- Abis Mal from Aladdin: The Series: "I'll rule [Agrabah] like some... big... ruler guy!"
- Adventure Time does this a lot:Jake: Watch this everybody! A cooler! With... stuff for the thing!
- Another one:Finn: Let's just give him some purple-whatevers.
Jake: ... You mean the grapes?
Finn: ... Yeah, whatever.
- Another one:
- Both of The Angry Beavers used the word "thingy" repeatedly. Really, the series was full of this trope. One episode is actually titled "Big Round Sticky Fish Thingy".Daggett: Desperate times call for desperate desperate-ness...!
- Mr. Director, the Jerry Lewis look-alike on Animaniacs lapses into this from time to time, as well as gibbering pseudo-Yiddish nonsense.
- In Archer, "It's an art that can't be taught, like a poet's... mind for the... to make... the perfect word."
- Suki, in the Avatar: The Last Airbender finale. It's even lampshaded a bit:Sokka: Well look at you, Buster. Now that your firebending is gone, I guess we should call you The Loser Lord!
Ozai: I am the Phoenix King! Uh... (falls over)
Toph: Oh sorry. Didn't mean to offend you, Phoenix King-of-getting-his-butt-whooped!
Suki: Yeah! Or how bout King of the... guys who... don't win?
Toph: Leave the nicknames to us, honey.- Actually used quite a bit by Sokka. For one, his first name for Combustion Man, Sparky Sparky Boom Man. Another (albeit drug fueled): "Cactus juice, it's the quenchiest!"
- Korra from the Sequel Series The Legend of Korra is prone to this sometimes. One part even has her say "I hate this being patient stuff!"
- Varrick is also prone to this: "Zhu Li, do the thing!". Somehow, Zhu Li always knows what each "thing" is.
- He ends on the receiving end of this when Zhu Li ordered the guards to "do the thing" during her apparent betrayal. They all know what that "thing" was.
- He, at one point, told Bolin to "do the thing", but he was no Zhu Li, so he didn't know what the "thing" was.
- From Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "You're flirting, aren't you? Flirterers!" (courtesy of Green Arrow)
- See also: almost everything Aquaman says.
- Batman Beyond spoofs this trope a lot earlier. In the episode "Shriek", after his original and perfectly understandable request gets turned down for being the wrong term, teenager Terry has to resort to this to get a spectrographic analysis of a piece of Shriek's armor from the Bat-computer.
- Due to the campy parody nature of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Evil Emperor Zurg often falls into this while also lampshading it too, with one example being him demanding to lower "it"note Zurg: can't you come up with a shorter name for it? Like: "Evil Take-Over Thingy"?
Minion: In Test Markets, 4-out-of-5 victims were more terrified of big words.
Zurg: Fine, fine. Let The Suits have their way... for now... - Used occasionally in China, IL, such as in "Prank Week:"Pony: Yes, Frank, you have to do bad people stuff, but for good.
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: In the episode "Gadget Goes Hawaiian," Lawhinie (Gadget's Evil Twin / Evil Counterpart) can't remember the names of Gadget's tools when disguised as the Ranger.
- In Dave the Barbarian, Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy taunted Dave with, "You shall perish beneath the might of my... mighty... mightiness!"
- Dexter's Laboratory
- In "Mom and Jerry", Dexter accidentally switches brains with a mouse. He runs after the mouse in his body, shouting "Give that back! I need it for things and stuff!"
- "Dexter's Lab: A Story" involved Dexter giving a dog he found the ability to speak, which resulted in the dog repeatedly referring to one of Dexter's machines as "the thing."
- Skeeter's father in Doug initially suffers from this because the room is so noisy he can't hear himself think. Later he's Flanderized into doing this all the time.
- Earthworm Jim used this trope a lot. For example, in one episode Jim takes a Doppelganger -creating gun and Evil Jim says "Give that back you... Thing-taker guy!"
- "I will crush you like... some easily-crushed thing!"
