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petra_r
Community Member

Tip of the Tongue

Who knew that it is an actual thing with a proper name (lethologica)?

 

It happens to me a lot, especially when I work too much. I communicate all day long in three languages, and the weird thing is that when a word is "on the tip of my tongue", I often can't make it spring forth in any of my languages.

 

A few years ago I was working totally crazy hours for a while and at one point my entire language center shut down and I could not find any word in any language for a couple of hours. I could "picture" things, but not summon any words.

 

That was scary (for me... probably a relief for some, too)

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gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Glad to know it has a name. For me, it definitely tracks with fatigue and sometimes with stress. 

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mwiggenhorn
Community Member

I only have one language these days.  (I used to have fluent French but it rusted and fell out of my brain years ago).  Even so, and maybe because I'm getting old, I often suffer from lethologica.  Glad to know it has a name.  Now, if it only had a cure...

I've got to write this word down, wouldn't want it to be on the tip of my tongue. Cat Tongue

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"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce


Mary W wrote:

  (I used to have fluent French but it rusted and fell out of my brain years ago).  


That happened to my (ancient) Greek. I only took it because of young Markus (the overly intellectual, tall, dark brooding brainiac with the hands of a pianist I had a crush on at boarding school) obviously went for Greek rather than French. It was also taught in the headmaster's tower classroom with a breathtaking view across the Black Forest. The novelty soon wore off, (and darling Markus turned out to be my first gaydar failure at the tender age of 13), but at that point I was trapped.

 

My Latin, however, has come back in leaps and bounds since I moved to Italy (quelle surprise...)

 

I never learned French or Spanish, but seem to be able to read simple / not overly complex texts easily enough these days.

 

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Petra R wrote:

 

I never learned French or Spanish, but seem to be able to read simple / not overly complex texts easily enough these days.

 

 


That does not surprise me. Back when my French was stronger, I accidentally discovered that I could passably read Italian subtitles. Today, I think my ability to read French subtitles would be at about the level I could make sense of Italian back then.

lysis10
Community Member

Not being able to think of a word really annoys me. I think just because I'm an Internet troll, I think better when I'm typing. But sometimes I'm speaking and I can't think of a word. It makes me grateful for smartphones, because I will be sitting at a table and tell people I need to look up the word or I will be bothered by this all night. lol

 

When Michael dies, I want him to will me his brain matter so that I can shoot it into my system.

versailles
Community Member

It sucks when you know the word in your second language, but cannot remember it anymore in your native language.

 

This is when you know you need to go slow on the booze, but then, you forget this as well.

 

 

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"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Glad to know it has a name. For me, it definitely tracks with fatigue and sometimes with stress. 

tlsanders
Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Who knew that it is an actual thing with a proper name (lethologica)?

 

It happens to me a lot, especially when I work too much. I communicate all day long in three languages, and the weird thing is that when a word is "on the tip of my tongue", I often can't make it spring forth in any of my languages.

 

A few years ago I was working totally crazy hours for a while and at one point my entire language center shut down and I could not find any word in any language for a couple of hours. I could "picture" things, but not summon any words.

 

That was scary (for me... probably a relief for some, too)


That sounds terrifying. Every time I can't come up with a word or think of someone's name at this point in my life, I have a mini-panic that I'm experiencing some kind of cognitive deterioration. 

 

 


Tiffany S wrote:

That was scary (for me... probably a relief for some, too)


That sounds terrifying. Every time I can't come up with a word or think of someone's name at this point in my life, I have a mini-panic that I'm experiencing some kind of cognitive deterioration. 


It was terrifying, especially as it went hand in hand with debilitating visual disturbances. The whole episode was later diagnosed as an ocular migraine. At the time, I thought I had a brain tumour, which would have been a very inconvenient thing to have when you are on your own in a country whose language you don't speak. 

 

 

 


Petra R wrote:

Tiffany S wrote:

That was scary (for me... probably a relief for some, too)


That sounds terrifying. Every time I can't come up with a word or think of someone's name at this point in my life, I have a mini-panic that I'm experiencing some kind of cognitive deterioration. 


It was terrifying, especially as it went hand in hand with debilitating visual disturbances. The whole episode was later diagnosed as an ocular migraine. At the time, I thought I had a brain tumour, which would have been a very inconvenient thing to have when you are on your own in a country whose language you don't speak. 

 

 


 I thought I had a brain tumor when I got my first migraine, and it was just a run-of-the-mill migraine. I was 17 and got up to get ready for school, and my head hurt so bad I thought I was dying. I went to let my dog out and my depth perception was so off that I slammed my head into the sliding glass door and made it worse. I honestly thought I was dying, but it hurt so bad I didn't even have the inclination (or perhaps clarity of thought) to do anything about it. I just went back to bed without even waking up my mom and was kind of surprised to be alive when she woke me up a couple of hours later to ask why I hadn't either gone to school or gotten her up to call me in sick.

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