Talk:gizmo

gizmo is a corruption of the Maltese word "x'jismu" meaning "what's its name". It is used when the person momentarily cannot recall the name of a thing that they are refereing to at the moment. It was picked up by the British when they were stationed in Malta and they integrated it into the English language. Also there are plenty of Maltes persons who had emigrated to Canada and the USA and they could have integrated the word. c.f The Oxford English Dictionary.

I have a feeling 'giz' means gives (like gizza job or goes gezunder which doesn't seem to fit the above meaning. Possibly the mo means me. 2.97.163.10 12:47, 20 May 2012 (UTC)