# Schmilblick

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{{Short description|Imaginary object}}
The '''Schmilblick''' is an imaginary object first described in a [nonsense prose](/source/Literary_nonsense) by the French [humorist](/source/humorist) [Pierre Dac](/source/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](/source/Guy_Lux) and [Jacques Antoine](/source/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](/source/French_language) and was sometimes used as a [placeholder name](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Coluche) used this word in one of his sketches, a parody of [Guy Lux](/source/Guy_Lux)'s show.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [MacGuffin](/source/MacGuffin)
* ''[Schtroumpf](/source/The_Smurfs)''

== 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

{{word-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Schmilblick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmilblick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmilblick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.