so-and-so

See also: so and so

English

Alternative forms

• so and so

Noun

so-and-so (plural so-and-sos)

1. A placeholder name for a person or thing, used when a name is not known; a generic person or thing.

   She told me to ask so-and-so, but he didn't know, either.

   Business letters normally begin "Dear Mr So-and-So".

   He will tell you to do so-and-so, but read the instructions first, anyway.

2. (euphemistic, derogatory) Used in place of epithets such as SOB, bastard, etc.

   That miserable so-and-so messed up my work!

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “How can five hundred pounds become a hundred thousand pounds?!”
     “I’m not a bank,” snapped Mr Big.
     “No, you just rob them!” said Frank.
     “Cocky little so-and-so, aren’t you?”

   • 2023 August 13, Michael Hogan, quoting Susan Wokoma, “Actor Susan Wokoma: ‘We all want to be married to Emma Thompson, don’t we?’”, in The Observer‎:

     Greg [Wise]’s excellent to work with. Funny and incredibly playful. He gets to be married to me by day and Emma Thompson by night. What a lucky so-and-so. We all want to be married to Emma Thompson, don’t we? I certainly do.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:whatsaname

Related terms

• such-and-such

Translations

placeholder name

Arabic: فُلَان (ar) m (fulān), فُلَانَة f (fulāna) Moroccan Arabic: فلان m (flān), فلانة f (flāna) Azerbaijani: filan, nəmnə (dialect, colloquial), bəhman Bashkir: фәлән (fələn), фәлән-төгән (fələn-tögən) Bengali: ফলনা m (fôlôna), ফলনি f (fôlôni), অমুক (bn) (omuk) Chinese: Mandarin: 某某 (zh) (mǒumǒu) Czech: ten a ten m, ta a ta f, to a to n Egyptian: (mn m), (mnt f) Finnish: se ja se (fi) French: (person): Untel (fr), Machin (fr), Trucmuche (fr), Tartempion (fr) ; (thing): chose (fr), machin (fr) Galician: aqueloutro m, fulán m German: der und der m, die und die f, das und das n Greek: τάδε (el) m or f or n (táde) Ancient Greek: δεῖνα m or f or n (deîna) Japanese: 何々 (なになに, naninani) Kapampangan: nanu-nanu, kayi Korean: 뭐뭐 (mwomwo), 아무개 (ko) (amugae), 무엇무엇 (mueonmueot), 무슨무슨 (museunmuseun) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: فِڵان (ckb) (fillan), فیسار (fîsar) Maltese: flien m, fliena f Maori: mea, kai a te kurī (Rather derogatory expression) Persian: فلان (fa) (folân), بهمان (fa) (bahmân) Portuguese: fulano (pt) m, sicrano (pt) m, beltrano (pt) m Romanian: cutare (ro), Cutărescu, X-ulescu m, X-uleasca f Russian: то́-то и то́-то n (tó-to i tó-to), и то и сё n (i to i sjo) Spanish: fulano (es) m, fulana (es) f Turkish: falan (tr), filan (tr), falan filan (tr) Turkmen: nämenäme, pylan Walloon: Tibî Meyî (wa), Chôze

anything generic

Arabic: فُلَان (ar) (fulān), كَذَا وَكَذَا (kaḏā wakaḏā), كَذَا (kaḏā) Bengali: অমুক (bn) (omuk) Finnish: se ja tämä French: ci et ça Galician: aqueloutro m, fulán m German: so und so Greek: δείνα (el) (deína) Ancient Greek: δεῖνα m or f or n (deîna) Kapampangan: nanu-nanu, kayi-kayi Maori: mea Persian: فلان (fa) (folân), باستار (fa) (bâstâr) Russian: то́-то и то́-то n (tó-to i tó-to); та́к-то и та́к-то (ták-to i ták-to)

name used to take the place of an epithet

Finnish: se ja se (fi) Kapampangan: kayi Polish: taki owaki Russian: тако́й-сяко́й (ru) (takój-sjakój) Spanish: tal por cual m or f

See also

• so-so

Anagrams

• Sodanos