History BuffySpeak / WesternAnimation

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "The Bare Facts", Blossom doesn't know what nunchucks are called, and describes them as "ninja thingys".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" Principal Skinner is searching for Bart, who cut school on the same day of an accident in the Quimby mansion. Bart escapes across a rope bridge and cuts it, thinking that Skinner won't [[ScarilyCompetentTracker walk into the raging river]] that separates the two. In Franchise/{{Terminator}}-like fashion, Skinner walks ''under'' the water, barely changing his facial expression, at which point Bart quips, "He's like some sort of... NonGivingUpSchoolGuy!" According to the writers, this was written after a long session in which they couldn't come up with anything clever for Bart to call Skinner.
** Also:
--->'''Homer:''' Marge, where's that... metal dealy... you use to... dig... food...?\\
'''Marge:''' You mean a spoon?\\
'''Homer:''' Yeah, yeah!
** Also also:
--->'''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:
--->'''Nelson:''' Way to breathe, no-breath.
** And:
--->'''Lionel Hutz:''' I move for a bad court-thingy.\\
'''Judge Snyder:''' You mean a mistrial?\\
'''Hutz:''' Yeah! That's why you're the judge, and I'm the... law-talking-guy.\\
'''Judge Snyder:''' ''(exasperated)'' The ''lawyer''.
** Homer, upon meeting the editor of Reader's Digest:
--->"I especially love the Build Your Vocabulary section! That thing is really, really, really... good."
** Homer enters a superstore:
--->"So many things, and so many things of each thing!"
** Homer [[ItMakesSenseInContext instructing Marge on flying a hot air balloon]]:
--->'''Homer:''' I want you to pull on the thing, that's near the other thing.\\
'''Marge:''' This thing? ''(a burst of flame shoots down onto Homer's head)''\\
'''Homer:''' Ahh! ...no... that was not the thing.
** Homer in "Dead Putting Society"
--->'''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":
--->'''Yokel Girl:''' Hey, ain't you one of them funny, big-nosed showbiz people?\\
'''Krusty:''' Oh, you mean a ''clown''?\\
'''Yokel Girl:''' No, a J--\\
'''Krusty:''' ''(quickly and nervously)'' --oker! Yeah! And I'm not a practicing joker, so I'm not offended! Heh, heh, heh!
** Professor Frink's theme song? "He'll run around, and then he'll do... the thing... with the person..."
** In "Homer the Smithers", after listening to Mr. Burns' orders.
--->'''Homer''': Uh huh. Uh huh. Okay. Um, can you repeat the part of the stuff where you said all about the… things. Uh… the things?
** Spoofed in Homer's description of the ''Apollo'' astronauts:
--->'''Homer''': They had the right, um, uh, you know ... ''stuff''.
** Mr. Burns as a vampire confronting Bart, in Treehouse of Horror IV:
--->'''Mr. Burns''': Well, if it isn't little... boy!
** Creator/BillCosby’s speech on the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series:
--->'''Bill Cosby''': “Pokey-mahn”?!? “Pokey-mahn” with the “pokey” and the “mahn” and the thing where the guy comes out of the thing...
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko gets angry at his broken old vacuum cleaner: "You're useless and pathetic, like a useless and pathetic thing!"
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Fry occasionally lapses into this.
---> '''Fry:''' But, but, Bender need brain... for smart making.
** And in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"...
--->'''Leela:''' It's not working! He's gaining strength from our weapons!\\
'''Fry:''' Like a balloon and... something bad happens!
** Or alternatively...
--->'''Fry:''' Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things! You know, a headache with pictures.\\
'''Leela:''' An idea?\\
'''Fry:''' ''(gesturing madly)'' Mmm! Mm!
** From the episode "Bendless Love"
---> '''Fry''': [to Bender, watching surveillance tape] Wait! There on the screen. [[ShapedLikeItself It's that guy you are.]]
** And again...
--->'''Fry:''' I'm good at video games and bad at everything else. That's why I wish life were more like a video game.\\
'''Farnsworth:''' Can you put that in the form of a question?\\
'''Fry:''' Uh, what if that thing I said?
** Sometimes combined with {{Technobabble}}:
--->'''Bender:''' I'm done recomfoobulating the energy-motron... or whatever.
** Hattie's entire schtick is based around this, often referring to everything as a "kajigger" or a "whatchacallit".
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. As in, every single character. This includes Zim ("I might as well make your entire brain... nn-not smart no more."), The Almighty Tallest ("Our big... space ship... gang!"), and Dib ("Score ''nothing'' for the Zim... thingy... race."), to name a few.
** "I now leave you to your... Moosey fate."
** Also created by Jhonen Vasquez is ''Comicbook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', home of "Crazy! Like some crazy thing that's all . . . crazy!"
** "I can't let him get away with his... his... things-he-do!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderman:'' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhWeU491kYI&feature=related I got the thing on the thing!]]"
* In ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' The boarding house is visited by what Frankie believes to be just a normal human boy wearing a clown nose. He constantly refers to the house as "Foster's home for Makeemupthings" and upon his first visit says "So take me in, give me food and take care of me and stuff.".
* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': In the episode "Gadget Goes Hawaiian," Lawhinie (Gadget's EvilTwin [=/=] EvilCounterpart) can't remember the names of Gadget's tools when disguised as the Ranger.
* Due to the campy parody nature of ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', [[EvilIsHammy Evil Emperor Zurg]] often falls into this while also lampshading it too, with one example being him demanding to lower "it"[[note]][[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard the Crystallic Self-Perpetuating Breeder Construction Core.]][[/note]]
-->'''Zurg:''' ''can't'' you come up with a shorter name for it? Like: "Evil Take-Over Thingy"?\\
'''Minion:''' In Test Markets, 4-out-of-5 victims [[NamesToRunAwayFromVeryFast were more terrified of big words.]]\\
'''Zurg:''' [[SlaveToPR Fine, fine.]] Let The Suits have their way... ''for now...''

