{{Short description|Imaginary object}} The '''Schmilblick''' is an imaginary object first described in a nonsense prose by the French humorist Pierre Dac during the 1950s. According to its creator, the Schmilblick can be used in almost any occasion, therefore being strictly indispensable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pierredac.free.fr/schmil.htm|title=Le Schmilblick|website=Archive de Pierre Dac|language=French|access-date=2018-09-27}}</ref> Dac himself credits the fictional brothers Jules and Raphaël Fauderche with its invention ("Fauderche" means "Fake arse" in French).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p-MAgAAQBAJ&q=schmilblick+pierre+dac|title=Dictionnaire de la télévision française|last1=Dehée|first1=Yannick|last2=Chauveau|first2=Agnès|date=2014-01-01|publisher=Nouveau Monde éditions|isbn=9782365838092|language=fr}}</ref>
The ''Schmilblick'' resurfaced in 1969, in a TV show by Guy Lux and Jacques Antoine entitled ''Le Schmilblic'' (sometimes spelled ''Schmilblik'' or ''Schmilblick'').{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The aim of the game was to guess the name of an object given some of its characteristics (color, shape, use and so on). This TV game actually re-uses an idea from an old radio show called ''Tirlipot'' created several years before.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
The word quickly became very popular in French language and was sometimes used as a placeholder name, particularly for a strange or unknown object similar to English words like "thingamajig" or "whatchamacallit". The words nowadays remains occasionally used to refer to some limited help provided by someone to solve a difficult problem.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160929-the-worlds-quirkiest-phrases|title=Eleven of the world's quirkiest phrases|last=Macdonald|first=Fiona|date=29 September 2016|website=BBC Online|language=en|access-date=2018-09-27}}</ref> The actual idiom is ''faire avancer le schmilblick'' ("to make the schmilblick move/get ahead", literally) and was used a lot in the TV quiz show where it meant asking a pertinent question that might make it easier to guess the object.
Coluche used this word in one of his sketches, a parody of Guy Lux's show.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
== See also == {{Wiktionary}} * MacGuffin * ''Schtroumpf''
== References == <references />
== External links == * [http://pierredac.free.fr/schmil.htm Pierre Dac's original sketch] {{in lang|fr}}
Category:French words and phrases Category:Fictional objects
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