Buffy-Speak: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"What, you want to tempt the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing?"''|'''Toby Ziegler''', ''[[The West Wing (TV)|The West Wing]]''}}

[['''Buffy-Speak]]''' is that thing where they say that a guy is [[Motor Mouth|saying things too fast]], or can't figure out what the thing they want to say is, or doesn't have enough learning and stuff to say what the thing they mean is.

A thing you see a lot with this is when they don't know the right words and stuff, so sometimes you see noun and verb things combined like in "shooty-gun thing", and stuff that goes in [[Shaped Like Itself|a cycle thing]] in frustration: "That idea went over like... like... like a thing that doesn't go over very well." That thing where [[Metaphorgotten|you go on and on and forget the stuff you were trying to say]] comes up a lot. Sometimes it uses that [[Oh God, Withwith the Verbing!|verb-noun-ing dealie]] thing, and sometimes [[Name McAdjective|that name thing where it's like, descriptive, but not really their name, because you don't really know their name? Or are trying to make a point?]] I dunno, just click on the link.

If you do things right, [[Buffy-Speak]] can seem like teenager talk stuff without actually being like real-world wordy stuff. (Which is kind of why people do this thing. Slang words, especially for kids and stuff, change really fast-like. Buffy speak makes all that stuff sound less fake and it'll maybe help not [[Totally Radical|sound like they're trying too hard with that talk...stuff.]]) If you do things wrong, it can sound as fake as a... really totally fake thing and can break [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|the thing where people don't worry about if the story-thing is real.]]

Contrast with [[Totally Radical]]. Compare [[Person Asas Verb]]. See also [[Shaped Like Itself]] and [[Department of Redundancy Department]].

{{quote| '''Doomguy:''' You're huge! That means you have huge guts!}}

* [[Ultimate Spider -Man]], as most of its main characters are teenagers, is prone to this.

{{quote| '''Mary Jane''': And thus ends the [[Shaped Like Itself|tyrannical tyranny]] that was my life.<br />

{{quote| '''Eclipso''': You stink of science, not magic!<br />

* The sort-of pixie-like Preservers in ''[[Elf Quest]]'' apparently can't help but replace even simple words with ones smashed together from others. The silk they spit is "wrapstuff", elves are "highthings", humans are "bigthings", someone who's sleeping is "stillquiet"... This extends to the names of anyone who's not a Preserver, e.g. Dewshine, a blonde elf, becomes "Sunnygold Highthing" (despite the name being not that different from Preserver-names like "Petalwing" or "Berrybuzz"). Often they don't even use those names consistently, but make up a new one every time they refer to the same character. Preservers are also [[Third Person Person|Third Person Persons]]s. In short, they sound extremely ditzy.

* Mainly from ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'' in the Meta breaks -- andbreaks—and occasionally in the main story as well.

* The ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'' series is chock-full of [[Buffy -Speak]]. "There's a thingy over there." "A thingy?" "A door.", "You're not going to the thing"?, "Scott, look out! It's that guy!", etc.

* In ''[[Forward (Fanfic)|Forward]]'', Jayne has a moment like this when he worried Simon will unleash his wrath on him.

{{quote| '''Jayne''': He's gonna...gonna ''doctor'' at me. }}

* In [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6505403/1/Tempest_in_a_Teapot Tempest in a Teapot] Arthur describes his [[Ho Yay|feelings]] for [[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]] as "very un-prince-ly."

* At one moment in the Mass Effect RP, "The Council Era", krogan Overlord Tikrog Kurvok makes use of buffy speak when referring to coffee, saying, "Give me a stimulant drink, to go. With extra energizer thingies." Kurvok repeatedly uses [[Buffy -Speak]] throughout the storyline.

* The four are occasionally prone to this in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'', either because of vocabulary failure, deliberate humor, or simple laziness.

** In a [[Shout -Out]] to [[Help!]], Ringo calls the Vasyn “the thingy.” (George calls it “the Big Pink Job,” hence the subtitle.)

* In the fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6944079/4/Presidential_Initiation Presidential Initiation]'', [[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|America]] tries to explain who he is to the president...and does a really bad job of it as he says things like "I'm a national [[Anthropomorphic Personification|aromatherapy persecution]] or whatever the hell it's called!" Also used is the term "people/nation thingies."

{{quote| "We will do what rich people do! We will bathe in... fish! Eat our weight in... chocolate buttons! Learn to play the concertina!"}}

* In the 2007'' [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Filmfilm)|TMNT]]'' movie, Raphael says "The thing about you immortal stone guys is...you know you're immortal...and made of stone. I sound like Mikey!"

* ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]]'' also had this little exchange.

{{quote| '''Jay''': Hey, Kay. When do I get one of those...''[[Laser -Guided Amnesia|flashy-thingy-memory-messer-uppers]]''?<br />

{{quote| '''Jay''': "Have you ever flashy-thinged me?" <br />

'''Kay''': "No." <br />

'''Jay''': "I ain't playing with you, Kay! Have you ever flashy-thinged me?!"<br />

{{quote| '''Mike Lowrey''': Tell Vargas... tell him... that thing we said to tell him...}}

* In ''[[Help!]]'', George Harrison realizes that the curling stone he just threw is actually a bomb, and exclaims, "Hey, it's a thingy! A fiendish thingy!"

* ''[[Jurassic Park]]''

{{quote| '''Nedry:''' First I'm going to get this thing and then I'm going to hook it up to that thing over there...}}

* ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]'': Move the thing! And... that other thing!

* ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'': Red...thingy...moving toward the green...thingy. I think we're the green thingy.

* At the climax of an "insult contest" against Peter Pan in ''[[Hook (Film)|Hook]]'', Rufio is reduced to spluttering [[Lame Comeback|"You....man! You....stupid....stupid....man!"]]

* ''[[Night Atat the Museum]]'': Ricky Gervais' character (the curator) has this as his main defining characteristic.

{{quote| "Do you think I'm here just to be a...a....(trails off into nothing)"}}

* ''[[OceansOcean's Eleven]]'': Reuben says to Ocean and Rusty "I owe it to ya for the thing with the guy in the place..."

{{quote| '''Ace''': I will be as a fly on the wall. A grain of salt in the ocean. I shall slip amongst them like a transparent... ''thing''.}}

{{quote| '''Vladikov''': "What do you think of my stealth boat, David?"<br />

* From ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Filmfilm)|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

{{quote| '''Pippin:''' You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission...quest...thing.<br />

{{quote| '''Viola as Sebastian:''' What about the thing that we talked about that you were gonna do later?<br />

* In [[Alice in Wonderland (Filmfilm)|Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland]], the Mad Hatter says to Alice, "You used to be much more...''muchier''. You've lost your muchness."

* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Filmfilm)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', the Wizard stumbles over the word "philanthropists", eventually calling them "good-deed doers".

{{quote| '''Spidey'''-"Hey! Unlock the thing! Take the chain off!!!"}}

* ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]'': Unable to come up with a better term for them, the characters refer to the alien species as "Things". The subtitles capitalize this as the proper name for the creatures.

* ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Film)|Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' has a couple of these, mostly by Pilgrim.

{{quote| Scott: "Can you do a thingy... on that rail?"<br />

2nd Evil Ex: "It's called a grind, bro."<br />

{{quote| "He's so fast, he makes fast people look . . . not as fast."}}

* Lampshaded in ''[[Star Trek: the Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek theThe Motion Picture]]''

{{quote| '''Kirk:''' Bones, there's a... thing... out there.<br />

<nowiki>'''McCoy:</nowiki>''' Why is any object we don't understand always called "a thing"? }}

{{quote| '''Bank robber:''' ''(holds up a deadman switch detonator)'' You know what this is?<br />

== [[LotsLiterature|Books And LotsScrolls OfAnd Words AndOther Stuff BetweenWith CoversWords]] (Literature) ==

* Pops up occasionally in ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]''. There was something similar to "Its eyes were as big as [[Shaped Like Itself|very big eyes]]"; lampshaded, in that the creature's eyes were traditionally described as being "as big as soup plates", but Tiffany had measured a soup plate and determined that they weren't. A substitute description was needed.

** Pratchett really likes these "what's-that-thing" quips. ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Sourcery|Sourcery]]'' has several.

{{quote| "What's dat fing? Dey goes all crumbly when you eat dem?" <br />

"...''could'' be a lawyer." <br />

"Dey goes soggy if you dips them in somefing?" <br />

{{quote| "Limited wossname. Doodah. Thingy. You know. It's got words in it." <br />

"Dictionary?" <br />

{{quote| '''Carrot''' (speaking about his dwarf girlfriend): "She's got a beard as soft as a very soft thing." }}

{{quote| "She was as thin as a very thin thing." }}

** The Georgia Nicholson books often refer to "snognosity". Not classic [[Buffy -Speak]], but definitely related.

* From [[Neil Gaiman]] and [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'':

{{quote| Crowley: Suspicion will slide off of him like, like...whatever it is water slides off of.}}

{{quote| "'A duck!' Crowley exclaimed. 'What are you talking about?' Aziraphale asked. 'A duck is what water slides off of!'"}}

{{quote| "He abused my hospitality," booomed the earl. "I swore that if he ever again entered my domain I would have him gutted and dried like, like something that had been gutted."}}

* [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Bertie Wooster]] (in both books and film/TV adaptations) frequently finds himself in the middle of an aphorism he can't complete without Jeeves' help. (The books are almost always narrated by Bertie but with a brilliant, effortless prose that a goof like Bertie would never be able to manage in real life and yet nonetheless seems plausible while you're reading it.)

{{quote| '''Bertie''': Let me tell you that a man without music in him is fit for... excuse me a moment. Jeeves, what was it Shakespeare said a man without music in him was fit for?<br />

{{quote| '''Bertie:''' Jeeves, have you seen that play called I-forget-its-dashed-name?<br />

'''Jeeves:''' No, sir.<br />

* The hero of [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]]'s ''Beyond The Wall of Sleep'' is a man whose doctor recognizes as being possessed by some cosmic entity of superhuman intelligence who is struggling to express its metahuman thoughts and ideas through the man's stupid and backwoods brain and vocabulary.

{{quote| "Big, big cabin with brightness in the roof and walls and floor, and the loud queer music far away..."}}

{{quote| ''"If two men are doing a bit of work, one will say to the other, 'Put this bowl inside the bigger bowl which you'll find on the top shelf of the green cupboard.' The female for this is, 'Put that in the other one in there.' And then if you ask them, 'in where?' they say, 'in there, of course.'"''}}

* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Franchisenovel)/|Harry Potter and Thethe Order of Thethe Phoenix|Harry Potter]]'', Hermione describes Harry's [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|hero complex]] as his "saving-people thing."