* Both of ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' used the word "thingy" repeatedly. Really, the series was full of this trope. One episode is actually titled "Big Round Sticky Fish Thingy".
-->'''Daggett:''' Desperate times call for desperate desperate-ness...!
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In "Sand Castles in the Sand", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick play with a flying disk, which they call "small plastic disk that you throw".[[note]]This one may be a case of WritingAroundTrademarks, they probably couldn't call it a "frisbee" for legal reasons.[[/note]]
** In "License to Milkshake", [=SpongeBob=] learns from Captain Frostymug the reason his milkshakes turn out frozen is because he didn't raise the cup to the "spinny thing".
* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', while Junko is portrayed as quite smart for his species, he's not quite a genius. "The Beacon! It's stopped... beaconing!"
** Junko mentions that as a child, he was picked on for being more intellectual than your average Wallop; he's the only Wallop that plays a major role in the series, though, so we really have no baseline for where your average Wallop falls on the scale of thinking versus hitting things.
* Monique Speak in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', as well as slang outside of the show's trope namer.
** Ron Stoppable frequently is guilty of this.
--->"Oh, that's right, Sensei can do that weird floaty thing!"\\
"You've got the doors that go ''whoosh!''\\
"This goes beyond SickAndWrong, it's ''wrongsick!''"
** Ten reference points for nailing the Creator/SarahMichelleGellar voice.
--->'''Kim:''' We have to time this so that hovery guardy thing doesn't see us.
* ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' used this trope a lot. For example, in one episode Jim takes a ''Doppelganger'' -creating gun and Evil Jim says "Give that back you... Thing-taker guy!"
** "I will crush you like... some easily-crushed thing!"
** "Come back and face me like a... big... worm-thingy!"
** "Now I'll freeze you as solid as... uh... a solid freezy frozen thing." "[[IntelligibleUnintelligible Oook oook eeek]]!" "Oh right. Thank you! A block of ice!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''
** Starfire sometimes does this. She has a better excuse than most, as [[FishOutOfWater she's an alien and English is not her native language.]] Even without the language issues, though, she's still definitely the Team [[TheDitz Ditz]].
** The B-plot of the episode “Stranded” revolves around a dismembered Cyborg having to guide [[BookDumb Beast Boy]] through repairing him and the T-ship. He doesn’t make any real progress until he tones down the {{Technobabble}} and starts using Buffy Speak.
--->'''Cyborg''': Pull the red candy-cane thingamahoozit, [=NOW=]!