- "Come back and face me like a... big... worm-thingy!"
- "Now I'll freeze you as solid as... uh... a solid freezy frozen thing." "Oook oook eeek!" "Oh right. Thank you! A block of ice!"
- In The Fairly OddParents! Timmy proudly described himself as "fast . . . as a really strong animal, and as strong . . . as a really strong animal!"
- And he also doesn't like his cops being flung around on a big spatula thingy.
- The theme song: Wands and wings! Floaty, crowny things!
- In the Family Guy parody of Star Wars called "Blue Harvest", Grand Moff Tarkin (Adam West) threatens to use the Death Star's "planet-blower-upper-gun" on Alderaan. After Leia's (Lois) Big "NO!", he hesitates.
- In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends The boarding house is visited by what Frankie believes to be just a normal human boy wearing a clown nose. He constantly refers to the house as "Foster's home for Makeemupthings" and upon his first visit says "So take me in, give me food and take care of me and stuff.".
- Franklin:
- In both the book and television versions of Franklin's Bad Day, Franklin declares it to be the "worstest day ever." Beaver says that there's no such word, but he replies that there is for him.
- In "Super Cluepers' Case of the Missing School Bell" from Franklin and Friends, the Super Cluepers discover that the part of the bell that actually causes it to ring is missing. However, even after being told by Mr. Owl that this is called the "clapper," it ends up being referred to several times as the "ringy thingy."
- Frisky Dingo—"And I would not call that making love. I would call that... the Shame Spear... of... Hurt..."
- Futurama: Fry occasionally lapses into this.
- Fry: But, but, Bender need brain... for smart making.
- And in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"...Leela: It's not working! He's gaining strength from our weapons!
Fry: Like a balloon and... something bad happens! - Or alternatively...Fry: Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things! You know, a headache with pictures.
Leela: An idea?
Fry: (gesturing madly) Mmm! Mm! - From the episode "Bendless Love"Fry: [to Bender, watching surveillance tape] Wait! There on the screen. It's that guy you are.
- And again...Fry: I'm good at video games and bad at everything else. That's why I wish life were more like a video game.
Farnsworth: Can you put that in the form of a question?
Fry: Uh, what if that thing I said? - Sometimes combined with Technobabble:Bender: I'm done recomfoobulating the energy-motron... or whatever.
- Hattie's entire schtick is based around this, often referring to everything as a "kajigger" or a "whatchacallit".
- In Gravity Falls, when Mabel explains the hole in Wax Stan's shoe."All the wax guys have that. It's where the pole thingy attaches to their stand dealies."
- Hey Arnold!: Helga's description of Ruth in "Arnold's Valentine".Helga: She's nothing but a stuck-up, sixth grade-y, training bra wearing, brace-y faced, sixth grade-y...sixth grader!
- Home Movies "It's Shannon! You can tell by his... thing."
- Infinity Train Book 4 has this make up a lot of Kez's dialogue. Unfortunately for the two passengers who get stuck with her, this means it takes a while before they can parse her poor explanation of where they even are.
- Min-Gi: We're still on a train!?
Kez: Uh, yeah. Remember? I explained that.
Ryan: No, you just said we're "in a pocket"!
- Invader Zim. As in, every single character. This includes Zim ("I might as well make your entire brain... nn-not smart no more."), The Almighty Tallest ("Our big... space ship... gang!"), and Dib ("Score nothing for the Zim... thingy... race."), to name a few.
- "I now leave you to your... Moosey fate."
- Also created by Jhonen Vasquez is Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, home of "Crazy! Like some crazy thing that's all . . . crazy!"
- "I can't let him get away with his... his... things-he-do!"
- Monique Speak in Kim Possible, as well as slang outside of the show's trope namer.
- Ron Stoppable frequently is guilty of this."Oh, that's right, Sensei can do that weird floaty thing!"
"You've got the doors that go whoosh!
