Words you never remember

[Dondrei]

Damnit, I just spent a day and a half trying to remember the word "paradigm". For some reason there are certain words that I know well and love using, but whenever I think of the perfect place to use them I get a mental block and can't remember them. Often I find one word blocked by another; even though I knew it wasn't the word I was after I couldn't stop thinking "zeitgeist".

Another one is "nepotism", but I've been getting better with that lately.

So do you ever have this problem? Is it mostly certain words that do it to you?

[kobold]

Yes, but dammit, I can't remember the word I have a problem with.

Seriously though, yes, it does happen to me.

The most annoying (lately) is my constant spelling of comparatively incorrectly. That irks me to no end.

[DurfBarian]

I lived with a guy during my college years who spent three days trying to remember a word . . . drove him mad. He didn't eat much, slept little, all his homework was on hold. When he finally dredged it up ("malapropism") he wrote it in huge letters on a giant piece of paper, posted it on our fridge, did a little dance of joy in the kitchen, and then went to sleep.

[Yaboosh]

I lived with a guy during my college years who spent three days trying to remember a word . . . drove him mad. He didn't eat much, slept little, all his homework was on hold. When he finally dredged it up ("malapropism") he wrote it in huge letters on a giant piece of paper, posted it on our fridge, did a little dance of joy in the kitchen, and then went to sleep.

That is won of the nerdier things I have ever read. Yay durf's roommate!

[DurfBarian]

Yeah, he later went on to spend 12 years in grad school, almost getting a PhD in English.

[Yaboosh]

Spending 12 years in grad school and only ALMOST getting a PhD is rather sad I think.

[nosignal]

That word which describes words that are the same spelt forwards or backwards. Yeah... gets me every time.

[Sokar Rostau]

I do this a bit, but it's usually common words for me. And I also have the exact same problem with getting the wrong word stuck in a loop. Sometimes the word is similar, others it's just plain wrong but has the right initial letter.

A few months ago I was in a conversation about Egypt and for some reason I couldn't summon up the word "pyramid", the only thing I got was "man made mountain". What made it annoying is that I had said the word several times only a few minutes beforehand.

Usually it doesn't matter, but sometimes it does. When I did my presentation for my Cold War class a few weeks ago, I stalled for almost a minute trying to remember the words "Geneva Convention", I ended up saying "damnit, mental block... it starts with "G"" and someone in the class prompted me. The word I was getting in a loop was "Georgia" as in the country, not the state.

EDIT: I've always wondered why the word is "palindrome" rather than "pallap" or "palinnilap" or something.

[RevenantsKnight]

That word which describes words that are the same spelt forwards or backwards. Yeah... gets me every time.

Palindromes?

There never are particular ones for me, though I do get mind blanks on words from time to time.

[Dondrei]

That word which describes words that are the same spelt forwards or backwards. Yeah... gets me every time.

You mean a palindrome? Yeah, I get stuck on that one sometimes too. That word always makes me think of Darkside of XEEN, which is where I learned it. Those damn Drawcab monks.

*EDIT*

Too late, figures.