Q. What is the marker thingie called in planchette?

A. The proper name is planchette (plan-'shet) from the French word for "little plank." Some believe that the actual inventor's name was Planchette. Wouldn't that be a coincidence? If French is hard for you, call it a message indicator. Under no circumstances call it a carriage, center dome, cursor, do-hickey, doo-dad, eye, fulcrum, glide, glider, guide, heart, letter finder, locator, marker thingie, marker, mover, paddle, palmier, plachet, plaque, planchard, plantain, platent, plinth, pointer, receptor, shuttle, slider, seer, spade, speaker, stylist, stylus, triangle, or trivet. That is considered very bad form. And whatever you do, never, ever call it a "puck." If you don't know why, we suggest you look that word up in your dictionary. On second thought, call it anything you please. If it sounds interesting & enough people use it, we will eventually list it here