"This goes beyond Sick and Wrong, it's wrongsick!" - Ten reference points for nailing the Sarah Michelle Gellar voice.Kim: We have to time this so that hovery guardy thing doesn't see us.
- Ron Stoppable frequently is guilty of this.
- Joseph of King of the Hill tends to speak in Buffy Speak from time to time:IT'S LIKE MY HEART IS A REALLY SAD MAN.
- Happens quite a bit in Littlest Pet Shop (2012). Occasionally done by the pets, though mostly by the Biskit Twins, who seem to do this with even the simplest of words, e.g. they call a nurse a "medicine-lady" and an idea a "brain-thingy".
- Frequently used on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- From "Suited for Success", after Rarity believes her career is ruined by a disastrous fashion show:Rarity: (throwing herself down on her bed) Leave me ALOOOOONE! I vant to be alone! I want to wallow in... whatever it is that ponies are supposed to wallow in!
- In "Applebuck Season", a sleep-deprived Applejack shows up to receive a trophy:Applejack: Thank you kindly for this here... award thingy.
- And in "Look Before You Sleep":Rarity: Fortunately, I can get along with anypony, no matter how rude she may be.
Applejack: Oh, yeah? Well, I'm the get-alongingest pony you're ever gonna meet!
Rarity: That's not even a word. - In "Green Isn't Your Color", Photo Finish interrupts Fluttershy's conversation with Rarity to remind her they have to go to "the thing at the place".
- In "The Return of Harmony, Part 2", Twilight Sparkle lapses into this while distributing the Elements of Harmony, after being extremely frustrated with her brainwashed friends:Necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, and... big crown thingy!
- In "Sweet and Elite", Rarity is stuck jumping between a fancy garden party and Twilight Sparkle's birthday party, and comes up with various wild excuses to leave each party. Her excuses eventually reach the point where she mutters, exhausted, "I have to... go do the thing... with the stuff, you know..."
- In ''May The Best Pet Win'' When Rainbow Dash is trapped in a gorge.Rainbow Dash: (panicking) Forever is way too long to be trapped in Ghastly Gorge, I mean, it's like... FOREVER!
- In ''The Crystal Empire'' Twilight gets another one. Surprising that she of all ponies wouldn't know the word "crystalline".Twilight Sparkle: King Sombra's spell must be why their coats aren't... crystally!
- From "Suited for Success", after Rarity believes her career is ruined by a disastrous fashion show:
- Molly of Denali: In "The Great Qyah Cleanup," Mr. Rowley calls a grease catch pan a 'doohickey.'
- Winnie-the-Pooh, being a bear of very little brain, resorts to this at times. On accidentally wiping out part of a massive equation that was written on a chalkboard: "It did make Grandpappy Gopher's equation a bit more... less."
- The kid protagonists of Over the Garden Wall speak in the familiar contemporary version, despite the old-fashioned setting. Somewhat justified where Greg and Wirt are concerned—they're actually two kids from our world who ended up in the Unknown by accident. Less so with Beatrice, who says things like "Here you're like a hero and stuff, right?" despite dressing like she's from the regency era.
- Deconstructed in The Owl House. Adrian Graye, head of the Illusionist Coven, often orders his underlings to improve their performances by using words like "mmph" and "pow" to describe what they need to do better. None of the scouts understand what he means by this, and are mostly forced to figure things out themselves, something they very openly despise.
- King Julien in The Penguins of Madagascar
- Done out of guilt in the episode "Nighty Night Ninja". The penguins had been staying up late and watching this ninja program, and hours later all of them are up on the top of their hideout, dead tired and discussing their predicament. Kowalski is asleep on his feet. All of a sudden, in the middle of the discussion, he wakes up shouting a Waking Non Sequitur that sounds sort of like, "I want my binky!!" He notices the other three staring at him and he sheepishly says, "Sp... I-I mean... something... sciencey..." (Nervous laugh)
- Phineas and Ferb:
- "The Swiss Family Phineas":Buford: (to Perry the Platypus) Don't worry, little ducky thing...
