The Thingamabob That Does The Job

In certain herbalist circles this phrase is used to identify an element that is a KEY herb or substance in a remedy. Something like Calendula and Geranium for Resistant Strep types. Or Decongestant with Croup or Mumps as being one of the Thingamabobs that does the job.

We quote that from Disney. But he got it from cultures LONG before he dreamed up Bibbity Bobbity Boo.

So what is the origin of that peculiar phrase?

The Thingamabob is actually a Thingamabobble. Just a bobble on a hat. Either a pompom, or a string with a clipped pompom swinging around on it. Other variations also, depending on the style favored at the time.

This is Lapland. It is upper Finland, and two counties of Russia including Murmansk and one lower. It is COLD country. Hats are a big deal.

People are generally fairly poor, and life is hard. Lines of frugality are drawn in ways we might not have to consider in our day.

A hat was made with the least wool possible. A pompom in any manner was a frivolity or a luxury, again, depending on what was in style, for wool is dear, and there must also be gloves and scarves and socks, not to mention warm pants and coats.

It is the MEN, ladies. Women did not wear bobbles (women wore feathers, and ribbon or crocheted flowers, if they could afford them). Men wore the bobble.

This meant either they had a frugal wife who tended well to them, and managed the resources so he had a little bit of finery dancing on his noggin, or that he made enough money to AFFORD a wife, if he were single.

So a man who wore a hat with a bobble was a good prospect for marriage. He had sufficient money to buy a hat that announced his prosperity. And so he did… a single man on the lookout for a wife would work to acquire a hat with a pompom, to add weight to his dating efforts.

So this phrase translates roughly to, “The hat with the bobble that attracts the girls.”.

Life is often stranger than fiction.