Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <meaning><slang><is-it-a-word>
Title: “Oojakapiv”: what does this word mean?
Question: A lot of people in my family use this word, not regularly, but enough for me to ask what it means.  I know it’s not a “real word”, but how come people from different sides of my family use it? It must mean something.  The way the word is used is for a word that doesn’t mean anything, like  gobbeldygook .

Answers:
sents: text: Something like: dingbat, thingamabob or thingy .
text: From 1925 E. FRASER & J. GIBBONS Soldier & Sailor Words 215 Oojah (also Ooja-ka-pivi), a substitute expression for anything the name of which a speaker cannot momentarily think of , e.g. ‘Pass me that h-m, h-m, oojah-ka-pivi, will you?’
text: 1931 J. VAN DRUTEN London Wall II.
text: ii.
text: 73
text: There's a whole lot in the Oojah Capivvy now.
text: 1962
text: Sunday Times 4 Feb. 31/6
text: This was the catch-phrase in a music-hall song in use during the first world war...
text: I remember the line and the tune: ‘You cannot eat it, or see it, or hear it, you just ask for Ujah-ka-piv.’
text: 1966
text: ‘L. LANE’ ABZ of Scouse 78
text: Whur's ther ojah-capiff?
text: , where is the hammer, spanner or whatever it might be?
text: 1992
text: Hobart Mercury
text: 8 Aug., There are several of Ms Bosanky's turns of phrase that are pure Downunder.
text: For instance, ‘hoojah-kapippy’..or a ‘whatsitsname’ euphemism.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/519/stacker
score: 17
sents: text: World Wide Words discusses this briefly
text: : they suggest that ooja , oojah capivvy and variants originated in British Army argot around the time of WWI: ‘Pass the oojah.’
text: says the one-armed man who is playing billiards.
text: What is the oojah?
text: The oojah is any object in Heaven or earth; it is the thing which has no name or the name of which you have temporarily forgotten. — Washington Post, Oct 1917 [ Edit: the OED confirms this quotation as their oldest citation for the usage, and suggests an etymology: “Perhaps [from] Urdu and Indo-Persian † ḥujjat kāfī fīhi , lit.
text: ‘the argument is sufficient’, there’s no more to be said about it.”]
text: A form more familiar to some readers (it certainly was to me) may be oojah-cum-spiff , which is used rather differently: it’s an adjective meaning roughly “all right”, “in good order”, similar to e.g. tickety-boo .
text: This turns up several times in P.G. Wodehouse’s books (the Jeeves novels, and iirc the Blandings ones too):
text: “Yes, I think we may say everything’s more or less oojah-cum-spiff.
text: With one exception, Jeeves…” [ Edit: OED suggests that the spelling of this version is influenced by the then-popular use of the Latin pronoun cum .]
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/2587/PLL
score: 7
sents: text: When I lived in Leeds Yorkshire UK, 'Oojah--kapivvy' was definitely part of our family vernacular and was particularly used by my Father.
text: Dad was a WW2 Vet, so he may or may not have picked up the expression during his years in the army.
text: It is synonymous with Thingamajig, Whatchamacallit etc.
text: Sometimes, though it was shortened to Oojah.
text: Here in New York no one has ever understood this wonderful expressive term.
text: To me it has such a lovely flow.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/159202/Maureen Pollinger
score: 3
sents: text: It would appear to be quite country wide rather than Local as both my wife , from London, England, and myself from Lancashire both remember our parents using oojacappivvy & oohjahmaflip.
text: they were all born about 1904-1916
text: so the grandparents probably adopted the saying in WW1.
text: But having been used by 3 generations I have never heard our children or grandchildren use either term.
text: I wonder if they just use an asterisk when texting & cant remember the name of something!
text: oojamaflip, OED Like thingamabob or whatchamacallit, oojamaflip (also spelled whojamaflip, hoojamaflip, etc.)
text: is a word used to refer to something a person doesn’t know the name of, or doesn’t wish to specify precisely.
text: The earliest evidence OED‘s researchers have found for the word so far is from 1969, in a pair of advertisements for a product whose precise nature is (appropriately) unclear Oxford Dictionaries , origin of oojah says: "Early 20th century, of unknown origin"
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/169571/Don Henry
score: 2
sents: text: I'm from Sydney, Australia, and part of a many-generations-of-Aussies family.
text: My grandfather, also a proud Aussie, used to call a toffee apple a 'hoojah-kapivvy-on-a-stick'.
text: I never heard him use the term 'oojah' or 'hoojah' for anything else, but it seems the meaning was similar from the context - something like 'that thingamabob on a stick'.
text: The pronounced 'h' was clear when he said it.
text: I can't recall him writing it down
text: so my spelling is how I interpreted how he voiced the expression.
text: A previous answer said that a WW2 vet may have picked up the expression in the army; my grandfather was in the Australian forces in WW2 so may have picked up the expression there as well.
text: In any case, it may be more than local or countrywide in the British Isles; it definitely infiltrated some of the Commonwealth at least.
text: I'm in my forties now and can't find many Aussies familiar with the expression; those who are, are generally older than myself.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/236329/Laughing Hyena
score: 2
sents: text: I have a feeling it may have originated from a corruption of Indian words brought over by the troops when they returned to uk.
text: In the same way doolalay ( meaning daft) came over.
text: Or a cup of char for tea.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/303314/Sue
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
The word "Oojakapiv" means "dingbat", "thingamabob" or "thingy".
It's similar to other strange letter and combination letter words that don't have much sense like "thingamabob"or "oujah-cum-spiff" which is an adjective meaning "all in good order"There are some local expressions that are similar in North Yorshire for example, synonymous to "Whatchamacallit" and similar words. The earliest evidence OED‘s researchers have found for the word dates to 1969, in a pair of advertisements for a product whose precise  nature is (appropriately) unclear.  Oxford Dictionaries , origin of oojah says: "Early 20th century, of unknown origin".  I have a feeling it may have originated from a corruption of Indian words brought over by the troops when they returned to uk.
The word "Oojakapiv" means "dingbat", "thingamabob" or "thingy".
A substitute expression for anything the name of which a speaker cannot momentarily think of , e.g. ‘Pass me that... oojah-ka-pivi, will you?’
It is synonymous with Thingamajig, Whatchamacallit, Dingbat, Thingy, etc.  However, some maintain that it may have originated from a corruption of Indian words brought over by the troops when they returned to UK.
"Oojakapiv" is synonymous with words like "thingamajig" and "whatchamacallit". It might have originated from an Indian word that entered British vocabulary.