- Also by Vanessa in "Candace Disconnected":Vanessa: Ugh, what is this? Curse you, unknown rocket helmet transportation thing! Oh, sweet! I'm home. Never mind, unknown rocket helmet transportation thing!
- Baljeet in "Moon Farm," while arguing with the sountrack:Baljeet: Where are you getting your information from, disembodied reggae space voice?
- It turns out, "Disembodied Reggae Space Voice" was actually the singer's name.
- Candace in "Mind Share" when telling Morg and his friends to get on the mind sharing device, but since she never learned the name of it, she improvises:Candace: Climb on up that platform thing!
- "The Swiss Family Phineas":
- In The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "The Bare Facts", Blossom doesn't know what nunchucks are called, and describes them as "ninja thingys".
- In the Quack Pack episode, "The Return of the T Squad," There was an alien who, according to Dewey, could REALLY use a thesaurus:Overlord: Face the wrath of like wrath-like... wrath!
Overlord: Surrender, or be squished into squishy... squish!
Overlord: I tremble in dread before his powerful... power! - The Propulsions from Ready Jet Go! talk like this sometimes, such as calling the humans "Earthies".
- In "My Fair Jet", Sydney refers to Jet's robotic arm backpack as a "tool-armed backpack thingy".
- Used in an episode of Robot Chicken when George W. Bush awakens the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.Lincoln: WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?
Bush: Who dares question my... daring... of his... dare... jerk! - In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko gets angry at his broken old vacuum cleaner: "You're useless and pathetic, like a useless and pathetic thing!"
- Used in Rugrats, when the baby Chucky keeps a lucky... object in his pocket that all the babies are familiar with, but none have a word for. (It's a bottlecap.) It is simple referred to as "Chucky's lucky... thing", complete with the pause while the babies search for the word.
- The Simpsons:
- In "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" Principal Skinner is searching for Bart, who cut school on the same day of an accident in the Quimby mansion. Bart escapes across a rope bridge and cuts it, thinking that Skinner won't walk into the raging river that separates the two. In Terminator-like fashion, Skinner walks under the water, barely changing his facial expression, at which point Bart quips, "He's like some sort of... Non-Giving-Up School Guy!" According to the writers, this was written after a long session in which they couldn't come up with anything clever for Bart to call Skinner.
- Also:Homer: Marge, where's that... metal dealy... you use to... dig... food...?
Marge: You mean a spoon?
Homer: Yeah, yeah! - Also also:Homer: Oh Lisa, you and your stories! Bart is a vampire! Beer kills brain cells! Now let's go back to that... building... thingy... where our beds and TV... is.
- Also also also:Nelson: Way to breathe, no-breath.
- And:Lionel Hutz: I move for a bad court-thingy.
Judge Snyder: You mean a mistrial?
Hutz: Yeah! That's why you're the judge, and I'm the... law-talking-guy.
Judge Snyder: (exasperated) The lawyer. - Homer, upon meeting the editor of Reader's Digest:"I especially love the Build Your Vocabulary section! That thing is really, really, really... good."
- Homer enters a superstore:"So many things, and so many things of each thing!"
- Homer instructing Marge on flying a hot air balloon:Homer: I want you to pull on the thing, that's near the other thing.
Marge: This thing? (a burst of flame shoots down onto Homer's head)
Homer: Ahh! ...no... that was not the thing. - Homer in "Dead Putting Society"Homer: That putter is to you what a bat is to a baseball player, what a violin is... to the—the guy that—the violin guy!
- In the episode "Yokel Chords":Yokel Girl: Hey, ain't you one of them funny, big-nosed showbiz people?
Krusty: Oh, you mean a clown?
