whatchamacallit rules

12:52 Jul 4, 2012 

... because the best answer seems to me to be Tony's. Thanks everybody

16:41 Apr 24, 2012 

Yes, but this is street language, and the rules of grammar don't apply, or only shakily...

I'm just not convinced that 'rule OK?' sits very well with 'sea of young ladies'; in any case, there would often be a tendency in EN to treat the young ladies as plural, sea or not (we've had discussions before about singular or plural with collective nouns) — I rather see it as being the list of whatnots that is being lumped together as a single entity describing a certain fashion (?) style.

16:28 Apr 24, 2012 

Not in the examples I've found:
Actual Examples:
Dandys Rule, OK?
KC RULES OK

Parodies:
Heisenberg probably Rules, OK?
James Bond rules, OOK?
Dyslexics lure, KO.
Potassium Ethoxide rules C2H5OK
Dandys Rule OK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandys_Rule_OK
Dandys Rule OK is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released on 6 April 1995 on Tim/Kerr Records.
The Goodies Rule – O.K.? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goodies_Rule_–_O.K.%3F
"The Goodies Rule OK" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006; "From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy ...

16:12 Apr 24, 2012 

(or 'laides' as I originally mistyped it!)

I'm not sure they're included in the 'de rigueur' bit. I read it as something like this:

"Looking down on the crowd, I am seeing scantily clad young ladies, in a room where [all this trash] rules ok!?"

Just one way of looking at it, but I think it holds water...

16:10 Apr 24, 2012 

Because it's a set expression, and is always in the singular: Queen rules OK!
Tottenham Hotspur rules OK! Dyslexia lures OK!

16:03 Apr 24, 2012 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rules, OK?

I saw it the way Tony does, but then there is a problem : why is "rules" in the singular, since it is supposed to apply to all the paraphernalia?

15:33 Apr 24, 2012 

... I (almost) get it. If I understand your explanation, young ladies, shoes, wigs, weaves and whatchamacallit are all part of a listing of things that are "de rigueur"? And that's all, no verb then?

14:34 Apr 24, 2012 

I think the 'rules OK?' (traditional UK graffiti tag line) applies to the whole of the foregoing list (which is left otherwise without a verb):

"fashionable platform shoes and made-in-Bombay, mail-order human hair wigs, weaves and whatchamacallit rules, ok?"

And 'human hair wigs' (only) is qualified by both 'mail-order' and 'made-in-Bombay'

So 'rules OK?' is something like 'de rigueur' in a humorous sense — everyone is wearing the same kind of things, or at least, these things sum up in a nutshell the general fashion style of the gathering...

BTW, I don't think it's specifically S.A. slang — this sounds very familiar to me in the UK too.

'X rules, OK?' is the type of expression I grew up with in the '60s, and is a sort of 'street' way of saying something like 'vive X !' — but in your context, it is being used differently, a bit of a 'play on words', really as if it meant just 'rules' or 'is the rule'; the idea is perhaps a bit like the notion of 'régnant'.