequent names of Polish villages). The typical place of a Polish joke is – a small town in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie in Eastern Poland.

The road leading to any place is sometimes called , after the popular Polish film . Another, vulgar term, is (actually a Russian loan word) meaning "somewhere far away" (lit. "into the cunt"). To say that something takes place in the whole country or is simply widespread, Polish native speakers employ phrases like ("from the Hel Peninsula, Hel to the Tatra Mountains, Tatras"), ("from the Baltic Sea, Baltic to the Tatra Mountains, Tatras"), the equivalent of "Land's End to John o' Groats" or "from Orkney to Penzance" in UK English, or "wikt:coast-to-coast, coast to coast" in the USA.

Persons

A universal placeholder name for a man is ( meaning "(black)smith"); for a woman, is used less often, sometimes with a different first name. A second unspecified person would be called ("Newman"), with the choice of first name being left to the author's imagination, often also for a man; this surname is unisex. is one of the most popular male first names in Polish, and and are the most popular Polish surnames.

Like in mathematics, the letter () is used – an imaginary person can be called . Mostly in the spoken language, one can hear the fictional name (fem. ). In logical puzzles fictitious surnames frequently follow a uniform pattern: they start with consecutive letters of Latin alphabet and are followed by an identical stem: , , etc. for men, , , etc. for women. In official documents however, an unidentified person's name is entered as (abbreviation of – name unknown, – unknown to us, or ). Informally, to describe any unknown person, the phrase (lit. "such a one") is in common use.

The military slang term for an unknown person is the acronym , standing for vulgar (lit. "a cock knows him"). Other slang terms include (lit. "mate, pal"); or demunitive ("guy, bloke") with the feminine forms , ; and , (a type) with its corresponding feminine form recently gaining wider usage. Also widespread are (lit. "guest") with its derived forms and and a new fashionable word or (which roughly equates to the American "homie").

Numbers

Any number can be replaced with . An indefinite number roughly between 11 and 20 can be (from , "a few", and , the common suffix for numerals from 11 to 19); similarly ( being the common suffix for multiples of ten from 50 to 90) is popular for indefinite numbers larger than 20 but less than 100. These are occasionally shortened to and , respectively.

The general word for a large amount is (lit. "mass", as in "a mass of errors"). Popular slang expressions are (roughly equivalent to English "hell of a lot"), ("hell of a lot and a little"), and (lit. "from a thunder"). Vulgar terms include and . For very big numbers one sometimes sees the term (lit. "fartillion" / "fucktillion") or .

Also the phrase ( + + + = "one thousand" + "five hundred" + "one hundred" + "nine hundred") is often used for any large number (which value may not be known precisely).

For the approximate ending of an especially large number or an undefined decimal fraction of any number bigger than one, the expression (lit. "with a hook" meaning "and something") is widespread; sometimes, not only in expressions related to money, one can say (lit. "with Groschen#Modern currencies, Groschen"; compare English ''and change'').

Among younger generations the number 2137 is used for any random number. It refers to the hour of the death of Pope John Paul II#Final illness and death, John Paul II.

Verbs

The verb ( + + (action postfix) = "that" + "of this" + " do") can refer to any action. Various prefixes (, , ) can be used to narrow down its meaning.

Portuguese

Things

Common placeholders for objects in Brazilian Portuguese are , , , , , and , among others. In Portuguese language, European Portuguese (masculine of , thing, and not a real word) or are often used. In the 2000s, ("thingy") has also been borrowed as slang into Brazilian Portuguese, mainly among the young. (lit. "beast") is used when the specific animal species is unknown, but also is a reference to any living thing whose name does not come to mind or is not of interest.

Persons

Placeholder names for people are usually (optionally surnamed ), and , and the corresponding feminines (, , ). are quite used as well. In both countries (but quite outmoded in Brazil), , , or are also used, the feminine being (instead of , which is also often abbreviated to ). or are used for someone who is unimportant.

and (uncle and aunt respectively) can be used to refer to any unspecified male or female. It is also used between friends to call each other (equivalent to "Hey, you!").

Places

In European Portuguese, one can use the terms (Judas' Ass) and (Cork Hull) for remote, isolated and/or rural areas, as in ("somewhere along Cork Hull") or ("She lives in Judas' Ass"). For faraway places, the term is employed both in Brazil and Portugal, and, despite being an actual place, is used in a generic way as a placeholder for somewhere far away. In Brazilian Portuguese two similar terms for distant places are used, ("Where Judas died") and ("Where Judas lost his boots") and even further ("Where Judas lost his socks", after he lost his boots).

