PEA RIDGE — A few days ago at a meeting of the Pea Ridge Historical Society, we were talking about old garden tools and old ways of doing a garden. In the midst of the discussion, Ron Simon asked if anyone knew what a jobber was? I had to admit that it has been a long time since I heard that word. But it was definitely part of the old Ozark language. For those who may not know what a jobber is, a jobber is a thingy that you use to job a hole in something. What!? You haven’t ever heard of jobbin’ a hole?
People who work gardens are always jobbin’ holes.
First you work up your seedbed, then you job a hole to put your seed in, or to drop in a seedling or set.
Many jobbers not only can job holes for planting, but they can be used to push the soil back together and press the soil around the seed. If the soil is loose and moist, sometimes even a wooden jobber will do. A stick or even a paint stirrer might work as a jobber. But for real work, most jobbers are made of metal. A good jobber needs to be stiff. If it bends it is not much good for jobbin’. And a good jobber needs to be an inch and a half or so wide or it won’t job the hole big enough.
Jobbin’ is nothing like plowin’ a furrow to plant something. To job a hole, you just job it in the ground where you want it; then you move the jobber side to side to widen the hole. Then you get your seed or seedling in place, and job another hole beside it, and press the soil against the first hole to close it.
You can also job holes ina piece of paper or cloth. If you cut it or drill it or slice it, that’s not jobbin’. If you stab a hole in the paper with the point of your scissors, that qualifies as jobbin’. But if you twist your scissors to make the hole, that’s not jobbin’.
All the discussion about jobbers and jobbin’ holes in things got me to thinking about what we call things that we don’t know what are. Sometimes we invent a word on the spot. But, often it is convenient to use one of the old expressions to identify the thing we don’t know what is. One of those handy words is the “wha’checallit.” This old word is for things that we probably know how to use, and we know what is done with it, but we just can’t think what to call it. So, you know, it’s a “wha’checallit!”
Then there is the “wha’chemacallit.” Thatmeans that we don’t know what the thing is, and we don’t much care whether we learn what it is or not.
So “wha’chemacallit” not only refers to a thing, it carries a little attitude of indifference to finding out about whatever it is.
A little different from a “wha’chemacallit” is the “widget.” With a “widget,” we probably don’t know what it is, or what to do with it, but it is fascinatin’ anyway. “Widget” refers toa curiosity piece, and we want to find out something more about it. But it is still a “widget.” Once a “widget,” always a “widget,” especially if it’s cute, and not overly valuable.
Another old word for something we don’t know a name for is “thing-a-mabob.” The label “thing-ama-bob” is especially fitting for something that looks like it has been cut off, or has parts missing. To bob something means to cut off. For example, a bob-tail cat may have had his tail cut off in an accident, or he may have been born that way. Not that he is a “thinga-ma-bob,” cats can’t be “thing-a-ma-bob,” but he is missing the tail that cats usually have. Likewise, a “thing-a-ma-bob” may be something that seems like it is not all there; or maybe the one who calls it that isnot all there.
A little like the “thing-ama-bob” is the “thing-a-majig.” But “thing-a-ma-jig” are different. “Thing-a-majigs” are mysterious. They give the impression that they are cleverly made,and probably are good for something; we just can’t figure out what. Jigs are usually things that are cobbled together to hold something in place while you shape it, nail it, or glue it. Jigs may be “thing-a-ma-jig,” except that with a “thing-a-ma-jig” you don’t know what to do with it. Once you figure out what to do with it, it is a jig, not a “thing-a-ma-jig.” Then there is the “thing-ama-jigger.” The distinction is subtle, but a “thing-ama-jigger” is smaller than a “thing-a-ma-jigger,” and you are more skeptical about it. A “thing-a-ma-jigger” may be a little thing that’s not worth diddly.
Well, I have no space left to discuss “doo-ma-jiggers,” “doo-ma-flatchets,” “doohickeys,” and “whiz-bangs.” Maybe later.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history.
He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by email at joe369@centurytel.net or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 05/02/2012