MetasyntacticVariable

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One of the most interesting and undeveloped concepts in language. Rather than repeating long names, clauses or other phrases, just associate them with a variable and away you go! The word "wossname" is held up as a prime example of this. - CorkScrew

I would have thought that 'It' and 'That' would be more obvious ones. Still, not as entertaining as thingamajig and wotsit. --Vitenka

In programming, the most common one is "foo", a shortening of FooBar? (derived from F.U.B.A.R.) --Pallando

: See the JargonFile on [metasyntactic variables]; and which out of "foo" and "FUBAR" came first is [disputed]. It does sound like Lojban has some interesting MetasyntacticVariables, though. --AlexChurchill and PeterTaylor

CategoryLanguage
See also [Adjective Noun]