Numbers

and when used with another word means "something". For example, means "thirty-something euros", while means "thirty-something reais". It can also be used for years: means "In nineteen-eighty-something". Another form is , such as meaning "thirty-something" referring to years of age or an uncertain period of years.

Another informal Brazilian placeholder name for numbers, particularly those considered big, either as superlative or in quantities really grueling to count manually, is e.g. , which roughly translates as "That clueless wealthy girl, I can not imagine how many of shoes and dresses she owns". is a jocular way of saying (three hundred).

Actions

The verb (formed by a derivation of , "thing") is often used to replace any verb that expresses actions.

Quechua

In Quechua languages, Quechua, there is a noun radical (''whatever'') to which verbal ( = ''to do whatever''), agentive ( = ''the doer of whatever''), or affective ( = ''cute little thing'') suffixes may be added.

Romanian

In Romanian language, Romanian,
* is used for objects and concepts,
* for both persons and things.
*, (masculine) or (feminine) are sometimes used for persons. , , , the most common Romanian surnames, are commonly used to signify everybody, or most people. , the most common Romanian name is used as an equivalent of ''John Doe'' or as a sample name for common paperwork. In a more jocular manner, but still part of colloquially understood Romanian, is combining the word with the ending of Romania's most common names, creating the word
* ("devilish thing") is a derogative placeholder name for objects (but the derogative nuance is not diabolical, it may simply suggest unfamiliarity or surprise, rather like the adjective "newfangled" in English). A more emphatic form posed as a question is (lit. "what the devil's devilish [thing]?", similar to "what the hell").
* is used to designate any kind of (thick) paste or mix. It can indicate construction materials, creams, foods, ointments etc.

Other expressions used include
* / ("what's-it-called"),
* ("I-don't-know-how/what/which/who/when"),
* ("who-knows-what/how/which/who/when"), and
* (masculine) or (feminine) ("one of those things").

Placeholders for numbers include ("tens of thousands"), often contracted to (or even ; from , an informal numeral suffix equivalent to "-teen" in "sixteen", attached to , a Romanian letter sometimes seen as "extra", analogue to the English "a zillion") and also ("thousands and thousands"). Diverse colloquial formulas for "a lot" exist, including (lit. "a cart-full"), (lit. "a pile"), (vulgar; it doesn't mean anything other than "(really) lots of (smth.)"; it sounds both scatological and augumentative in Romanian; comparable with "shit-load") or the poetic (lit. "as many leaves and blades of grass", referring to a large number of people).

is a name for obscure and remote places. or ("where the devil's mother dwells", lit. "at the devil's mother"), (where the devil weaned his children) also mean a very remote place. For the same purpose, Romanians use also (an actual remote village in central Romania) and (at the devil's celebration). Other place names may be used as generic placeholders, depending on the speaker's origins.

(when horses will celebrate Easter—specifically when Orthodox Easter, Catholic Easter and Jewish Passover take place on the same day), (when pears will grow in a poplar), (when pigs will fly) and (on Saint Wait's day) both mean "some day in the indefinite future, or quite likely never".

Russian

Universal

A large number of placeholder words for people, things, and actions are derived from Russian profanity (''mat''), as may be found in multiple dictionaries of Russian slang.

An informal placeholder (for persons, places, etc.) is ( (masculine form; feminine: ; neuter: ), meaning "this or that", "such and such", etc.).

Things

In Russian, among the common placeholder names are (''this particular [object]''), (''thing;'' diminutive forms also exist), (''leafy tops of root vegetables''), (crud), (same meaning as the previous one, but slightly less offensive, related to horseradish sauce).

A term for something awkward, bulky and useless is (, an old Ukrainian musical instrument, big and inconvenient to carry). A placeholder for a monetary unit is (, the Currency, monetary unit of Mongolia).

Persons

A historical placeholder for a personal name used in legal documents and prayers is (), derived from the archaic expression meaning "having said the name". The word entered into a common parlance as well.

To refer to an unknown person, the words , , etc., equivalent to "someone", are used, as in "Someone stole my wallet".

Placeholders for personal names include variations on names (), (/), and (), such as () for a full name, or () for a last name; deliberately fake name-patronymic-surname combinations use one of them for all three, with the most widely used being . () is also (jokingly, because the family name resembles the Russian word for navel, ()) used as a generic name.

