Whatsit in the WRISTWATCH game

[Jacki]

Whatsit is a common word? No to me it isn't. Certainly didn't kick myself for missing it.

[Morbius]

I'd question its commonness too.  It cost me a rosette in that game, so I admit to some sour grapes.  Nonetheless, it seems borderline at best in my view. 

[Hobbit]

I'd use whatsit or thingamajig but I can't imagine that they're common.  Especially outside the Uk.

[cmh]

The older I get the more things become whatsits whilst the old brain searches for the proper word!! However I would agree it is probably better off as an uncommon word.

[mkenuk]

Words such as whatsit as well as others such as  gizmo, doodad, thingy and widget are apparently known as 'placeholder names', although that's not an expression I'd come across before.

Whatsit seems very common to me and according to the Google Ngram viewer it's known on both sides of the Atlantic, having hit a high peak around 1990.

[TRex]

IMNSHO, it is a word created from the pronunciation of a slurring of words together and would rarely be used in formal writing (though it does make me think of Mrs Whatsit, a character in the classic book A Wrinkle in Time). IIRC, most such words are not categorised as common in Chihuahua so I would not expect whatsit to be considered a common word.

[Hobbit]

The older I get the more things become whatsits whilst the old brain searches for the proper word!! However I would agree it is probably better off as an uncommon word.

I know exactly what you mean!  It's like when you go upstairs & then completely forget what you went up there for in the first place!

[mkenuk]

it is a word created from the pronunciation of a slurring of words together

Perhaps the same could be said of a number of very formal words such as whomsoever, whereunto and heretofore, words found in legal documents but seldom heard in 'real speech'!
Also, to describe the formation of such hallowed terms as  'slurring together' might not be altogether accurate.
 
 

Indeed, words such as gimme and gonna are now nearly all classed as 'rare' in Chi, although I don't think that was always the case!

A suggestion - whatsit should have the same classification as whodunnit, which I believe is spelt with only one 'n' (whodunit) in N.America, and which is not only misspelt but also grammatically inaccurate!
I'm willing to bet that most Chi solvers know the word, however!

it does make me think of Mrs Whatsit, a character in the classic book A Wrinkle in Time[/i

It's a  long time since I read this very fine sci-fi / fantasy novel, but, if I remember correctly, Mrs Whatsit was the name of one of three witches (?)/weird sisters (?) / goddesses (?), the others being Mrs Who and Mrs Which.

That might suggest that Ms L'Engle considered whatsit as valid a word as the other two names?

[yelnats]

It's like when you go upstairs & then completely forget what you went up there for in the first place!

I'm told the real problem is if you stop halfway and can't remember if you were going up or down!

[Hobbit]

I'm told the real problem is if you stop halfway and can't remember if you were going up or down!

Oh Stanley that's hilarious & scary.  I'll definitely watch out for that!  Though presumably by then all the marbles will be gone!

[Alan W]

Merriam-Webster online offers a multitude of synonyms for whatsit:

dingus, doodad, doohickey, hickey, thingamabob, thingamajig (or thingumajig), thingummy, whatchamacallit, whatnot

I haven't checked, but I suspect all of these would be currently classed as rare in our lexicon.

The online Oxford identifies whatsit as British, and Wiktionary says "chiefly Britain", but other dictionaries have no regional note. Some corpora show a greater usage of the word in Britain than the US, especially in TV and movie scripts. So perhaps it plays a greater role in informal conversation on that side of the ditch - or at least scriptwriters think it does. But even in these specialized lists, the word's appearance is fairly infrequent.

Whatsit will be rare from now on.

[anonsi]

This whole thread has me thinking The Little Mermaid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpQyOiq4rE

[rogue_mother]

Merriam-Webster online offers a multitude of synonyms for whatsit:

dingus, doodad, doohickey, hickey, thingamabob, thingamajig (or thingumajig), thingummy, whatchamacallit, whatnot

I haven't checked, but I suspect all of these would be currently classed as rare in our lexicon.

I'm pretty sure that doodad is classified as common. It has come up a couple of times in the 7-by-many puzzle. I have missed it at least twice, but this is not (I repeat, not) a request for it to be reclassified.