Western Wranglers Wrangling Whatchamacallits Quiz

Answer: Placeholders

Placeholders or placeholder names usually operate as nouns and have properties much like pronouns because they refer to something else. But, unlike pronouns, what they refer to need not be specifically identified in the context. The context itself can identify the placeholder. Placeholders are part of informal English and differ from hypernyms, although hypernyms can be placeholders. A hypernym is a word used to describe a generic category rather than a specific member of that category. For example, the word tree can be used instead of pine or fir. Tree, in this case, is the hypernym (superordinate) and pine or fir would be the hyponyms (subordinates) of the class. Placeholders are not so clearly classified because of their informal and less well-defined nature.

In mathematics and logic, a placeholder functions much more like a hypernym and is defined as "a symbol in a logical or mathematical expression that can be replaced by the name of any member of specified set" according to WordNet 3.0 by Princeton University.

According to cowboyshowcase.com, a Buckaroo is a term that describes a cowboy "from the Great Basin country of northern Nevada, southern Idaho, northeast California and southeastern Oregon." Their traditional gear is fancier than many other cowboys.

Answer: Thingamabob (Poe's Thingum Bob)

Poe's work is "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq." and first appeared in 1844. Dictionary.com links thingamabob with thingamajig and traces thingamajig's origins back to the 1870s but states that the ultimate origin is unclear. Merriam-Webster.com states that the earliest known use of thingamabob was in 1750 but gives no citation as to how or where. Clearly, placeholders have been around since at least the mid-19th century as is evidenced by Poe's usage and may have even earlier occurrences.

A dogie is a calf with no mother. The term derives from the Spanish word 'dogal' "meaning a short rope used to keep a calf away from its mother during milking" according to cowboyshowcase.com. Another possiblity is that it derives from the word dough-guts according to thefreedictionary.com. A roundup is the process of gathering the cattle together prior to the cattle drive. Although cattle drives are rare today, roundups still occur on large ranches for the purposes of branding and shipping the cattle off to market.

Answer: Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a historical place in Mali in West Africa near the Niger River just south of the Sahara desert. The earliest descriptions of the city in the European consciousness come from Leo Africanus who was commissioned by Pope Leo X to write a detailed survey of Africa towards the end of the 15th century. It then began the process of becoming legend and thereby becoming more fictional than real. From there it mutated into meaning generically any far off place, beginning around 1863 according to the "Online Etymology Dictionary".

Strays are cows who have wandered off from their home ranges or from the cattle drive and need to be rounded-up or corralled. In open range areas this makes branding critical in deciding which cattle belong to which rancher.

Answer: Jane Roe

Jane Roe was the plaintiff in the 1973 case Roe vs. Wade, her real name was Norma Leah McCorvey. Jane Roe is merely a variation on the John Doe theme used to identify either an unknown person or a person whose identity is being withheld for legal reasons. Similar placeholders are John Q. Public, Joe Six-pack, and Joe Blow, which are all used to identify normal generic citizens. 'Tom, Dick, and Harry' as a phrase is used when attempting to identify multiple unknown subjects.

A heifer is a young female cow used to either replace older cows or as meat. A cowpuncher is just another variation on the word cowboy and is used mainly in the southwest US.

Answer: Snafu

Snafu originally stood for situation normal all fouled up (or its more obscene equivalent) but has become a word in its own right. Dictionary.com defines it as "a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation." Both snafu and the related fubar (fouled up beyond all recognition or repair) trace their origins back to WWII and the military, according to "Random House Dictionary" and Wikipedia. It has been attributed to both the American and British armed forces. The process of changing their more obscene renderings to less offensive ones is a process known as bowdlerization, named after Thomas Bowdler who published censored copies of William Shakespeare's works in 1818.

Mavericks are cattle that have never been branded and never been handled by cowboys. Mostly it refers to calves that have yet to be rounded-up and branded. The older the cattle get without human interaction, the harder they become to handle. According to dictionary.com the term first appeared in the late 1860s and comes from Texas pioneer Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870) who left his cattle unbranded.

Answer: Mumbo jumbo

Mumbo jumbo is defined as "foolish religious reverence, ritual, or incantation" and "meaningless or unnecessarily complicated language" by the "Collins English Dictionary". Most sources trace the phrase's origin to the early 1700s and an idol or god worshipped by tribes in Africa, specifically coming from the Mandingo languages of the upper Niger River valley of West Africa. Because of this, mumbo jumbo has religious connotations that synonyms like gibberish and gobbledygook usually do not.

Locoweed is any plant that produces Swainsonine, a phytotoxin especially potent on livestock such as cattle, horses, and sheep. It is addictive and extremely harmful to livestock. The word comes from the Spanish for crazy, loco, combined with weed. When cattle become addicted they are said to have been locoed.

Answer: Widget

Only the word widget fits both definitions. Web widgets and GUI widgets are types of software that allow users to manipulate data in a standardized way. A common example would be the programming that allows you to take a quiz on FT or access other features on the site. In economics, it is a placeholder name for any unknown device, especially when discussing hypothetical situations. The "Online Etymology Dictionary" says it is probably an alteration of gadget or may come from the phrase 'which it'.

A critter is a generic term for any animal, whether wild or domesticated. It can also refer to any living thing like an insect. The range is usually open grazing grassland over which a herd can travel. In the early days of the Old West, ranches weren't fenced off and the land was open range. According to cowboyshowcase.com, a ranahan is the top cowboy and is sometimes shortened to ranny.

Answer: Red

Red tape is a placeholder name used to describe any regulation or set of rules that come from a big organization, be it government or even a big corporation, which tends to hinder decision making or prevent creativity. It is the normal tendency of any organization to institute rules and regulations to bring about conformity as it grows but this in turn stifles progress and creativity. To grow and yet maintain order a certain amount of structure is necessary and yet this very structure can choke out the innovation needed to keep an organization growing and thriving. It is a fine balancing act.

According to saddle maker Mike Brennan, the term waddie or waddy started out referring to a rustler or thief, then evolved to merely mean a lower class hired hand. Finally, it evolved to mean the top hand (source cowboyshowcase.com). One of the most famous cowboy poets is named Waddie Mitchell, who was born Bruce Douglas Mitchell.

Answer: The eleventh hour

In Matt. 20:6-16 Jesus tells the story of laborers hired in the eleventh hour to work in the vineyard who only work for one hour but get paid the same as those who worked all day. "The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms" traces the phrase back to this passage and claims it came about in the early 1800s. It is not a reference to 11 o'clock but rather to any generic time that is late and close to deadline. Synonyms include zero hour, the nick of time, and just in time.

The Cow Boss is the cowboy in charge of the cattle operations of a ranch according to cowboyshowcase.com. They hire all the cowboys and make all the decisions about who does what.

Answer: Bug

A bug is the only one of these words that fits all of these definitions and works as a placeholder name. The "Online Etymology Dictionary" traces the word to several different sources. One of the more interesting is the use of bug as a defect in a machine being traced back to Thomas Edison circa 1878. It postulates that it comes from the idea of an insect getting in the machine. The use of bug to refer to an insect can be traced back as far as the 1620s with the earliest reference being to bedbugs. The use of it as an obsession such as firebug is traced back to 1841.

A drover can be traced back to the 1870s and 1880s where it was used for cowboys trailing longhorns to market according to cowboyshowcase.com. But the word can actually be traced back much further to between 1350 and 1400 AD according to dictionary.com. Cowboyshowcase.com states that a slick is a horse or cow with no brand or any other identifying mark.