Whatnot
Recently I was listening to an American podcast in which a phone-in caller regularly said “whatnot”. It’s one of the many, many expressions used to me “etcetera”. Some people have a habit of using the same set of words repeatedly, and this doesn’t sound good to the listener.
It generally has the nuance of “and other things that aren’t important enough for me to mention”.
Examples:
- “We bought mugs, postcards, and whatnot at the gift shop.”
- “He told me about the costs, the taxes, and whatnot.”
- “She keeps her books, stationery and whatnot in the corner.”
Other expressions with a similar meaning:
- Etcetera (etc.)
- What have you
- Things of that nature
- and so on
- and so forth