* ''[[Roswell High]]'' certainly uses this. For instance, from the first chapter of the first book "Guys. I'm so tired of their...guyness." Also, this series sort of becomes an interesting example of [[Buffy -Speak]], as it even uses the word "wiggins" a few times.

{{quote| [[Applied Phlebotinum|Collapsium]] is an artificial material made of atoms with their binding energy reduced so they sort of collapse in upon themselves and are binding and heavy and that sort of thing.}}

* Judging by this quote from ''[[Dracula (Literaturenovel)|Dracula]]'', this must be a vampire-hunter thing:

{{quote| '''Dr. Seward:''' [Renfield] seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way...}}

* In ''[[The Canterbury Tales (Literature)|The Canterbury Tales]]'', [[Older Than Print|Chaucer used "I guess" in the modern sense]]:

{{quote| "Of twenty year of age he was, I guess."}}

{{quote| "May evil ''insulas'' [islands] choke thee, thou detestable Sancho," said the niece; "What are ''insulas'' [islands]? Is it something to eat, glutton and gormandiser that thou art?"<br />

"It is not something to eat," replied Sancho, "[[Buffy Speak|but something to govern and rule]], and better than four cities or four judgeships at court." }}

{{quote| '''Buffy''': All of the Hellmouth's energy is trying to escape from that one little spot, and it's getting all...<br />

'''Principal Wood''': Focus-ey. <br />

{{quote| Her abuse of the English language is such that I understand only every other sentence.}}

* In ''[[Dollhouse (TV)|Dollhouse]]'' (another Joss show), there's a lot of hyperactive [[Buffy -Speak]] from Topher.

* Played with in the new ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'''s second-season episode "School Reunion," where a villain calls K-9 a "Shooty Dog-thing", made more amusing by the villain in question being played by Buffy veteran Anthony "Giles" Head.

** Also, in "Blink":

{{quote| People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like [[Timey -Wimey Ball|a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff]]. It got away from me, yeah...}}

{{quote| This is my timey-wimey detector. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}yK3tTGB72jE It goes "ding" when there's stuff."]}}

{{quote| '''Christina''': How does a crystal drive a bus?<br />

{{quote| '''Amy''': Nice... swording. (All the time {{spoiler|blissfully unaware that she has just put a metaphorical sword through fake!Rory's fake heart}})}}

{{quote| I hate yogurt. It's just... stuff with bits in it.}}

{{quote| [[Shaped Like Itself|"Deadly aliens...aliens of death."]]}}

{{quote| I'll do a thing.}}

{{quote| ''[When asked what he did to Apollo 11]'' A clever thing.}}

{{quote| A big mining thing, love a big mining thing. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing.}}

{{quote| Yes, it's '''''Spacey Wacey!'''''}}

{{quote| It's a thing, it's like a plan but with more greatness.}}

{{quote| It's a thing in progress, don't question the thing.}}

{{quote| '''The Fourth Doctor''': Yes, pow, pow, pow's a technical expression, Professor, it means that all the microcircuitry will fuse into one great ''euh!'' of molten metal.}}

* ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]] the Third'' used this once to good effect, since the Blackadders are known for their razor-sharp wits, and because even without a decent metaphor, he still says it with confidence. As he says to Prince George regarding the causes of a threatened peasant revolution, "Disease and deprivation stalk our land like... two giant stalking things."

{{quote| '''BBC Presenter:''' What have you got there?<br />

* A variation in ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]:'' Jayne, talking about Saffron, warns Simon and River, "She'll turn you in faster than you can say... 'Don't turn me in, lady'."

** Or Wash: "And we will call it... this land!"

::: And another<nowiki>:</nowiki>

{{quote| '''Badger''': "You think you're better than other people!"<br />

::: And another<nowiki>:</nowiki>

{{quote| '''Jayne''': "If I wanted schoolin', I woulda gone to... school."}}

* Derrick in ''[[Strangers Withwith Candy]]'', running out of insults for the new blind student: "Well, if it isn't Mr... no... looking at things... guy."

* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'': Hurley, frequently.

{{quote| '''Sawyer''': What's your problem, Jumbotron?<br />

* In the pilot episode of ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' astronaut John Crichton gets hold of his first raygun. After accidentally letting off a few shots he decides to try threats instead.

{{quote| "Don't move, or I'll fill you full of... little yellow bolts of light!"}}

* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]],'' where the characters, knowing nothing about astro-navigation or the area of space they are traveling through, often use terms like "Swirly-thing alert!" Or, on occasion, a "wibbly thing".

{{quote| '''Kryten:''' Is it a wibbly thing or a swirly thing, sir?<br />

* In ''[[Roundhouse]]'' (an early '90s Nickelodeon variety show), the character of Dad yells, "Flying out of windows like...things that fly out of windows!"

{{quote| '''Jack Carter''': I believe you have a device! That can create a wormhole, or bend time, or make you invisible... A wormholing, time-bending, invisibling device... that shields you from the mind!<br />

* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway (TV)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' dips into this trope half of the time thanks to its improvised format. One example of this in the ''Improbable Mission'' sketch for the laundry ("The Cat!" for people who don't remember the actual task), when no one but Greg knew what a burnoose actually was:

{{quote| '''Ryan:''' Fabric softener? <br />

'''Colin:''' Well you can't have static cling! The burnoose will stick to his... * gestures to body* thing! }}

* ''[[Frasier (TV)|Frasier]]'': "It would be hard to sleep, thinking of you in the next room all hot and... hot."