Words like (guy), (comrade), (wanderer or rather bum), (working man), (dude), / (friend masc./fem.), (young man), (young woman), (citizen), (respected one), (dear) all have their own meaning but may be and are used as second-person placeholders as well. is most commonly used by migrant workers from southern FSU countries addressing Russians.

(, seventh water on kissel) denotes very far relatives.

is a derogative placeholder for guest-workers from southern FSU countries.

Places

*One of the most commonly used phrases is (lit. "at the devil's allotment"), which is roughly equal to English "at the world's end" and "in the back of beyond".
*Various city names are often employed as placeholders. For instance, to denote a remote, obscure place:
** (Tmutarakan, an ancient Crimean city which sounds in modern Russian something like "dark cockroach city", тьма таракан)
** (Zazhopinsk, "city beyond the ass")
** (Mukhosransk, "fly shit city").
* The capital of the Russian backwoods is (Uryupinsk, a town in central Russia), although recently (Babruysk, a Belarusian city) has gained its popularity in the Russian Internet community.
* ("Where Makar didn't drive the calves"), meaning "far-far away" or "somewhere you won't like".
*In some occasions in literature (a novel by famous Russian and Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol) unknown or deliberately unidentified places are referred to as (featuring a widespread adjective ending ).
*Latin ''N'' is sometimes used as a placeholder for the actual name of the site, e.g. ("city N").

Serbian

Things

* used for mechanical devices of unknown purpose.
* (pl.), used for small objects.

Persons

* or the shorter version are used as a John Doe placeholder name
* (pl.), addressing to Serbs or other "Yugoslav" (members of ex-Yugoslavian ethnic groups)
* used colloquially for an unknown very distant and obscure relative, i.e. a progenitor of a large family.
*During the 2010s, it became increasingly popular to use or as a typical nickname for a male member of the Serbian national identity, Serbian nation, especially in jokes and Internet memes.

Places

* is used to represent far and unknown country.

Slovak

In Slovak language, Slovak, the most common placeholders are (originally an indefinite pronoun) with its variations like and or (originally a definite pronoun, lit. "this one") with variations like and which can be used for both things and people.

Things

There are numerous expressions meaning "bullshit", that can be interchangeably used as placeholder names for things – these can be either colloquial, derived from names of farm animals (, , , – derived from horse, cow, ox, donkey respectively), or obscene, derived from obscene names for genitalia (, , – derived from cock, cock, cunt respectively). and are used as a placeholder for (control) elements of various devices. It is often used interchangeably with (derived from Hungarian language, Hungarian meaning 'fuck it') which can also be used to refer to entire devices or machines.

Persons

The most common placeholder for a full personal name is (lit. "Joe Little Carrot"). The most common placeholder name for an unknown man is (borrowed from Czech language, Czech), meaning "dude". This term is used mostly by young people. (uncle) and (aunt) are also commonly used to address unknown adults, mainly by children.

Places

The standard placeholder for a place name is (lit. "Upper Lower", a reference to common village names of form "Upper Something" / "Lower Something". It is often used in derogatory fashion to indicate a tiny and remote village (compare US English Yokel, Hicksville). Remote places can be denoted as , or (in an asshole). For remote and rural places there are also the terms ("where foxes say good night"), ("at the end of the world") or or (Upper Hole under the Shitter).

In fairy tales, ("over the seven mountains") is commonly used for an unfamiliar faraway place.

Slovene

In Slovenia the name is used in place of John Doe, for legal matters. is also commonly used.

For a remote place, is often used.

Spanish-speaking cultures

Time

*Indefinite time in the past:
**, "times of Maricastaña", probably in reference to , a little known 14th century woman.
**, "when Charles reigned". The origin is unclear, the most viable hypothesis is that it refers to Charles III of Spain: on a frontispiece of a gate in Alcalá de Henares in the Community of Madrid there used to be an inscription . While the king ruled in 18th century, the romanization of the text gave an impression of antiquity.

Spanish (Europe)

Things

is generally used for objects and/or devices around the kitchen. can be used for any object whose name is unknown or doesn't come to mind, much like English ''thingy''.

(from Latin ~ ), a pejorative term, is used for an animal of unknown species; in Puerto Rico it also means 'penis'.

