Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun colloquial A placeholder for the name of a man whose name the speaker can not bring to mind.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Derived from running together the words in the phrase, what is his name.

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Examples

  • Note: For my own recollection (and possibly for your amusement) here are just some of the references: lecherous old scientist Kurt Kazelov = Isaac Asimov; Burt Franklin who write about nomadic desert tribes and epic family feuds = Frank Herbert; Ralph A. McDonell whose dialectic tracts left people wondering what kind of fascist he was = Robert A. Heinlein; Frelff Rondimon who invented Scatology = L. Ron Hubbard; Kim Kinser (note reverse spelling) who "won a ton of awards transferring Africa to some alien planet solely so he could deduct his safaris on his tax returns" = Mike Resnick, referring to his Kirinyaga sequence; "whatsisname", the sissy little creep who sold who sold the Star Truck script while still in college = David Gerrold.

    REVIEW: The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction edited by George Mann 2007

  • The martyrdom of St whatsisname, with all the little arrows.

    Babies Terence Cannon 2011

  • The commander of the ULL in the south, whatsisname, had asked me to take out a truck loaded up with nitrous oxide bottles, depriving their enemies the ADR, of the gas - precious for its use in surgery.

    Archive 2008-10-01 Ben Abraham 2008

  • Now, what is the French for: "I had that whatsisname in the back of my cab once …"?

    Black cabs in Paris? Sorry, I don't go south of the Channel, mate Kim Willsher in Paris 2010

  • The commander of the ULL in the south, whatsisname, had asked me to take out a truck loaded up with nitrous oxide bottles, depriving their enemies the ADR, of the gas - precious for its use in surgery.

    War stories from Mosate Soleo Ben Abraham 2008

  • “Oh, nonsense, darling, they just chopped the head off that poor man, whatsisname.”

    Dreaming in French Megan McAndrew 2009

  • And whatsisname Daxamite was stabbed with YELLOW steroid-Spears.

    Green Lantern Corps #15 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009

  • The only thing I liked about the other Spawn movie was that little latino dude … whatsisname? he was pretty good

    NIC CAGE SHOULD SHUT UP 2007

  • You accuse whatsisname of being a racist, but it seems to me you have a very insular view of what your world is.

    "The Optimum Population Trust... says each baby born in Britain will... burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2½ acres of old-growth oak woodland...." Ann Althouse 2009

  • “Oh, nonsense, darling, they just chopped the head off that poor man, whatsisname.”

    Dreaming in French Megan McAndrew 2009

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