* In ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'', Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy taunted Dave with, "You shall perish beneath the might of my... mighty... [[ShapedLikeItself mightiness!]]"
* Skeeter's father in ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' initially suffers from this because the room is so noisy he can't hear himself think. Later he's {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed into doing this all the time.
* ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo''--"And I would not call that making love. I would call that... the Shame Spear... of... Hurt..."
* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' "It's Shannon! You can tell by his... thing."

* Mr. Director, the [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Jerry Lewis look-alike]] on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' lapses into this from time to time, as well as gibbering pseudo-Yiddish nonsense.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToadPatrol'' actually incorporated this as a regular form of speech for the toadlet characters known as "toad speak." Since they didn't know all the words for things, concepts such as nighttime were expressed in manners such as "the deep deep blue has turned to black." Rain was "falling wet."
* Used in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' when UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush [[ItMakesSenseInContext awakens the ghost of]] UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln.
-->'''Lincoln''': WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?\\
'''Bush''': Who dares question my... daring... of his... dare... jerk!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' parody of ''Franchise/StarWars'' called "Blue Harvest", Grand Moff Tarkin (Creator/AdamWest) threatens to use the Death Star's "planet-blower-upper-gun" on Alderaan. After Leia's (Lois) BigNo, he hesitates.

* Used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', when the baby Chucky keeps a lucky... object in his pocket that all the babies are familiar with, but none have a word for. (It's a bottlecap.) It is simple referred to as "Chucky's lucky... thing", complete with the pause while the babies search for the word.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', "It's an art that can't be taught, like a poet's... mind for the... to make... the perfect word."
* In an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama World Tour]]'' the cast has to find some barrels of oil buried in Drumheller's badlands as a challenge. Cody complains that "There must be twenty miles of badlands. It's like looking for a needle in... twenty miles of badlands!" [[SidetrackedByTheAnalogy Actually a needle would be way smaller than a barrel...]]
* King Julien in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar''
** Done out of ''guilt'' in the episode "Nighty Night Ninja". The penguins had been staying up late and watching this ninja program, and hours later all of them are up on the top of their hideout, dead tired and discussing their predicament. Kowalski is asleep on his feet. All of a sudden, in the middle of the discussion, he wakes up shouting a WakingNonSequitur that sounds sort of like, "I want my binky!!" He notices the other three staring at him and he sheepishly says, "Sp... I-I mean... something... sciencey..." (''Nervous laugh'')

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/WildGrinders'' in which Chip Fligginton (cheesy jingle: CHIP FLIGGINGTON!) describes how Lil' Rob did his trick.

* Joseph of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' tends to speak in Buffy Speak from time to time:
-->IT'S LIKE MY HEART IS A REALLY SAD MAN.
* In the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'', while furniture shopping, Ilana convinces Lance to sit on a couch, describing it as "smooshy."
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** In "Red Man's Greed" Randy says that there is more to life than money like "slurpees and stuff."
** In "The Return of Chef", Stan tells the psychiatrist that Chef was brainwashed with [[HypnoRay a little thing]] that goes [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud whrrrrrr]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', when Mabel explains the hole in Wax Stan's shoe.
-->"All the wax guys have that. It's where the pole thingy attaches to their stand dealies."
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'', Babs disguises herself as a fireworks salesman to rescue Buster from some love-sick alligator sisters. She describes her wares as including "them Roman candles, yucky curly snake-y things, and that little spinny whirlibob that never works."
* [[WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie-the-Pooh]], being a bear of very little brain, resorts to this at times. On accidentally wiping out part of a massive equation that was written on a chalkboard: "It did make Grandpappy Gopher's equation a bit more... ''less''."
* Happens quite a bit in ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012''. Occasionally done by the pets, though mostly by the Biskit Twins, who seem to do this with even the simplest of words, e.g. they call a nurse a "medicine-lady" and an idea a "brain-thingy".