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', "Well I'm guessing 'the gooery'" is Claudiaspeak for the neutralizer distribution machine." Hardly surprising when you consider that Buffy writer Jane Espenson co-created [[Warehouse Thirteen13]].

* In ''[[Stargate SG 1 (TV)|Stargate SG -1]]'', Colonel O'Neill sometimes talks like this, but it's not always clear whether he's doing it sincerely or for the humor value.

{{quote| '''O'Neill:''' You all know I take great pride in my title as Mr. Positive; however, we did destroy their de-Goa'ulding thing--might not they look unkindly on that?}}

{{quote| '''Burke:''' Hey, is that that thing that made that guy do that thing?"}}

{{quote| '''Gabrielle:''' See the pointy bits on the ends of those swordy things? Stay away from them.}}

{{quote| '''Diana:''' ''[impersonating Xena]'' Oh, this? This is... my round killing thing.<br />

'''Gabrielle:''' Chakram.<br />

* ''[[Smallville (TV)|Smallville]]'': When Jimmy Olsen discovers Clark's secret: "You're some kind of super...guy!"

* A variant from ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|Babylon 5]]'':

{{quote| '''Londo Mollari:''' But this - this, this, this is like being nibbled to death by... what are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet... go 'quack'...<br />

'''Ambassador Vir Cotto:''' Cats.<br />

* Frequently deployed by the staff of the White House on ''[[The West Wing (TV)|The West Wing]]''. Especially bizarre when used by Toby, who is, after all, not only the President's chief speechwriter, but also a man with a keen enough of grasp of the language to name every punctuation mark in it off the top of his head.

* From the T.V.-version of ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'':

{{quote| '''Bertie:''' When you have been a little longer in my employ you will come to understand that all my chums rely heavily on your employer's wisdom and knowledge of human nature in the conduct of their affairs. Not to mention my organisational powers, and just plain... ''thing''ness!}}

{{quote| ''"It's like a creamy, vinegary... thing. I dunno, he'll tell you about it."''}}

* ''[[Friends (TV)|Friends]]'': Phoebe to a certain extent, her brother even more so (he described his love for his fiancée as "being with her is like... so much better than not being with her, y'know")

* The normally unflappable [[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]] becomes so flustered when {{spoiler|Moriarty straps a bomb to John, and John grabs him and tells Sherlock to run, thus proving himself willing to die for Sherlock}} that he can only splutter "That, uh...thing...that you, uh...that you did, that you...that you offered to do, that was, ah...good." It's adorable.

{{quote| '''Sherlock:''' Smoking indoors… isn't that… isn't that one of those… law things?}}

* ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'': Britta is upset that Annie is bringing in more money than her to help with the Gulf crisis, so she dresses a little slutty and starts acting perky.

{{quote| '''Britta:''' Hi, I need you to give me money to help save the pelicans, because they're, like, feathery and pelicany and stuff!}}

* From the ''[[Psych (TV)|Psych]]'' episode "If You're So Smart, Then Why Are You Dead?'':

{{quote| '''Goddard:''' Wait, wasn't Hahn involved in that thing? You remember that thing?<br />

'''Shockley:''' The thing with the other thing?<br />

{{quote| '''Alex:''' I'm officially our kneecap-plastic-thingie expert!}}

{{quote| '''Tyler:''' I mean, what was I supposed to say? "No, officer, this isn't a skull, it's a... skull-like thing."}}

* Occurs in an episode of ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'' ("My Balancing Act"): Turk wears a nasal strip (presumably as a breathing aid {{spoiler|to improve his bedroom performance and overcome Carla's inability to orgasm}}), prompting Carla to ask "Why are you wearing one of those nose breathing thingies?"

* ''[[Saturday Night Live (TV)|Saturday Night Live]]'': "And you...with that hair on your head...]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[[Chh 6 P Gscgs E]] Hair head!"

* In the pilot of ''[[Just Cause (TV series)|Just Cause]]'':

{{quote| '''Alex:''' When I was in prison, I developed a gut for reading people.<br />

* On ''[[Boy Meets World (TV)|Boy Meets World]]'', the one-man play that Eric writes contains the line, "The hot wind howled, like a kind of howling... hot... windy thing."

* Marshall, Ted, and Lily often fall into this mode of speaking on ''[[How I Met Your Mother (TV)|How I Met Your Mother]]'', particularly when Robin and Barney aren't around. Stands to reason, as [[Alyson Hannigan]] is a Buffy alumn and the show creators are huge [[Joss Whedon]] fans.

* Radar from ''[[MashM*A*S*H (TVtelevision)|MashM*A*S*H]]'' is sometimes given to this.

{{quote| '''Radar:''' Sir, I was walking by and I noticed this gizmo came disconnected from the thingamabob and it wasn't dripping into the doohickey right.<br />

{{quote| '''Olaf:''' A thing is like a small thing, Folkmoot's like a bigger thing, it's not to be taken lightly, it's a big thing thing where important things are decided.}}

== [[GlossyMusic|Pretty BookSound ThingsStuff]] (Magazines) ==

{{quote| Lad looks at other gals.<br />

Gal thinks [[Drowning My Sorrows|Jim Beam]] is handsomer than Lad.<br />

{{quote| They're like the people chained up in the cave<br />

{{quote| Zappa: ... then it goes into a song called "The Torture Never Stops".<br />

Interviewer: Which is about what?<br />

Zappa: Er, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|it's about torture not stopping]]. }}

{{quote| Evildoers, you will cower in fear when he arrives on the scene, as you will be...in big trouble!}}

