I recently saw this bit of Britspeak that I'd not seen previously. Is it common? Is it synonymous with "doodad" or "thingamajig," or is it used in specific circumstances?

I recently saw this bit of Britspeak that I'd not seen previously.

I had never heard of it before, but the OED has citations from the mid-16th century. Besides gadget, it also means fish-parings, trash; fool, duffer.

Very common.
And yes, pretty much synonymous with doodad. Maybe a touch more specific in that it usually refers to the bit that makes something work.

We talked about it way back here: Link Yet, I only cited it and didn't mention where I'd gotten it. Gubbins isn't a familiar word to me, though the others in that thread are. I guess tchatzkah could be another.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

tchatzkah

I've seen more variation on spelling the Yiddish word טשאַטשקע (tshatshke) 'trinket' in English than even the more famous Hannukah. Essentially, the Yiddish word has a variety of meanings: (1) trinket, geegaw, worthless bauble, (2) pretty young girl, (3) bimbo, (4) adulterous woman. It's from a general Slavic word meaning 'toys': cf. Polish cacka (tsatska), Slovak čačka (tʃatʃka), Russian цацки (tsatski).

Based on Bob's comments, and the context in which I saw "gubbin," I think tchatzkah (with which I am familiar) must have a more generic meaning, or suggests something superfluous, not something necessary but unnamed.

Many Yiddish words have multiple spellings. I am not sure why. There are many French, German, Spanish, etc., words out there where the spelling is always the same.

I only know tchatzkah to mean a worthless bauble or trinket.

Gubbins certainly isn't a worthless bauble or trinket. It's something (possibly important) for which the speaker can't put a name. For instance, many people, speaking about the hardware inside their computer box, might say that they "know nothing about all that gubbins".

Today was the first time I had ever heard of the word "gubbins." Tshatshkes, on the other hand, are something I've heard about a lot, always referring to the little garbage-y souvenirs the college where I worked would give out at reunions and such. If you go to a country fair and play one of the carnival games, you might win a tshatshke and could throw it in the trash without harming yourself; whereas, if you misplaced the gubbins from your Snickerdoodle press, you could be up a creek without a... gubbins.

Wordmatic