What do you call a thing that you temporarily cannot remember the name of in American English? Lets suppose the following scenario. What would you use to fill in the blank?
Give me that. . . umm. . . you say its name. . . shoot. . . I cannot remember its name. . . __________.
a) widget
b) gadget
c) thingy
d) thing magic
Is there any other common choice for this concept in AmE? I need to know the most common one.
I don't know that there is a MOST common one. There are several in common usage, and I suspect different regions of the country use different ones. Where I live, you'd most likely hear:
I've never heard "thing magic" before. Gadget and widget are used, but I think they are more specific. Gadget would be used for a small machine or toy. It can also be used to describe a collection of little tools, like "I have a whole drawer of kitchen gadgets", that you know the names of, but don't want to list. A widget would usually be used to refer to a piece that is used to build something. Again, I think it is more likely to be used when you don't want to bother naming the thing, or want to talk about pieces of something in general terms.
Wikipedia has a list of such terms, of which I’d highlight the following:
Note that some of these are only appropriate for particular types of things, like an electronic gizmo or shiny gewgaw.
I think the most common and broadly applicable term is “thing” or “thingy”:
As others have commented, “thing magic” is not used, but sounds very similar to “thingamajig” which is quite common as a placeholder name for an object.
I'd say
Or, rarely
When referring to objects.
It should be mentioned that if referring to a person, I'd say
Nobody's mentioned whadayacallit, which is the word I'd be most likely to use. Could be a regional difference.
From my collection: business gizmo matter mess shebang stuff thing thingummy things.