{{quote| "Come boy, come sir boy, come follow me sir boy!"}}

** And who could forget Shakespeare's frequently-used bit of Buffy Speak, [[Shaped Like Itself]]?

== [[TheVideo Games|Those Things People Play In Their Dark Basements While Drinking Mountain Dew And Stuff]] (Video Games) ==

* Right before [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|inadvertently causing the destruction of his home universe]], Zetta, main character of ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'', exclaims, "Sacred Tome? Ha! More like... sucky... dumb... thing!" It's the first of many indications that, crazy freakin' overlord or not, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

* The Scout in ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', being the youngest and most hyperactive of the nine classes, has this in a bunch of his domination lines. For example, to the [[Husky Russkie|Heavy Weapons Guy]]: "I am ''owning'' you, you fat bald fatty fat...fat-fat!" or to the Sniper: "You'll never hit me! You'll never hit my tiny head! It's so tiny, I've got a frickin'... such a tiny little head!".

* Travis from ''[[Silent Hill Origins (Video Game)|Silent Hill Origins]]'', getting more and more peeved about being dragged around Silent Hill by Alessa, holds up a piece of the Flauros he found and yells out: "I got your...your ''thing'' for you!"

{{quote| "There are another ants crawling all over it."}}

* In the old ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' PC game, Rincewind describes a strange, distant shape as being "fraught with...with...shapeness". [[Medium Awareness|Then he concludes that it has to be a plot element]] [[Genre Savvy|because otherwise it'd have a better label than just "Shape".]]

* ''[[Super Mario Sunshine (Video Game)|Super Mario Sunshine]]'': ("A shiny came out of the yucky".)

{{quote| "[[Crowning Moment of Funny|Hell yeah. Put more of the stuff in the...thing more stuff goes in]]."}}

** Grunt, being essentially a krogan teenager, often speaks like this, while trying to either puzzle through his tank-imprints or simply talking outside of combat. On Korlus, the squad will also encounter another tank-bred krogan who is even less experienced and articulate than Grunt, who speaks in [[Buffy -Speak]].

{{quote| '''Grunt''': We should get behind... stuff. }}

**::* The funniest thing about Grunt though, is that he mixes [[Buffy -Speak]] with [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]].

* In ''[[Beyond Good and& Evil (Videovideo Gamegame)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'', Pey'j, when he's being attacked by a crochax:

{{quote| Get off me! Stupid ... whatever you are!}}

*:* And when repairing the lift in the Factory:

{{quote| As for the piston, did what I could. Just put the thingamajig back in the whatchamacallit.}}

* ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'''s "Aperture Science Thing That We Don't Know What It Does"

* ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'' has some as well. Wheatley's "all right, fatty? Adopted… fatty! Fatty fatty no parents?" and shortly later "What’s wrong with being adopted? Um, well, uh… Lack of parents?".

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', when Mimiron activates the [[Shout Out|V-07-TR-0N]] he shouts "Bask in its glorious... um, glory!":

* ''[[Paper Mario: theThe Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand -Year Door]]'', "You're the absolute best star-getting guy!"

* In ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]'', the villain Mimi constantly uses childish phrases, referring to the heroes as "meanies".

* ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age'': At one point, Kraden amusingly refers to a ship-powering object as "the thingie... that makes it go."

{{quote| "You huffy, puffy, loosey-goosey excuse for a whimpering whining wuss of a witness."<br />

* In ''[[FEARF.E.A.R.]] 2: Project Origin'', Snake Fist's attempt to describe Alma's motivations.

{{quote| ''She covets you. She's a...coveter...''}}

* In "[[Professor Layton]] and the Diabolical Box, When you go to {{spoiler|Dropstone}}and tap one of the benches, Luke says that the bench sure is...benchy.

{{quote| ''' Strong Bad:''' My internet's crawling along like... something... funny... that crawls along.}}

{{quote| "I never get to go on any missions! I'd be a good mission...guy."'}}

{{quote| Jules: Come along then. You can be my apprentice... or squire... or... whatever.<br />

Van: What does a squire do, Jules?<br />

* Red from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' lapses into this when describing such esoteric concepts like ''rooms'' and ''chairs''. "[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=320 Sitty-downy things,]" indeed. This is implied to be a function of serious gaps inherent in the education process prior to becoming human, because while chairs are a foreign concept she jabbers off about some seriously advanced nonsense.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander|Eddie]] from ''[[Emergency Exit]]'' has a particularly amusing (especially if you haven't read the story) example [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=289 here.]

** [[Deadpan Snarker|Saya]] also uses this trope on [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=1057 this] page while referring to the previous example.

* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213202713/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/74 this strip] of ''[[Loserz]]'': "You'll be defeated like... like... like... like some easily defeated '''thing'''!"

{{quote| '''Amy''': I think it's a vampire! Stab it with a stake!<br />

{{quote| '''Amy''': I've not been this surprised since I discovered...''something desperately unsurprising.''}}

* In ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)]]'', Scarlet, among others.

{{quote| '''Scarlet''': A bad, floaty, shooty, tinny thing is being bad upstairs!}}

* [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_225.php Mab's gut feeling] in ''[[Dan and MabsMab's Furry Adventures]]''.

