noun
pl. so′-and-sos·Informal some person or thing whose name is either not specified or not known: often used euphemistically in place of a strong or vulgar, disparaging epithet
noun
- An example of when you might use the expression "so-and-so" is when someone at a party told you that the stock market was crashing but you don't remember her name. You might say "so-and-so said the stock market is crashing."
- An example of so-and-so is when you call someone a stupid so-and-so.
So-and-so is used as a stand-in for a name that you aren't sure of, or in place of using a vulgar expression.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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so-and-so
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"So-and-so." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so.
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So-and-so. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so
so-and-so
pron.
An unnamed or unspecified person or thing.
noun
pl. so-and-sos Informal A son of a gun.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"So-and-so." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so.
APA Style
So-and-so. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so
Noun
(plural so-and-sos)
- (idiomatic) A placeholder name for a person or thing, used when a name is not known; a generic name.
- She told me to ask so-and-so, but he didn't know, either.
- Some thing or things.
- He will tell you to do so-and-so, but read the instructions first, anyway.
- (euphemistic) Used for epithets such as SOB, bastard, etc..
- That miserable so-and-so messed up my work!
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"So-and-so." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so.
APA Style
So-and-so. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/So-and-so
Sentence Examples
- These changes were typically made with little fanfare; there was just a simple announcement that the role of "John" would now be played by "so-and-so," and viewers would simply have to get used to the new actor in the role.
- Amidst the hoopla about who's cheating on who, who's having who's baby, when so-and-so will get caught and various other shenanigans, soap opera ratings seem to take a bit of a backseat - at least to the audience.
- The last of our love games that actually work is the "I'll just inquire of so-and-so, if so-and-so is available," all done of course, with the intent of it actually getting back to the desired so-and-so.
- Resources often list people as being "credited" and often names so-and-so as the inventor of this for video game and that for consoles.
- In addition to being frustrating, it can hurt a diet by making you think you'll never lose weight and look like so-and-so.
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