* Used occasionally in ''WesternAnimation/ChinaIL'', such as in "Prank Week:"
-->'''Pony:''' Yes, Frank, you have to do bad people stuff, but for good.
* The kid protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' speak in the familiar contemporary version, [[AnachronismStew despite the old-fashioned setting]]. Somewhat {{justified|Trope}} where Greg and Wirt are concerned--[[spoiler:they're actually two kids from our world who ended up in the Unknown by accident]]. Less so with Beatrice, who says things like "Here you're like a hero and stuff, right?" despite [[spoiler: dressing like she's from the regency era]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "The Bare Facts", Blossom doesn't know what nunchucks are called, and describes them as "ninja thingys".
* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', Lance is prone to this.
-->'''Keith:''' We aren't some soldiers for you to toy around with, like, like...\\
'''Lance:''' Like a bunch of toy soldiers!\\
'''Keith:''' [[TheComicallySerious Yes! Thank you, Lance.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Helga's description of Ruth in "Arnold's Valentine".
-->'''Helga:''' She's nothing but a stuck-up, sixth grade-y, training bra wearing, brace-y faced, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment sixth grade-y...sixth grader!]]
* ''Literature/{{Franklin}}'':
** In both the book and television versions of ''Franklin's Bad Day'', Franklin declares it to be the "worstest day ever." Beaver says that there's no such word, but he replies that there is for him.
** In "Super Cluepers' Case of the Missing School Bell" from ''Franklin and Friends'', the Super Cluepers discover that the part of the bell that actually causes it to ring is missing. However, even after being told by Mr. Owl that this is called the "clapper," it ends up being referred to several times as the "ringy thingy."

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' Book 4 has this make up a lot of Kez's dialogue. Unfortunately for the two passengers who get stuck with her, this means it takes a while before they can parse her poor explanation of [[EpiphanicPrison where they even are]].
--->'''Min-Gi''': We're still on a train!?\\
'''Kez''': Uh, yeah. Remember? I explained that.\\
'''Ryan''': No, you just said we're "in a pocket"!
* In the first season, of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Robin had a tendency to ponder words and their prefixes, ie, pointing out that people are overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but no one is ever just "whelmed," and telling a distraught Artemis to get "traught." Episode 5 shows that he actually puts in a lot of thought into it, and that the rest of the Team is picking up on it and using it. By the second season he has stopped doing this, but he does occasionally make reference to his earlier ponderances. As time goes by, other characters start using these words and them becoming a part of the team's lexicon.

* Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Adrian Graye, head of the Illusionist Coven, often orders his underlings to improve their performances by using words like "mmph" and "pow" to describe what they need to do better. None of the scouts understand what he means by this, and are mostly forced to figure things out themselves, something they very openly despise.
* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "The Great Qyah Cleanup," Mr. Rowley calls a grease catch pan a 'doohickey.'
----

* In the first season, of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Robin had a tendency to ponder words and their prefixes, ie, pointing out that people are overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but no one is ever just "whelmed," and telling a distraught Artemis to get "traught." Episode 5 shows that he actually puts in a lot of thought into it, and that the rest of the Team is picking up on it and using it. By the second season he has stopped doing this, but he does occasionally make reference to his earlier ponderances.

* Mr. Director, the [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Jerry Lewis look-alike]] on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' lapses into this from time to time, as well as [[AcceptableTargets gibbering pseudo-Yiddish nonsense]].

-->'''Buford:''' ''(to Perry the Platypus)'' Don't worry, little ducky thing...