{{quote| '''Dechs''': You want to catch me, like the spider caught the fly, huh? Well now the spider has become the spided!}}

* [[Eight 8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Fighter's]] ''true'' [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/09/07/episode-076-fighter-and-red-mage-are-back/ power]:

{{quote| '''Red Mage:''' We'd be better off using harsh language than the ''pathetic'' wooden pieces of... pathetic... weapons that these people call... weapons.<br />

'''Black Mage:''' Um...<br />

'''Red Mage:''' Shut up. I've been hanging out with Fighter all day. I could literally feel him sucking away at my... brain-thinky score thing.<br />

'''Black Mage:''' You mean intelligence?<br />

'''Red Mage:''' By Mordekainen's + 5/+ 5 wand of sorcery, he's lowered my INT score just by being near me! }}

* ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers!]]!'' gets some mileage out of this.

{{quote| '''Khrima:''' [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20051217.html "Burn in the flame of shadows like... um... some sort of shadow candle thing!"]}}

* [[Wonderella]] and her sidekick Wonderita.

{{quote| "Go ask your mother where that other thing is."<br />

* In a ''[[Megatokyo]]'' strip [http://megatokyo.com/strip/59 (link)here] where Largo tries to explain [[Leet Speak]] to Junpei, the best he can do is:

{{quote| '''Junpei:''' What is this "ownz'ed"? You must show me, master from a foreign land!<br />

* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'': There are those who consider [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0699.html the Monster in the Darkness] to be "as dumb as things that are really dumb."

* The page image is from [http://wwwwayofthemetagamer.schlockmercenarythecomicseries.com/dcomics/20041208.htmlpl/34423 thisThis] ''[[SchlockThe Way Mercenaryof (Webcomic)|Schlockthe MercenaryMetagamer]]'' stripcomic.

{{quote| '''English I Student:''' Like there's this word in the english dictionary for how I'm feeling right now towards you...<br />

'''David:''' Mad?<br />

* In ''[[Gai-Gin]]'', Foxy shows Gin some novelty taiyaki: "It's cakes! Shaped like penises! [[Department of Redundancy Department|Man penises!]]"

* Surprisingly, Dr. Schtein of ''[[String Theory (Webcomicwebcomic)|String Theory]]'' speaks like this.

* Everyone in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''.

* Happens frequently in ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'', since most of the characters are thirteen years old. Especially notable with John, whose [[Blow You Away|Heir of Breath]] powers are consistently referred to as "the windy thing". [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]]d:

{{quote| {{color|#0715cd|EB: i'm going upstairs to the big platformy thing.}}<br />

{{color|#b536de|TT: The alchemiter?}}<br />

{{color|#0715cd|EB: ??}}<br />

* ''[[The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage]]'' mixes this with [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]], as [[Badass|Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] tries to convince Lovelace to go back to Babbage.

{{quote| '''Brunel''': Where would science be without the Engine? Archaic! Puny! Boring! It doesn't bear thinking about! I'd be able to build gigantic iron ships, certainly - but could they ''fly''?<br />

'''Lovelace''': It would indeed be difficult...<br />

'''Brunel''': Would Darwin be able to mess around with his, uh...barnacles he won't talk about?<br />

'''Lovelace''': Um, that one I'm not sure about...<br />

'''Brunel''': ''Would Faraday be able to that whatsis with the thingamajig??''<br />

'''Lovelace''': ''No! No he would not!''<br />

{{quote| "Moist! My evil...moisture...buddy!"<br />

{{quote| "She turned me on to this whole homeless... thing..."<br />

* Very often done by the [[Let's Play|Let's Player]]er [[Raocow]], who will often say "Well, that was a thing" or "That was a thing with a thing and a thing" or any of a million similar sentences. [[Justified Trope]] by him being French Canadian and French in Quebec having many different ways to say "thing" (see the Real Life section of this page) that just don't translate well into English.

** Another [[Let's Play]], for ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] 2'', had Minsc proclaim that the [[Turn Undead|Mace of Disruption]] was "very disrupty". Minsc isn't too good at the thing with the wordy things at the best of times (unless they involve hilariously over-the-top descriptions of what he's going to do to the bad guys), so it fits.

* In the web cartoon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m353UIbP5cU Irving, the Socially Awkward Bee], the bees that Irving attempts to hang around with want to leave his presence by saying they have to do "the thing with the thing".

{{quote| '''Tucker:''' ''"My sword? Fuck yeah, I know how to use that! What's to understand about "swish, swish, dead"!?"''}}

{{quote| '''Ray''': ...in a... mom.. throwing-contest. Shut up!}}

{{quote| '''Hank Green''': I shot down that like a...like a...<br />

'''[[John Green]]''': Like a shooter down a shoot thing! <br />

* In ''[[Echo Chamber (Web Video)|Echo Chamber]]'''s Trope Of The Week ''[[Dumbass Has a Point]]'' Zack trying to explain "After Effects".

{{quote| Zack: It's... the thing with the things!}}

* Happens in a couple of ''[[Two Best Friends Play]]'' videos; [[Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|"Sneaky-stab mode"]] and [[Portal 2 (Video Game)|"You're science-ing right now!"]]

* The ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]''-inspired ''Unreal Revolution'' [[Game Mod|modification]] for the first ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'' (re-read the sentence if you need, we swear it makes sense) makes large use of this trope. "Use this to turn off the sparky hurt light", indeed.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110821013209/http://www.agonybooth.com/video_shows/Mr_Mendos_Hack_Attack/Never_Say_Never_Again.aspx This episode of] [[The Agony Booth (Website)|Mr. Mendo's Hack Attack]]: "But really, [[Johnny English|that]] was a good movie, and [[Never Say Never Again (Film)|this film]] and a good one are as dissimilar as two completely dissimilar things...in a bag."

