I have used a word to replace nouns I cannot remember quickly enough. The word is 'doflanger' Is this a real word? I don't know where I picked it up or when I started using it, I just did.
Anyone else ever heard this word?
I have not heard of this word, but the word is in good company with doodad and doohickey. Such words invite variants. Your version may not show up in a dictionary, but it does show several hits on a Google search. I would not let its absence from the dictionary deter you. Use it all the more.
I'd love to see a list of everyone's favorite General Specifics. I think my favorite is a "whosey-whatsit."
I once took over a desk that had been vacated by a past employee, in which I found a small box labeled "gizmotchis". It turned out to contain red map-pins, but since then I've never been able to think of red map-pins as anything other than gizmotchis.
When I lived in southwestern New Mexico, I picked up a couple of Spanish General Specifics: comosellama and its partner comosedice, each pronounced as a single word and each used exactly as you'd use the English equivalent "whatchamacallit".
I have not heard it, but thank you for giving me something to add to my vocabulary inventory! =) I am a fan of "doohickey" myself.