Persons

Placeholder names in the Spanish language might have a pejorative or derogatory feeling to them, depending on the context.
* (masculine) (a fool with (drum)sticks) or . The fool in question was a jester with a drum who accompanied a town crier, with the latter collecting salary and tips for both of them, and taking lion's share Hence the indignation implied in the phrases, such as "Who do you think I am, a fool with sticks?". was one of numerous pseudonyms of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera.Miguel Zorita
"¿Quiénes son Rita la Cantaora, Perico el de los palotes y otros personajes de los dichos populares?"
/ref>
*(feminine) ("Rita the Singer") in reference to a woman who would do something one doesn't want to do oneself: . Rita de Cantaora was actually Rita Giménez García, see her article about the origin of the expression.
* (from Arabic ) is the default placeholder name for a human (the female version should be used carefully as it is also slang for "prostitute", but the diminutive form is safe). is the equivalent of ''John Doe''. is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew term (see above).
* (from the Arabic ).
* (from the Castilian word from the Latin "known").
* (from the combination of the very common last name of Perez and Mengano).
When several placeholders are needed together, they are used in the above order, e.g. . All placeholder words are also used frequently in diminutive form, , , or .

The words and (Uncle and Aunt respectively) can be used to refer to any unspecified male or female. It is also used between friends to call each other (equivalent to "dude").

Places

* (lit. "the fifth pine"), , , or are colloquially used to refer to an unspecified remote place. E.g.: ("We got lost and ended up in the fifth pine")
* ("where Christ lost his cap/his sandals") and ("where Saint Peter lost his lighter") E.g.: ("Trotski was exiled to Alma Ata, which is, more or less, where Christ lost his cap").
* (or ) is, according to the Real Academia, a colloquial "distant or imprecise place". Also used with the intensifier ("faraway"), thus ("in faraway Chimbamba-land" or "in faraway Chimbambistan").
* ("in the ass end of the world") doesn't have the same meaning as in English. It is only mildly derogatory, and its primary meaning is the same as "back of nowhere".
* is a phrase that originally meant ("[go] take it up the ass"), but has been lexicalised into meaning "go to hell", "send something or someone to hell" or "forget about it", as documented in the dictionary of the Real Academia.

Numbers

("trope hundred"), ("twenty-fourteen"), , or , are colloquially used for big numbers. or can be added with the meaning of "a little more", e.g. for time ( or for an undefined time between 4:00 and 5:00) or (lit. Past 4 pm/am) which means that its later than 4, but not 4:05,or added fractions ( or for "fifteen euros and a little more"). For approximation can be used as in for thirtysomething (age) or "thirty and a few more".

Spanish (Latin America)

, thus turning "thirty and change" into is used in Mexican Spanish.

is commonly used only among Central and South American Spanish speakers when referring to an unknown and/or unpleasant place, hence (go to el carajo) may translate as "go to hell" or "get lost".

Mexican Spanish speakers use the words ("fuckery") or (lit. mother), not to be used in polite circumstances, also which in most contexts has the same function as the word 'shit' in English, as does (from ) used between young people to refer each other. is used to name someone you don't know or remember, but is mildly offensive, depending on the context, because it means cuckold. It is considered an insult in Spain, in this same country. means "male goat",(from with an augmentative suffix ) but it's usually used as an insult.

In Chilean and Peruvian Spanish the word (from , from ("egg"), a euphemism for testicle) is often used when referring to unspecified individuals or friends in a casual context. Also, is considered an insult when used unproperly. The word (from ) is used to refer to unspecified actions or objects.

is word commonly used by Dominicans and Venezuelans to refer to any object; its usage is similar to "thingy" or "stuff". It can be a very crude word elsewhere in the Caribbean.

People

(or its diminutive, ) is common in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

In Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela, a generic person is ; a second generic person is ; and a third generic person is .

In Cuban Spanish, and are followed by , then , when more than two placeholder names are needed. The corresponding surname is ("of such"). is sometimes used as a generic name but carries a more dismissive connotation, akin to "Joe Blow", and is never used as a placeholder for a real person.

Places

In Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia, (an old name for southern Vietnam; see Cochinchina campaign) means a remote and perhaps nonexistent place. Combined with it means 'everywhere' in the phrase .

In Chile, is used for a remote place.

Central America

In parts of Central America (e.g. El Salvador and Costa Rica) the word is used for any object. El Salvador also uses the word (from , to fly) to refer to objects.

