bucket baby
n.— «Since then, Walker has been negotiating with the USDA but secured clemency for only his four “bucket babies,” pet elk he’d bottle-fed as calves.» —“Fear of disease triggers elk slaughter” by Pam Zubeck Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado) Sept. 7, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
To describe something tiny or insignificant compared with something vast, you might reach for phrases like a drop in the ocean or a drop in the bucket. In Mandarin, there’s an equally picturesque phrase that translates as nine cows, one hair, 九 牛 一...
If you’re looking for a placeholder when you can’t remember someone’s name, there’s always whats-her-bucket. Or try using the Newfoundland catch-all term buddy, as in buddy wasisname. This is part of a complete episode.
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