# All Slavic languages: what's-his-name



## NotNow

_What's-his-name _is a common English expression that is used when someone can't remember a person's name.  Is there an equivalent expression in other languages?


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## TriglavNationalPark

*Slovenian:*

*kakomuježeime *= what's-his-name
*kakojiježeime = *what's-her-name

These terms are very informal and rarely found in written Slovenian.


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## Azori

In Slovak it would be "ako sa to volá?" = what's-his/her-name.


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## phosphore

"Kako-mu/joj-(ono)-beše-ime" or "kako-se-(ono)-zvaše" could be found in Serbian, but not very often since it does not sound really natural and I think it calques the corresponding English expression.


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## Ærie Descent

Bulgarian:
оня/оная (literally that guy/that girl)
как му/й беше името OR как се казваше (what's his/her name again)


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## texpert

lior neith said:


> In Slovak it would be "ako sa to volá?" = what's-his/her-name.


 

Now this is interesting. The Czech equivalent _jak se to jmenuje?_ would sound extremely rude. Perhaps _jak že se to jmenuje? _or better _jak že se jmenuje? _


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## jazyk

There's also the funny tentononc in Czech.


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## Piotr_WRF

In colloquial Polish it's _wihajster_, from German _Wie heißt er_, which literally means _What's his name_.


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## Saluton

Russian:
what's his name -
как его
как его там
как его бишь

Also:
...her... - ...её...
...its... - ...eго... *or* ...её...
...their... - ...их...


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## Ptak

Saluton said:


> Russian:
> what's his name -
> как его
> как его там
> как его бишь
> 
> Also:
> ...her... - ...её...
> ...its... - ...eго... *or* ...её...
> ...their... - ...их...


Also:
это самое
этот самый / этот самый, как его
как это
как там
чем там (_Идите занимайтесь - чем там - делами._ "Office Romance" )


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,



jazyk said:


> There's also the funny tentononc in Czech.



In which situation I would use it? 

Texpert, if I add a *prosím* to your phrases, perhaps it becomes less rude... or it isn't possible? 

Nashled.:


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## texpert

Prosím would certanily soften the expression. But it would cease to be a phrase I think.


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## NotNow

Piotr_WRF said:


> In colloquial Polish it's _wihajster_, from German _Wie heißt er_, which literally means _What's his name_.


 
Is this widely used?


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## .Jordi.

NotNow_ said:


> Is this widely used?


No, it isn't. And it cannot be used when talking about human beings, only things (usually small ones like tools etc.).


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## sokol

.Jordi. said:


> No, it isn't. And it cannot be used when talking about human beings, only things (usually small ones like tools etc.).



Now that's funny because "wie heisst er" usually would refer to persons (well, it is grammatical gender - male - and thus could refer to anything being male, but typically this question in German is asked if you want to know the name of a guy, that is English "what's his name?").

So Polish "wihajster" funnily enough does _not _reflect the original meaning.


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## NotNow

.Jordi. said:


> No, it isn't. And it cannot be used when talking about human beings, only things (usually small ones like tools etc.).


 
So what does a Pole say when he or she can't think of someone's name? _What's-his-name_ is a very common English expression.


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## .Jordi.

Well, I would say probably something like _jak mu/jej tam_.


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## Piotr_WRF

Piotr_WRF said:


> In colloquial Polish it's _wihajster_, from German _Wie heißt er_, which literally means _What's his name_.





NotNow_ said:


> Is this widely used?





.Jordi. said:


> No, it isn't. And it cannot be used when talking about human beings, only things (usually small ones like tools etc.).



Jordi is right, it's used only for things, especially tools. I somehow misread the original question and didn't notice that it was about persons.


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## Heroj_MKD

In Macedonian : 
Како се вика тој ? What's his name ?   (Kako se vika toj?)
Како се вика таа ? What's her name ?  (Kako se vika taa?)
or possible but rarely used
Како му е името?  (Kako mu e imeto)
Како и е името?    (Kako i e imeto)


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## NotNow

.Jordi. said:


> Well, I would say probably something like _jak mu/jej tam_.


 
I want to be sure I understand this. May I say something like, _Jak mu przyjdzie do nas __dziś wieczorem_?


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## NotNow

.Jordi. said:


> No, it isn't. And it cannot be used when talking about human beings, only things (usually small ones like tools etc.).


 
In English, we use the words _thingy_ or _whatchamacallit _in this situation.


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## .Jordi.

NotNow_ said:


> I want to be sure I understand this. May I say something like, _Jak mu przyjdzie do nas __dziś wieczorem_?



Sorry, I'm afraid that my explication wasn't too clear. I don't know whether in Polish there is a noun (or anything that could be a subject in phrase) which you could use if you don't remember somebody's name. This phrase _jak mu/jej tam _is actually used not when you don't know somebody's name, but when you're not sure about it or don't remember it, for example:_
Nie wiesz, czy Adrian, czy jak mu tam, przyjdzie do nas dziś wieczorem?

_And some other examples from Google:_
no nie!!..to ten jak mu tam no ten no...kurde zapomnialem
__tylko my jestesmy tak pomyslowi jak mcgajwer czy jak mu tam bylo _
_I tam był taki wódz trojański, który temu Mene... jak mu tam, uprowadził żonę

_If it isn't still clear enough, I suggest asking in the Polish forum, I'm sure that someone with better English than mine will be able to help you.


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## NotNow

Dzięki, Jordi.  Myślę, że teraz rozumiem.


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## jbird74

Croatian:

Kako se zove (for both genders)
Kako se on zove (for male)
Kako se ona zove (for female)


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## Maja

In Serbian it might be: "kako li mu / joj je ime". 
_
Onaj čovek, kako li mu je ime, mi je prišao juče na ulici.
(That man, whatshisname, approached me on the street yesterday._)


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## Zerdav

Now, if I'm not mistaken what's-his-name has 2 meanings.
One in an interrogative statement like: Do you know...what's-his-name? This is the meaning which we mentioned so far (meaning who) and the other where it would mean: anyone (doesn't matter who). Like in, This guy came to me, what's-his-name, and sad... or: you don't know him, what's-his-name,...
In that case it could be sad: tko god, nije bitno tko
To you use the same underlined example from above: Lik je došao do mene, tko god bio (nije bitno tko) i rekao...


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## kusurija

jazyk said:


> There's also the funny tentononc in Czech.


...ehm...


			
				NotNow_  said:
			
		

> _What's-his-name _is a common English expression that is used when someone can't remember a *person's *name. Is there an equivalent expression in other languages?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> texpert said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now this is interesting. The Czech equivalent _jak se to jmenuje?_ would sound extremely rude. Perhaps _jak že se to jmenuje? _or better _jak že se jmenuje? _
> 
> 
> So for person in Czech:
> Jakže se jmenuje?
> Or in sentence:
> "Dnes má přijít ten, no - ten... ten Hlustvisihák, *či jak se jmenuje*..." =zapomněl jsem jeho jméno...
> Above quoted jazyk an texpert mentioned expresions used, when talking about things, not persons...
Click to expand...


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## texpert

Do you mean it? 
_Koupil jsem si, jak že se jmenuje, banán.. _


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