Argentinian Spanish

=Things

=
or its diminutive (thing) is used for a generic physical object, usually replacing a noun when the speaker does not remember its name (i.e. , ''Hand me that thing on the table''). Also (trinket, tchotchke), (small object). (what's-it-called) is also used.

: cheap bric-a-brac or jewellery.

: any animal colloquially.

=Numbers

=
('at 1500'): very late.

('forty-fifteen'): jocularly, an indeterminate number.

: a lot, a zillion.

=People

=
*: So-and-so.
*Un : just some guy, nobody important.
*, (Not Named), used in police reports, famously used for unidentified bodies found during the Dirty War. is a more recent application of the acronym.
* (also, but not as commonly, ): Non-existent person used sarcastically; , 'may help you', means "you are on your own".
*: magician with supernatural powers. : Not even Mandrake can fix it, usu. applied to an economic conundrum. , I'm not Mandrake, meaning: Explain yourself, I can't read your mind.
* (pubic hair) means a small child or somebody very young; note that this word has a completely different meaning in Mexico.
* or are the stereotypical names of maids.
* (Jimmy) is often the smart-mouthed kid who is the main character in Little Johnny jokes.
*For respected elders, or can be used without a name to refer to someone treated as important.
*A stranger may be colloquially addressed as or (used in protests), .
* may be used more or less interchangeably as terms of endearment.

=Places

=
('tomato/ass/shit/fuck hill') is a vulgar phrase for a very remote place.

("the parrot's cunt"): an unspecified, possibly remote place, usually used in the insult "Go to ...". A euphemism is (green feathers).

('where the devil lost his poncho'): in a remote place, at the back of beyond.

=Time

=
: literally, when pigs fly.

: donkey's years.

: goalkeeper's day (never).

Ecuadorian Spanish

=Things

=
A generic or poorly identified thing can be , , or vulgarly .

=People

=
or ( and being common surnames, like Smith). is used when trying to convey the same notion of forensic non-identification that John Doe conveys in the U.S.

For small children or young people, Ecuadorians normally use to call children (a more vague form of the also used ).

(faggot (slang), faggot) is used to call the attention of someone you know, but it can also be used in a derogatory tone. Compare (from English ''brother''), (also meaning 'brother'), (pal), (good friend), and (a corruption of the word ''profesor'', meaning ''teacher'', used exclusively in the coastal provinces of Ecuador). They all are variations on the ''dude'' theme.

('boss') is also popular when addressing an unknown middle-aged man.

For respected elders, , or can be used without a name.

=Places

=

: (Lit. ''The house of the cock''), sometimes used like , is an insult, while colloquially means ''I was wasted or otherwise ruined''.

Colombian Spanish

Things

For a generic thing is used for things not well known, but it indicates anger or loss of temper. ('what's it called') is also used.

=People

=
is the generic man, being a common surname.

Colombians call small children ("Chinese"), (a more vague form of the also used ), (sardine, i.e. little fish).

(Johnny) is a small boy of school age; in jokes, is often the smart-mouth kid who is the center of the joke. (Joey/Josie) is also often used in the context of jokes.

(faggot (slang), faggot) is a placeholder name popular in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Region, although it is derogatory. is often used in the north and not as an insult, but more in the context 'dude' would be used, and people do not respond angrily at this, as it is believed that if you do get mad, it is because you are in fact gay.

For respected elders, or can be used without a name; is used similarly.

=Places

=
("shit hill") is a vulgar name in Argentina for a very remote place; similarly ("anus hill").

Swedish

Things

Swedish language, Swedish has a large vocabulary of placeholders: , , , / (from French ) and are neutral words for thing. Some plural nouns are , , and , which correspond to thingamabob, and the youth loan word , which is pronounced with the Swedish u. (or, more slangy, ) more specifically refers to a complex appliance of some kind, much like the German . More familiarly or when openly expressing low interest, people use or (drivel) and or (rubbish). Like in English, various words for feces can be used: (crap) and (poop) are standard, well known local variations are , and . and correspond to ''whatshisname'' and ''whatchamacallit'' respectively, except that Swedes use the past tense. means "that thing you know". (that and that) corresponds to ''so and so''. may refer to any fairly large quantity of unwanted substance or objects of varied or indeterminate identity, much like the English "junk".

Persons

The closest Swedish equivalent of John Doe in Swedish is the formal (Latin , "name unknown").

Common first names infrequently used as placeholders are "Kalle" for boys and "Lisa" for girls.

