I absolutely loved this question. Of course, we can all think of a handful of words like thingy, that simply act as a stand-in word for the word we are thinking of but cannot, at present, grasp.
The 1960 Dictionary of American slang uses the term kadigin for placeholder words, defining it as a synonym for thingamajig.
Dr. Richard Nordquist, Professor Emeritus of English, writes in Crossing Boundaries: Studies in English Language, Literature, and Culture in a Global Environment, originally published in 2009:
The linguistic term for such peculiar sounding words as "thingamajig" and "whatchamacallit" is placeholder, or, less formally, tongue-tipper or kadigin: a word used to signal that a speaker does not know or cannot remember a more precise word for something.
William Safire, author, presidential speechwriter, and writer of The New York Time's column "On Language" addresses popular etymology in his incredibly popular, and entertaining, column. The focus of his January 9, 2005 piece, "Whosit's Whatchamacallit" is all about your topic:
"We are now into the creative world of "tongue-tippers," terms used in place of words on the tip of the speaker's tongue but just beyond linguistic reach."
In the article, Safire provides fascinating history and etymology of various tongue-tippers. We also learn that English may not be able to lay claim to all tounge-tippers:
"British English also has its words for the unremembered objects. In 1962, The Sunday Times explained that "'ujah' . . . was used as widely and as indiscriminately as 'gimmick' and 'gadget' are used now." It was usually spelled oojah and was thought to be of Hindustani origin."
I hope you enjoy reading the entirety of Safire's column. Between placeholder, kadigin and tongue-tipper, the last one in my opinion is the best. I think that it's important to have a memorable word when trying to remember the name for the group of words that we use when we just can't seem to remember the actual word.
Orenda
The force of human will, in opposition to fate or destiny, to affect the world.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/orenda
a supernatural force believed by the Iroquois Indians to be present, in varying degrees, in all objects or persons, and to be the spiritual force by which human accomplishment is attained or accounted for.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orenda
extraordinary invisible power believed by the Iroquois Indians to pervade in varying degrees all animate and inanimate natural objects as a transmissible spiritual energy capable of being exerted according to the will of its possessor
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=orenda
a supernatural, divine force within every human being. Always omnipresent.
It empowers people to change the world in a positive, loving way.
It is the energy that effects change in One's own life.
"That inspirational speaker lifted me up so much with her 'orenda'. She made me feel that energy within myself to change the world for the better, through changing myself."
http://io9.com/5905257/10-untranslatable-words-and-when-youll-want-to-use-them
the invocation of the power of human will to change the world around us. It is set up to be the opposing force to fate or destiny. If powerful forces beyond your control are trying to force you one way, orenda is a kind of voiced summoning of personal strength to change fate.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/orenda
invisible magic power believed by the Iroquois to pervade all natural objects as a spiritual energy.
Also see Google results for "orenda definition"
Best Answer
It may pertain to the maxim "the worse, the better", often attributed to Vladimir Lenin in the years before the Communist Revolution.
There is a related philosophical idea: the modern (Hegelian/Marxist) use of the term dialectic. Hegel's idea was that each concept or position, theoretical as well as practical, continues to develope until it becomes useless and corrupt - entangled in its own contradictions. Then, a shift is made to another concept/position - the negation of the previous concept/position. Marx used the same idea in economical and political contexts. Hence the famous prediction concerning the imminent collapse of capitalistic economies, destined to be caught up in their own contradictions, until there is no remedy but a popular workers revolution.