听力文本

Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

It has happened to all of us. You want to talk about an object, but you forgot the name of it. Or you never knew the name at all. Maybe you are not even sure there is a word for it.

For example, that thing that you need to fix your bicycle. Or perhaps it is something you need for your computer. Or that part on your motorcycle that never, ever seems to work.

What are these things?

They are called "doohickies." A doohickey is a word you use when you do not know, or you have forgotten, the real name of an object.

The MacMillan Dictionary defines doohickey as "something such as a small object or tool that you cannot remember the name of." The American Heritage Dictionary says it is "something, especially a small device or part, whose name is unknown or forgotten."

Language experts say the word first started being used in the United States in the early 1900s. But other experts say they have seen examples of words like these in writings from the middle 1800s.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Learners of American English gives this example of how native speakers might use doohickey: "I need one of those doohickeys, you know, with the long handle."

Merriam-Webster adds that doohickey may be a combination of two other words: "doodad" and "hickey." Strange as it may be, both of these words mean the same as doohickey. The dictionary lists a lot of strange words as synonyms for doohickey. The most common are whatchamacallit, whatnot and whatsit.

You will probably never see these words in official documents or newspaper reports. But you might hear them in informal American English, when people are talking to each other.

"Hey, what does this doohickey do, anyway?"

"Dude, bring me that thingamajig, willya?

"Janine, can you get me one of those whatchamacallits?"

Most Americans will know what you are talking about if you use one of those words. Just point at the object, use one of these words, and they will bring it to you.

Doohickey and words like it have their own page on the Wikipedia website. Wikipedia calls them "placeholders." It says words like these are usually nouns and "can be used for people, objects and places."

Unofficial studies show Americans are using words like doohickey less than they once did. The decline seems to have started a few years ago. Still, a recent search of Google News showed the word was used in more than 1,000 news articles in just a couple months.

One story told about a store where you can buy a cable that connects a thingamajig to a doohickey. Another told about a doohickey for eggs and even a doohickey that connects to a camera.

Workers who repair Kawasaki motorcycles use the word doohickey to describe the vehicle's "counter balancing chain adjustment mechanism."

You can see a video of them using the word on YouTube.

I'm Anna Matteo. This Words and Their Stories was written by Christopher Jones Cruise.

重点解析

1.happen to 碰上；遇到
Please drop in at my office when you happen to be free.
如果你碰巧有空的话，请到我的办公室来。

2.define ... as... 将...定义为...
We can define a joke as something you say that causes laughter.
我们可以把笑话定义为能够引发笑声的话语。

3.less than 少于
At this stage, you begin settling for less than what you deserve.
在这个阶段，尽管你得到的比应得的要少，但你还是勉强接受。

4.connect to 连接到，相连
Next, connect to the database.
接下来，连接到该数据库。

参考译文

这里是VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。

我们所有人都遇到过这种事。你想要谈论某种物体，却忘了它的名称。或者你根本不知道它的名称。也许你甚至不确定它有没有名称。

例如你修理自行车需要用到的工具。或者用于电脑的什么东西。或者你摩托车上似乎从未有用的零件。

这些都是什么东西？

它们被称之为doohickies。当你不知道，或忘记了某种物体的真实名称，就能用到doohickey这个单词。

《麦克米兰词典》定义doohickey为“一些你想不起名字的小物体或工具。”《美国传统词典》称它是“不知道或忘记名称的物体，尤其是指小设备或部件。”

语言专家表示，这个单词最初见于20世纪早期的美国。但是另一些专家表示，他们在19世纪中期的一些著作中发现了类似这种单词的例子。

面向美式英语学习者的《韦氏词典》提供了母语人士如何使用doohickey的例子：“我需要一件那种小东西，你知道的，长手柄的那种。”

《韦氏词典》补充称，doohickey可能是doodad和hickey这两个单词的结合体。奇怪的是，这些单词都和doohickey一个意思。这本词典列出很多和doohickey是同义词的奇怪单词。最常见的whatchamacallit（叫什么来着，用于想不起名称时），whatnot（某种东西）和whatsit（某某玩意）。

在官方文件和报纸报道上你可能永远看不到这些单词。但是在人们互相交谈时你可能会听到这种非正式美语。

“嘿，那个谁在做什么？”

“伙计，帮我把那个什么拿过来，可以吗？”

“珍妮，你能给我一些那个什么吗？”

如果你用到这些单词中的一个，大多数美国人都能听懂你在说什么。指着某个物体，使用这些单词之一，他们就会把它拿给你。

Doohickey以及类似单词在维基百科上也有自己的页面。维基百科称它们为“占位文字。”维基百科称这类单词通常是名词，可以用于人、物体和地点。

非官方研究显示，美国人现在使用doohickey这类单词不像以前那么多。这种下跌的趋势似乎从几年前已经开始。然而，最近搜索谷歌新闻表明，在短短几个月里，就有1千多篇文章用到了这些单词。

其中一篇文章讲述的是销售把某某东西连接到某某东西的电缆。另一篇文章讲述的是用于鸡蛋的某个东西，甚至是连接摄像机的某个东西。

修理川崎摩托车的工人使用doohicker这个单词来形容该车的反向平衡链调整结构。

你可以到Youtube上查看使用这个单词的相关视频。

我是安娜·马特奥。本期《词汇掌故》节目是由克里斯托弗·琼斯·克鲁斯为您撰写的。