More in use is the equivalent of the collective term Average Joe: . is Swedish for 'medium' or 'average', and Svensson is a common Swedish surname.

"Tolvan Tolvansson" is a fictitious person who is used in Swedish health care for educational purpose with Personal identity number (Sweden), personal identity number 121212+1212.

Swedish journalists also have an equivalent for John Doe when referring to the average reader: "Nisse i Hökarängen."

In more formal text the abbreviation (for Latin , "name unknown") is sometimes used.

Places

Placeholder names in Swedish are colorful: Someplace far away can be called (which is derived from , an older, alternate nameform of Tahiti) or (Farawaystan) a play on -stan created in the Swedish edition of Donald Duck.

Numbers

A common term for any large or unknown number is (fifty-eleven).

Tagalog

In Tagalog language, Tagalog ("that thing") or is used for an object, time, place, or person forgotten or deliberately not mentioned by the speaker. The Cebuano language, Cebuano loanword / may also be used.

"Juan dela Cruz", or simply "Juan", is both a national personification as well as representative of the Filipino people, Filipino everyman whose name as is used as a placeholder name. The negative is a more colloquial term for people the speaker considers to be a malefactor or treacherous. (personal singular case marker + "what") or (personal singular case marker + "that") are also used for people whose names are temporarily forgotten the speaker.

As in referring to objects, the Cebuano word may also be used.

As to time, and "nineteen-forgotten" are playfully derisive terms for anything whose exact year of origin is forgotten, similar to the more "ancient" ("time (before) the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Japanese") and the even older ("the time of Methuselah/[Prophet] Muhammad)". (literally "nine-nine") is derisively used for the unknown end of a particularly long time period spent doing something, e.g., ("It will take you ages at that pace you're going!").

Turkish

Turkish language, Turkish has many colorful placeholders. seems to be borrowed from Arabic, and comes in variations like (what's his name) and (stuff, etc.). is a common placeholder for "various stuff". Placeholders for persons exist in abundance, one example being ("Mehmet Ağa with yellow boots") which generally is used to mean pejoratively "unknown person". In addition, otherwise meaningless words such as and are used similarly to the English words ''gadget'' and ''gizmo'', but not necessarily related to technology.

meaning "thing" is used colloquially for an object or an action the person has that second forgotten. (literally "He said 'thing',...") can be used instead of "He said that...". It can also be used as a euphemism in place of a verb; ("I didn't want to 'thing'") can mean "I didn't want to make an issue out of it."

Ukrainian

Ukrainian language, Ukrainian has its own placeholders.

Alternatively, the Latin letter N is for something or someone that is anonymous.

People

For people, commonly-used names and surnames are used to represent generic people, such as Mykola, Volodymyr, Oleksandr, and Ivan for given names, and Melnik (surname), Melnyk, Shevchenko, Kovalenko, and Tkachenko. The given and family names are often mixed up to make the subject more random.

"постражда́лий" ("victim") and "невідомий" ("unknown") are also commonly used for generic people.

Places

In Ukrainian, random places within Ukraine are used to represent a generic location.

The words звідкілясь ("somewhere"), хтозна-звідки ("who knows where"), чортзна-де ("wherever the hell is that") are specifically used for places the speaker doesn't know.

Objects

я́к його́ (там) refers to something the speaker doesn't know.

Vietnamese

Nguyễn Văn A (male) or Nguyễn Thị A (female) can be used similar to John and Jane Doe. For more placeholder names, subsequent letters in the alphabet (Nguyễn Văn B/Nguyễn Thị B, Nguyễn Văn C/Nguyễn Thị C, etc.) or different Vietnamese name, family names can be used (Lê Văn A/Lê Thị A, Trần Văn A/Trần Thị A, etc.)

Welsh

Welsh language, Welsh uses (or the T/V distinction#Welsh, Cornish and Breton, respectful ), literally "what you call", meaning ''whatchamacallit''.

Yiddish

In Yiddish language, Yiddish, is often used, similar to the German above. Comic David Steinberg did a routine about his attempt to identify an object, based only on his father's description of it as "In Yiddish, we used to call it ."

The Talmudic placeholder names and (see under Hebrew) are also used; more specifically Yiddish placeholder names are ( is the Yiddish diminutive of Jacob/Yaaqov) and (literally: Moses Tell-Me).

A Yiddish term for a backwater location is . is used for a location very far away.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Placeholder Names In Different Languages
Placeholder names, *
Lists of names
Lists by language, Placeholder names