I’ve always gotten a kick about some of the words that have been used over the years to describe things we can’t seem to come up with easy-to-remember words for.

“Phil,” the garage mechanic says, “hand me the thing-a-ma-jig from the tool box, please.”

“Nancy, what’s that doo-hickey dangling on your refrigerator door?”

“Hey, Gertie, who got you that what-cha-ma-call-it on your kitchen cupboard?”

At one time, thing-a-ma-jigs and what-cha-ma-call-its were all part of the American language.

Back then our language also included doo-dads and thingies .

Names of things is a part of life and life, as we all know, is about questions.

Paper or plastic?

Regular or high-test?

Cash or charge?

Oh, sure, there are plenty of neat things to make life tons of fun but the disappointments

are always there, too, just itching to rain on your proverbial parade if they get the chance.

I wonder about things …

What if I need a new mattress and then I realize I’ve forgotten my “Sleep Number?”

If my sleep number is, say, 31 and I make the mistake of getting a mattress with the sleep number 14 could my hair fall out or, worse yet, would all the lottery numbers I choose turn out to be losers?