New Zealand: Random House. Most entities tend to simply use popular real names, such as the male first name Jānis (John) or the common surname Bērziņš (Birch). Placeholder name for a Chinese person targeting foreign audience, ie. Another version is Als de kalveren op het ijs dansen (When the calves dance on the ice). Thanks heaps, dude. 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 schlag-mich-tot or schieß-mich-tot (literally "strike/shoot me dead", to indicate that the speaker's memory fails him/her). Common Irish placeholders for objects include an rud úd "that thing over there", an rud sin eile "that other thing", and cá hainm seo atá air "whatever its name is". This tradition precedes Internet by many years. Şey meaning "thing" is used colloquially for an object or an action the person has that second forgotten. For example, "trinta e tal euros" means "thirty-something euros", while "trinta e poucos reais" means "thirty-something reais". To refer to unknown people, we use Tizio, Caio and Sempronio. It's the same thing as Auchterturra, except it's used in New Zealand (I know we have some readers from NZ on here "“ can anyone confirm?). Those are common one but it's not carved in stones. In Dutch the primary placeholder is dinges (derived from ding, "thing"), used for both objects and persons, and sometimes turned into a verb (dingesen). I'm so going to start using this one. Hovno s makom a pretlakom ("shit with poppy seeds and ketchup") and obzerance s makom ("gape-food with poppy seeds") or obzerance s čakancami (gape-food with wait-food) is a placeholder name for food, generally used after someone asks what food is going to be eaten. Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names do not exist, are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed. Obscurity in time can be expressed as viidestoista päivä (fifteenth day). "Negentien-voetsek" (Nineteen-"footsack". Another example is East Cupcake to refer to a generic small town in the Midwestern United States.[4]. 6 Troop, 6th Dragoons became the exemplar in an instruction of how to fill out forms). "guest") with its derived forms gostek and gościu and a new fashionable word ziomal or ziom (which roughly equates to the American "homie"). In Swedish the names Sven (m) and Svea (f) Svensson are often used to name a generic person ("Medelsvensson" is more "the average Swedish person"). The names are often used in the examples of form filling. In British English, Bongo Bongo Land (or Bongo-bongo Land) is a pejorative term used to refer to Third World countries, particularly in Africa, or to a fictional such country. Уважаемый is most commonly used by migrant workers from southern FSU countries addressing to Russians. The word langtpokkerivold is a placeholder for a place far far away e.g. In Russian, there's a special placeholder personal name имярек (from Church Slavonic expression Imya Rek meaning having said a name) which is used (sometimes ironically) to a person whose real name is unknown. These are quite popular Latvian names and surnames and there are quite a number of real people bearing these names and surnames. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. In Danish a common placeholder word is dims (derived from German Dings), used for small unspecified objects (gadgets). "into the cunt"). You’ve never seen a better Taig than with a bullet in his back"[5] and "Don’t be vague, kill a Taig".[6]. Public, Joe Blow, and Joe/Sally Sixpack. If you're talking about an obscure or remote place in Romania, this is the phrase you would use "“ it means "where the devil's mother dwells". Comosellame ('what's it called') is also used. Feria, thus turning "thirty and change" into "treinta y feria" is used in Mexican Spanish. An unspecified place situated far from the speaker is called Za górami, za lasami ("over the hills, over the forests"). In Latvian there is no universal placeholder name. In Icelandic, the most common placeholder name is Jón Jónsson for men, while Jóna Jónsdóttir is used for women. Now this term is quite obsolete. Samples for forms, credit cards etc. To say something will never happen, Ob svetem Nikoli ("on St Never's Day") is used. Common first names infrequently used as placeholders are "Kalle" for boys and "Lisa" for girls, "Anna" and "Maria" for women, "Johan" and "Anders" for men. When talking of someone whose name was unknown or didn’t matter, Aussies used to say ‘some/that sheila (female)/bloke (male).’ Women could also be ‘sorts’ or – in male only conversations – ‘bints’ (from Arabic during WWI) or ‘tarts.’ A man would be a ‘joker’ or – especially if regarded as stupid/dangerous – a ‘clown.’ Again in men-only conversations, a man could be referred to as a ‘bastard’ – because Australia started as a convict colony, being called a ‘bastard,’ though not complimentary, was not as much of an insult as in other parts of the Anglosphere. This is probably true in Spain also. are typically labeled as "Gyula Kovacs" (pronounced Yoo-La). George Spelvin is a name used by actors who for some reason do not want to reveal their names, or to disguise on a list of characters and the actors who portray them that a character does not appear in a play or is played by a person appearing in another role. (from the Latin nomen nescio, "name unknown") are used. Trocentos is a jocular way of saying trezentos (three hundred). Another not so commonly used term is polan, also coupled with si in front. Mostly in the spoken language, one can hear the fictional name Pipsztycki (fem. Juan Perez. How do I give the name, so it sound like Chinese, but do not carry too much particular meaning? La loma de los tomates/del orto/ de la mierda/del carajo ('tomato/ass/shit/fuck hill') is a vulgar phrase for a very remote place. Sometimes, although rarely, Pacanów 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. Maltese: In Maltese, an anonymous person is usually called Joe Borg, which really happens to be a very common name. In America, "John Doe" is the name used for an anonymous, unknown or generic person. In formal speech and writing, words like accessory, paraphernalia, artifact, instrument, or utensil are preferred; these words serve substantially the same function, but differ in connotation. Suppose I want to make up a story featuring an unimportant Chinese character. Words with a similar meaning and use are cucc, usually translated as 'stuff', and bigyó, translated as either 'thing'/'thingie' or 'gadget'. "Mat" or "Mamat" are also used frequently in daily slang but not in official usage. Sed'maya voda na kisele (seventh water on kissel) denotes very far relatives. an imaginary person, although the best anonymous and more common name is definitely "Mario Rossi", there's even a cartoon character named Some plural nouns are grejsimojs, grunkimojs, grejs and tjofräs, which correspond to thingamabob, and the youth loan word stuff, which is pronounced with the Swedish u. Apparat (or, more slangy, mackapär) more specifically refers to a complex appliance of some kind, much like the German Gerät. [3] In Austria, Max Mustermann is used instead. It is the most common name, so it is often used to indicate an average person. Various hypothetical names serve in different social contexts: John Q. Of note is that while the surnames Wong and Chan are common surnames, the given names are not: Siu Ming more closely translates to "little Ming" and is more a nickname than an official name, while Tai Man is used due to the characters being simple and quick to write. It means "exposed" and they were exposed to the elements when they were abandoned on doorsteps. In fairy tales, za siedmimi horami ("over the seven mountains") is commonly used. Als pasen en pinksteren op één dag vallen (When Easter and Pentecost fall on the same day) is also used for "never". the such) can be used in place of a noun, and таковам (takovam) as a verb. This term is used mostly by young people. For the James Bond character, see, "Cadigan" redirects here. Informally Ola (m.) and Kari (f.) Nordmann. The latter is used in the Netherlands as well. (See, for instance, the disambiguation page for Jānis Bērziņš in the Latvian Wikipedia.). Given names also fill this need. Koos is the short form of Jacobus, which is a variant of Jacob. In Hungarian the word izé (a stem of ancient Uralic heritage) refers primarily to inanimate objects but sometimes also to people, places, concepts, or even adjectives. the songs "Poor Paddy on the Railway" and "Paddy's Lament"). Malay: Si Anu. In European Portuguese coiso (masculine of coisa, thing, and not a real word) or cena are often used. To avoid giving specific time details of a past event, the phrase pewnego razu ("once upon a time") is quite often employed. Do you know the name for an anonymous person in another language? Dutch: The corresponding expression is "Jan Modaal". Email it to us at