{{quote| '''Sursum Ursa''': ...and he has mood swings like...a very...swingy...thing!}}

* From [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series (Web Video)|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]:

{{quote| '''Kaiba''': Duel me, you... uh, weird, cyborg, kind of... burn victim... person. }}

{{quote| '''Rarity:''' Why would I spend my afternoon with a bunch of war criminals and their...war...crimes?}}

* ''[[SkippysSkippy's List (Literature)|Skippys List]]'' has examples:

{{quote| 177. I am not to refer to a formation as "the boxy rectangle thingie".}}

{{quote| '''Homer:''' Marge, where's that... metal dealy... you use to... dig... food...?<br />

'''Marge:''' You mean a spoon?<br />

*:* Also also:

{{quote| '''Homer:''' Oh Lisa, you and your stories! Bart is a vampire! Beer kills brain cells! Now let's go back to that...building...thingy...where our beds and TV...is."}}

*:* Also also also:

{{quote| '''Nelson:''' Way to breathe, no-breath.}}

*:* And:

{{quote| '''Lionel Hutz''': I move for a bad court-thingy.<br />

'''Judge Snyder''': You mean a mistrial?<br />

*:* Homer, upon meeting the editor of Reader's Digest:

{{quote| "I especially love the Build Your Vocabulary section! That thing is really, really, really... good."}}

*:* Homer enters a superstore:

{{quote| "So many things, and so many things of each thing!"}}

*:* Homer [[It Makes Sense in Context|instructing Marge on flying a hot air balloon]]:

{{quote| '''Homer:''' I want you to pull the thing, next to the other thing."}}

*:* Homer in "Dead Putting Society

{{quote| Homer: That putter is to you what a bat is to a baseball player, what a violin is...to the--the guy that--the violin guy!}}

*:* In the episode "Yokel Chords":

{{quote| '''Yokel Girl''': Hey, ain't you one of them funny, big-nosed showbiz people?<br />

'''Krusty''': Oh, you mean a ''clown''?<br />

'''Yokel Girl''': No, a J- <br />

*:* How can you bring up [[The Simpsons]] without noting Professor Frink's theme song? "He'll run around, and then he'll do...the thing...with the person..."

* ''[[Futurama]]''." But Bender need brain! For smart-making!

*:* Or alternatively...

{{quote| '''Fry''': Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things! You know, a headache with pictures.<br />

'''Leela''': An idea?<br />

'''Fry''': ''(gesturing madly)'' Mmm! Mm!<br />

* ''[[The Spectacular Spider -Man]]:'' "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhWeU491kYI&feature=related I got the thing on the thing!]"

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Animationanimation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'': In the episode "Gadget Goes Hawaiian," Lawhinie (Gadget's [[Evil Twin]] / [[Evil Counterpart]]) can't remember the names of Gadget's tools when disguised as the Ranger.

* Suki, in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' finale. It's even lampshaded a bit:

{{quote| '''Sokka:''' Well look at you, Buster. Now that your firebending is gone, I guess we should call you The Loser Lord!<br />

'''Ozai:''' I am the Phoenix King! Uh... (falls over)<br />

'''Toph:''' Oh sorry. Didn't mean to offend you, Phoenix King-of-getting-his-butt-whooped!<br />

'''Suki:''' Yeah! Or how bout King of the... guys who... don't win?<br />

{{quote| ''Daggett'': Desperate times call for desperate desperate-ness...!}}

* ''[[Storm Hawks (Animation)|Storm Hawks]]'', while Junko is portrayed as quite smart for his species, he's not quite a genius. "The Beacon! It's stopped... beaconing!"

{{quote| "Oh, that's right, Sensei can do that weird floaty thing!"<br />

"You've got the doors that go ''whoosh!''<br />

* ''[[Earthworm Jim (Animationanimation)|Earthworm Jim]]'' had some of this. For example, in one episode Jim takes a ''Doppelganger'' -creating gun and Evil Jim says "Give that back you... Thing-taker guy!"

* Starfire from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' sometimes does this.

* In ''[[Dave the Barbarian (Animation)|Dave the Barbarian]]'', Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy taunted Dave with, "You shall perish beneath the might of my...mighty...mightiness!"

* From ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'': "You're flirting, aren't you? Flirterers!" (courtesy of Green Arrow)

* An episode of [[DextersDexter's Laboratory|Dexter's Lab]] involved Dexter giving a dog he found the ability to speak, which resulted in the dog repeatedly referring to one of Dexter's machines as "the thing."

* Mr. Director, the [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|Jerry Lewis look-alike]] on ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' lapses into this from time to time, as well as [[Acceptable Targets|gibbering pseudo-Yddish nonsense]].

* Used in an episode of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' when [[George W. Bush]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|awakens the ghost of]] [[Abraham Lincoln]].

{{quote| '''Lincoln''': WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?<br />

** [[Sidetracked Byby the Analogy|Actually a needle would be way smaller than a barrel...]]

* Frequently used on ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''.

