whiff-whaff
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪfˌwæf/
Forms: form: whiff whaff
form: wiff-waff
Etymology: South Lancashire dialect for nonsense, unspecified words or deeds.
Senses: examples: text: Whau, aw'll begin o' thisn' then. It's whiff-whaff Stuart, -- snifterin' Finch yo'known Virtue has laft o' -- truth is fro' o'flown!
ref: 1854, Tim Bobbin, Samuel Bamford, The dialect of South Lancashire: or, Tim Bobbin's Tummus and Meary, page 4:
text: If you dinna lackey my lady you'll be in for a whiff-whaff o' her sharp temper.
ref: 1887, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, A Border Shepherdess: A Romance of Eskdale, page 96:
text: You need a seasoning of my penetration, and so on, etc' I shall further intimate that it was, after all, a mare's nest — a whiff-whaff of country say-so — etc., etc.
ref: 1894, Amelia E. Barr, The Flower of Gala Water: A Novel, page 197:
synonyms: word: absurdity
word: all my eye
word: all my eye and Betty Martin
word: applesauce
word: bafflegab
word: balderdash
word: balls
word: baloney
word: banana oil
word: Bandini
word: baragouin
word: batcrap
word: batshit
word: bilgewater
word: blah
word: blather
word: blatherskite
word: bobbins
word: bollocks
word: bosh
word: BS
word: bull
word: bullcrap
word: bulldust
word: bull feathers
word: bullshit
word: bullspeak
word: bunk
word: bunkum
word: bushwah
word: clamjamfrey
word: claptrap
word: cobblers
word: codswallop
word: crap
word: crock
word: crock of shit
word: double Dutch
word: double talk
word: doublespeak
word: dribble
word: drivel
word: eyewash
word: fiddle-faddle
word: flapdoodle
word: flim-flam
word: flizz
word: flummery
word: folderol
word: foolishness
word: footle
word: framis
word: fuckery
word: fuckry
word: fudge
word: galimatias
word: garbage
word: garble
word: gibber
word: gibberish
word: gobbledygook
word: gossip
word: Greek
word: guff
word: gup
word: hoax
word: hocus-pocus
word: hogwash
word: hokum
word: hooey
word: horsefeathers
word: horse hockey
word: horse piss
word: horse puckey
word: horseshit
word: humbug
word: Irish bull
word: jabber
word: jargon
word: jibber-jabber
word: jimjam
word: jive
word: junk
word: lallation
word: macaroni
word: malarkey
word: manure
word: meaninglessness
word: moonshine
word: mumbo jumbo
word: nertz
word: nonsense
word: pie in the sky
word: piffle
word: pigswill
word: poppycock
word: prattle
word: put-on
word: rhubarb
word: rhubarb rhubarb
word: rigmarole
word: rot
word: rubbish
word: ruse
word: santorum
word: shit
word: shite
word: skimble-skamble
word: squit
word: stuff
word: stuff and nonsense
word: tommy-rot
word: tosh
word: tush
word: trash
word: tripe
word: twaddle
word: wass
word: whiff-whaff
word: word salad
qualifier: Lancashire
glosses: Nonsense, words or deeds of little import.
examples: text: Never, never, wear any kind of a whiff-whaff or a thing-ama-bob on your hat.
ref: 1938, Loraine Osborn, Your Voice Personality, page 137:
text: Haughton, a great believer in the value of straight football, asked Warner the night before the game if he had pulled such "whiff- whaff," as Percy termed it.
ref: 1975, Jack Newcombe, The best of the athletic boys: the white man's impact on Jim Thorpe:
synonyms: word: Sorted by number of Google hits
word: widget
word: hickey
word: gizmo
word: thingy
word: gimmick
word: thingie
word: jigger
word: gismo
word: gubbins
word: whatsit
word: thingamajig
word: doodad
word: whatchamacallit
word: doohickey
word: thingo
word: thingamabob
word: thingummy
word: whatsis
word: thingumajig
word: thingumabob
word: whatchacallit
word: Sorted alphabetically
word: affair
word: bazinga
word: bizzo
word: dealie
word: dealy
word: dinglehopper
word: dingus
word: dohickey
word: dojigger
word: dongle
word: doo-hickey
word: doober
word: doodah
word: doofer
word: doohickus
word: doohinkey
word: doohinkus
word: doojigger
word: doovalacky
word: foobar
word: foo
word: frammis
word: frobnitz
word: gadget
word: geegaw
word: gewgaw
word: gingambob
word: gingumbob
word: hodad
word: hootenanny
word: jawn
word: jimbang
word: jobber
word: jobby
word: joint
word: junk
word: kajigger
word: kludge
word: MacGuffin
word: oojamaflip
word: rigamajig
word: shebang
word: stuff
word: thingabob
word: thingamabobber
word: thingamafuck
word: thingamajigger
word: thingamajiggy
word: thingmabob
word: thingmajig
word: thingmy
word: thingummabob
word: thingummajig
word: thingummyjig
word: thingum
word: thingymabob
word: thingymajig
word: thing
word: ting
word: whachacallit
word: whachamacallit
word: whaddayacallit
word: whatchamahoozie
word: whatdyecallem
word: whatdoyoucallit
word: whatnot
word: whatsaname
word: whatsitsname
word: whiff-whaff
word: whosiewhatsit
word: whosit
word: wossisname
word: wossname
word: wotsit
word: yoke
word: yokibus
qualifier: Lancashire
glosses: Unnecessary items or additions.