Slang dictionary
dooblydoo
or doobly-doo or doobly doo or dooblidoo [ doo-blee-doo ] or [ doo-buhl-ee-doo ]
What does dooblydoo mean?
Dooblydoo is a term YouTubers use for the description text beneath a video that provides such information as what the video is about, who made it, and relevant links.
Where does dooblydoo come from?
Like whatchamacallit and thingamajig, dooblydoo is a nonsensical, whimsical placeholder word. It is generally used for one very specific thing, though: the description text box at the bottom of a YouTube video.
I'm pumped to get into more video projects if for no other reason than I want to have reason to say "Doobly Doo" more often. I❤️@johngreen
— Shawna Tregunna (@ShawnaActually) August 4, 2017
In March 2009, popular YouTuber Craig Benzine, known by his handle WheezyWaiter, released a video after a hiatus. In his video, he mentions that links to his merchandise page and fellow YouTubers’ channels are in the “dooblydoo below” (which he also calls a “describey”). There not really being a go-to word for this text area, Benzine used dooblydoo instead, likely inspired by older use of such sounds as a placeholder word and similar words like doohickey and doodad.
Benzine’s fans and other YouTubers, notably the Vlog Guys, picked up on the lingo and started also saying “links in the dooblydoo” for the text area. Benzine became so associated with this silly word that he even began to make merchandise for his channel that featured the word dooblydoo on it.
Since 2009, dooblydoo began to be used more widely on YouTube to mean the text box below the video.
However, it is still a nonsense word and, much like whatchamacallit, dooblydoo is occasionally used as a placeholder for, well, just about anything. It shows up in pop songs, like the 1991 track “Funky Monks” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who scat-rap: “No I will not misconstrue / more rockin’ more rockin’ now doobley doo.”
It can also be used as a more fun way to say doodle, as in a quick, informal drawing.
A lil doobly doo for a friend pic.twitter.com/uRwCvbcu8s
— kagome (@emmybeees) November 22, 2017
The spelling of this nonsense word isn’t stable. Dooblydoo can be found written any number of ways, leading to no shortage of internet hot takes on its “proper” spelling.
Examples of dooblydoo
Who uses dooblydoo?
The word dooblydoo is most often used by YouTubers and other internet video makers and their fans for the description text below a video. It’s no longer just exclusive to YouTube, but used for description texts for other internet content, including podcasts, and platforms, such as Instagram.
When two versions of @mikerugnetta point to the doobly doo, does that make it a doubly doo? pic.twitter.com/X2nx6MFQcL
— Scott ⚡️ (@ScottNiswander) June 8, 2016
As mentioned, dooblydoo is also occasionally used as a placeholder or nonsense word, like or doohickey or doodad.
Just jamming – a scat blat doobly doo yeah *finger click* pic.twitter.com/3QN1a0KuYI
— Anne Steele 🎢 (@anneoftheshire) July 19, 2015
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of dooblydoo like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of dooblydoo that will help our users expand their word mastery.