** From [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S1 /E14 Suited for Success|"Suited for Success"]], after Rarity believes her career is ruined by a disastrous fashion show:

{{quote| '''Rarity:''' ''(throwing herself down on her bed)'' Leave me ALOOOOONE! [[Grand Hotel|I vant to be alone!]] I want to wallow in... whatever it is that ponies are supposed to wallow in!}}

** In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S1 E4/E04 Applebuck Season|"Applebuck Season"]], a sleep-deprived Applejack shows up to receive a trophy:

{{quote| '''Applejack:''' Thank you kindly for this here... award thingy.}}

** And in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S1 E8/E08 Look Before You Sleep|"Look Before You Sleep"]]:

{{quote| '''Rarity:''' Fortunately, I can get along with anypony, no matter how rude ''she'' may be.<br />

'''Applejack:''' Oh, yeah? Well, I'm the get-alongingest pony you're ever gonna meet!<br />

** In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E2/E02 The Return of Harmony Part 2|"The Return of Harmony, Part 2"]], Twilight Sparkle lapses into this while distributing the Elements of Harmony, after being extremely frustrated with her [[Brainwashed]] friends:

{{quote| Necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, and... big crown thingy!}}

** In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E9/E09 Sweet and Elite|"Sweet and Elite"]], Rarity is stuck [[Two -Timer Date|jumping between a fancy garden party and Twilight Sparkle's birthday party]], and comes up with [[I Need to Go Iron My Dog|various wild excuses]] to leave each party. Her excuses eventually reach the point where she mutters, exhausted, "I have to... go do the thing... with the stuff, you know..."

** In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E7/E07 May the Best Pet Win|''May The Best Pet Win'']] When Rainbow Dash is trapped in a gorge.

{{quote| '''Rainbow Dash''': *panicking* Forever is way too long to be trapped in Ghastly Gorge, I mean, it's like... [[Department of Redundancy Department|FOREVER]]!}}

* Recently done in ''[[Wild Grinders (Animation)|Wild Grinders]]'' in which Chip Fligginton (cheesy jingle: CHIP FLIGGINGTON!) describes how Lil' Rob did his trick.

{{quote| What is brown and sticky?<br />

* I feel in my gut that [[Stephen Colbert]]'s clever [[Neologism]] Truthiness is [[Buffy -Speak]] at its finest.

* Somewhere between this trope and [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: after something falls off his aircraft in flight, a pilot must fill out a TFOA (Things Falling Off Aircraft).

* [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20131027034702/http://notalwaysright.com/de-ting-de-ting/308 Problem: Thing is blue and blue on the thing.]

* [[Magic: theThe Gathering]]: [http://magiccards.info/5dn/en/70.html Krark-Clan Engineers.] ''"Well, I jammed the whatsit into the whackdoodle, but I think I broke the thingamajigger."''

* The following is an exact quote from [[The Other Wiki]] : [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures_by_type:List of legendary creatures by type#Creatures_associated_with_animalsCreatures associated with animals|Vulkodlak(Slavic)]] - undead vampire horse wolf thing

== [[That Real Life|Those Thing]]Things (RealThat Life)Aren't Made Up But Are Actually Real]] ==

* In a way, kennings are a form of this. One of the more famous ones, ''[[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]'', translated as "bee-hunter", is an Old English kenning for bear.

** These euphemisms were formed because it was considered bad luck to speak the bear's true name. Most European cultures have various different names for the same animal, and the ones nowadays accepted as its real name ("bear", for instance) are actually euphemisms used so widely that the original name was forgotten. [[Everything Is Worse With Bears|Bears]] are [[Serious Business]].

* [[John F. Kennedy|An otherwise brilliant speaker]] once did this: "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade, ''and do the other things.''"

{{quote| But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Why does Rice play Texas?]] We ''choose'' to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard!}}

* While on the subject of Republicans, some of old [[George W. Bush|No.43's]] bushisms strayed in the direction of [[Buffy -Speak]]. "Tribal sovereignty means just that; it's sovereign. You're a - you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity."

* As stated above, [[Joss Whedon]] himself -- inhimself—in interviews, one can practically ''see'' the ''Buffy'' script flowing forth as he speaks. Also, Jim Butcher has fallen into this a couple of times, perhaps.

* L33t is a form of this trope although some circles consider it an actual language.

** Dialect or jargon perhaps, but not a language. And only applicable through writing.

* This trope is sadly common when speaking foreign languages you're relatively new to. Whatever education the speaker had was probably only focused on general, common vocabulary (exceptions being "medical Spanish" courses, etc.) so the speaker is limited to a very unspecialized vocabulary and has to get creative when trying to explain to a confused ER patient that the doctors are going to put in an IV to keep them from dehydrating.

** Modern linguists incidentally consider it an important skill to know how to speak around a word that you don't know, and there are several scientific studies on the subject.

** It's actually very much a [[SMURFINGsmurfing]] kind of thing.

* Japanese is also big on Buffy Speak from a grammatical standpoint. All [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammarJapanese grammar#Demonstratives/ |demonstratives]], and also mono and koto often only serve to exacerbate confusion in a world that is elusive as it is. [http://ja.uncyclopedia.info/wiki/読みにくい文章/意味の分かりにくい文章/ Exhibit A (at 13.).]{{Dead link}} This is [[No Pun Intended|compounded]] by throngs of chinese loanwords (see above) that a speaker has to live with.

** And its [[Evil Twin]], [[Russian Language|Russian mat]] that has only six or seven roots that are all [[Cluster F -Bomb|Cluster F Bombs]]. * In mat, you can compose complex, perfectly legitimate and meaningful (in context) sentences [[Cluster F Bomb|completely out of swear words]], sometimes even working with ''one'' word base per sentence. This phenomenon is depicted in Russian humour; for example, in jokes about construction workers or engineers forced by the new superior (or a foreign consultant) to stick to decent language. This results in their inability to communicate and complete their tasks.

[[Category:Self -Demonstrating Article]]