Yokel Girl: No, a J—
Krusty: (quickly and nervously) —oker! Yeah! And I'm not a practicing joker, so I'm not offended! Heh, heh, heh! - Professor Frink's theme song? "He'll run around, and then he'll do... the thing... with the person..."
- In "Homer the Smithers", after listening to Mr. Burns' orders.Homer: Uh huh. Uh huh. Okay. Um, can you repeat the part of the stuff where you said all about the… things. Uh… the things?
- Spoofed in Homer's description of the Apollo astronauts:Homer: They had the right, um, uh, you know ... stuff.
- Mr. Burns as a vampire confronting Bart, in Treehouse of Horror IV:Mr. Burns: Well, if it isn't little... boy!
- Bill Cosby’s speech on the Pokémon series:Bill Cosby: “Pokey-mahn”?!? “Pokey-mahn” with the “pokey” and the “mahn” and the thing where the guy comes out of the thing...
- South Park
- In "Red Man's Greed" Randy says that there is more to life than money like "slurpees and stuff."
- In "The Return of Chef", Stan tells the psychiatrist that Chef was brainwashed with a little thing that goes whrrrrrr.
- The Spectacular Spiderman: "I got the thing on the thing!
" - SpongeBob SquarePants:
- In "Sand Castles in the Sand", SpongeBob and Patrick play with a flying disk, which they call "small plastic disk that you throw".note
- In "License to Milkshake", SpongeBob learns from Captain Frostymug the reason his milkshakes turn out frozen is because he didn't raise the cup to the "spinny thing".
- Star Trek: Lower Decks:
- In "Envoys":Ensign Beckett Mariner: We can't have you co-flying angry. I need you co-calm.
- In "Cupid's Errant Arrow":Ensign Brad Boimler: I can be twice as that. I can be even that-er.
- In "Envoys":
- Storm Hawks, while Junko is portrayed as quite smart for his species, he's not quite a genius. "The Beacon! It's stopped... beaconing!"
- Junko mentions that as a child, he was picked on for being more intellectual than your average Wallop; he's the only Wallop that plays a major role in the series, though, so we really have no baseline for where your average Wallop falls on the scale of thinking versus hitting things.
- In the second episode of Sym-Bionic Titan, while furniture shopping, Ilana convinces Lance to sit on a couch, describing it as "smooshy."
- Teen Titans
- Starfire sometimes does this. She has a better excuse than most, as she's an alien and English is not her native language. Even without the language issues, though, she's still definitely the Team Ditz.
- The B-plot of the episode “Stranded” revolves around a dismembered Cyborg having to guide Beast Boy through repairing him and the T-ship. He doesn’t make any real progress until he tones down the Technobabble and starts using Buffy Speak.Cyborg: Pull the red candy-cane thingamahoozit, NOW!
- In Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, Babs disguises herself as a fireworks salesman to rescue Buster from some love-sick alligator sisters. She describes her wares as including "them Roman candles, yucky curly snake-y things, and that little spinny whirlibob that never works."
- Toad Patrol actually incorporated this as a regular form of speech for the toadlet characters known as "toad speak." Since they didn't know all the words for things, concepts such as nighttime were expressed in manners such as "the deep deep blue has turned to black." Rain was "falling wet."
- In an episode of Total Drama World Tour the cast has to find some barrels of oil buried in Drumheller's badlands as a challenge. Cody complains that "There must be twenty miles of badlands. It's like looking for a needle in... twenty miles of badlands!" Actually a needle would be way smaller than a barrel...
- In Voltron: Legendary Defender, Lance is prone to this.Keith: We aren't some soldiers for you to toy around with, like, like...
Lance: Like a bunch of toy soldiers!
Keith: Yes! Thank you, Lance. - Done in Wild Grinders in which Chip Fligginton (cheesy jingle: CHIP FLIGGINGTON!) describes how Lil' Rob did his trick.
- Work It Out Wombats!: In "A Super Recipe," Malik says that sweetness, crunchiness, and yellow coloration are what make cornbread "cornbready."
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