Re: Seriously Forgetful [was Re: Terrified of [was Re: Regret the error]]

Wood Avens wrote:
On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 21:05:30 +0000, "Laura F. Spira"
<laura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Wood Avens wrote:


On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 17:36:28 GMT, "Maria Conlon"
<maria.c-b@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


This business of certain phrases (and words, too) sounding odd to me is rather new and sort of scary -- maybe even terrifying. (I'm not referring, by the way, to usages that are strictly regional. Not being familiar with those usages is understandable.)

(Just now, it was necessary for me to look for synonyms of "area" that begin with "r." I could remember the "r" but not "regional.")

I've been a reader ever since I was four or so; I've been the type who reads dictionaries (as well as other types of books) just for the fun of discovery. So, there are all sorts of common usages that should not sound odd to me. And yet they do, and with increasing frequency.

Anyone else dealing with this? Any hints for improvement? You know -- drink carrot juice, or go into trances, or sleep more....?


Are you sure it's not caused by reading or repeating a word or phrase
over and over again? After a while, even the simplest, most familiar
thing starts to look weird and improbable. It's the effect of reading
this group, and being inveigled into really looking at a word or
phrase for the first time, after having taken it for granted all one's
life.

Yes, I'm sure it's the influence of aue but, coupled with a failing memory, it can be a bit disconcerting. Recently I spent a sleepless night trying to remember the name for those easels that carry giant pads of paper in a classroom (Why? Because I needed to ask our administrator for one the following day). Although the words "flip chart stand" finally came to me as I was driving to work the next morning, I wasn't entirely confident that that was what I should be asking for. The more I thought about it, the odder it seemed. Where's the chart in a flip chart?



My thingummy, military thing, begins with S - ah! - strategy is to
look on the bright side: I feel ever so pleased when I've finally
remembered whatever-it-was. It's really so much more satisfying than
simply producing the word at the start. Truly.

Well, yes, but, when it takes a long time for the word to surface, I find a certain level of panic begins to set in.


Or the name. I admit I spent a fruitless hour or two the other day
trying to remember, of all things, the name of Shula's feckless
brother*. Odd name, don't know anyone else called that, two syllables
... I got it once I started to think about something else entirely.

*Kenton Archer


There's usually someone around who I can ask about names of people and I've developed strategies for dealing with the embarrassment of being faced with people whose names elude me. But it doesn't help to smile sweetly and say "I'm awfully sorry but I've reached the age where my memory is very unreliable - please remind me of your name" to a saucepan or a lawnmower.

(It seems to be Kenton's other sister who tells you to do up your seatbelt on the little films they now show on the X90 buses to London.)
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
.

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