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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 6, 2018 8:22:48 GMT
Good news Questa! Although I frequently search for the right word but just put it down to an age thing rather than reading too much into it.
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Post by breeze on Feb 6, 2018 13:17:39 GMT
I've been doing word substitution my whole life and it happens so often my husband knows he should check with me. I have no idea I've even done it till he says, "Uh, did you mean 'catapult'?" when what I meant to say was "sugar."
We have another thing, both of us, where we can't think of the word we want but we know it starts with an "m." We work with "m" for a while and when the aha moment comes, it turns out that the word starts with any letter but "m."
Pass the ginkgo biloba, please.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 6, 2018 13:26:50 GMT
I can't take Ginkgo. Thins my blood too much.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2018 16:35:44 GMT
we can't think of the word we want but we know it starts with an "m." That's funny! The same thing happens to me. During the time I'm trying to think of the word, I feel as though I'm in the big messy attic of my brain, which is full of dusty filing cabinets, some with their drawers standing open & with files partially pulled out. I now use the computer to try to find whatever it is -- yesterday it was the brand name of an allergy medicine. Looking it up that way is a good thing in terms of relieving the frustration of not knowing, but maybe not such a good thing in terms of bypassing whatever mental gymnastics might be involved in remembering it naturally. Years ago I lost the word "geranium" for an entire week. It almost drove me crazy, and was all I could think about until it popped back up again.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 6, 2018 17:21:50 GMT
Probably as bad as when you are writing a sentence, stop and look at what you've written and think 'is that a word or did I make it up?'
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Post by questa on Feb 6, 2018 22:33:18 GMT
'It's on the tip of my tongue' 'Oh you know...it rhymes with red' 'It goes zzzzz and I use it to make batter' [hand beater] 'Long thin thing with a Phillips head' [remember the detail, forget the easy word [screwdriver]
It helps that travel has taught me miming skills.
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 7, 2018 14:16:13 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 7, 2018 16:17:29 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 7, 2018 17:03:33 GMT
My own problem is to remember the name of actors and actresses. Sometimes I can spend 30 minutes watching a movie while obsessing about the actor's name. I run every letter of the alphabet through my head, I try to think of all of the most common first names... and sooner or later the name pops into my head, but never through the use of my techniques.
Meanwhile I bought unshelled peanuts for the first time in an eternity the other day. The last time I remember buying them was when I got stopped by the police in the middle of nowhere in Senegal ("speeding in an urban zone"). While I was negotiating an unofficial international friendship contribution, half of the faraway village ("urban zone"?) seemed to be running up to the car with baskets of peanuts. I felt it would be wise to buy some of them, too.
Anyway, they are a bloody nuisance to shell, but I suppose that makes them a good diet food because you get tired of doing all the work after eating only about 25% of the amount you would eat if you had a normal bag of peanuts.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 7, 2018 17:19:12 GMT
Perhaps those crawfish & shrimp peeling skills you acquired as a youngster on the Gulf Coast have eroded through the years? Should, God willing, I come across any nice boiled crawfish I intend to be ready and keep my peeling skills honed with peanuts in the shell.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 7, 2018 18:48:11 GMT
Often when watching a film together and one of us will say "ooh isn't that wotsit from oojamaflip?". Having been together for years we know who this is EXACTLY...and whilst occasionally OH or I will say the actual name it's more likely we'll just agree...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2018 19:51:35 GMT
I used to be an eksellent spelar but in the last few yeers have had diffikulty with speling surtin words.
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 8, 2018 8:28:24 GMT
My own problem is to remember the name of actors and actresses. Sometimes I can spend 30 minutes watching a movie while obsessing about the actor's name. I run every letter of the alphabet through my head, I try to think of all of the most common first names... and sooner or later the name pops into my head, but never through the use of my techniques. I just use Google. Most of the time there's a Wikipedia or IMDB page with a cast list. Often that leads one on to find out what else they did, and reflect on how many screen gods and goddesses reverted to the same kind of life most people lead (I can remember when some newspaper found Veronica Lake waitressing in a diner). My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 8, 2018 9:48:40 GMT
I used to be an eksellent spelar but in the last few yeers have had diffikulty with speling surtin words. I've always struggled with both spelling and grammar. I try. Sometimes I fail My best friend and I chat online most days and often misspell words intentionally like 'prolly' for probably, 'ackshully' for actually...combine this with the over zealous auto correct on my kindle fire and basically..it's a minefield....
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 8, 2018 10:59:53 GMT
My own problem is to remember the name of actors and actresses. Sometimes I can spend 30 minutes watching a movie while obsessing about the actor's name. I run every letter of the alphabet through my head, I try to think of all of the most common first names... and sooner or later the name pops into my head, but never through the use of my techniques. I just use Google. Most of the time there's a Wikipedia or IMDB page with a cast list. Often that leads one on to find out what else they did, and reflect on how many screen gods and goddesses reverted to the same kind of life most people lead (I can remember when some newspaper found Veronica Lake waitressing in a diner). My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam" I use Google and IMDb, too, but this often happens to me when I am in a cinema and only have access to my defective brain.
What's really bad at home, though, is when I am trying to find a name and think... that's right, he was in a movie with whatizname, I can look that up. And then I realise that I can't remember whatizname either.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 8, 2018 11:50:40 GMT
My own problem is to remember the name of actors and actresses. Sometimes I can spend 30 minutes watching a movie while obsessing about the actor's name. I run every letter of the alphabet through my head, I try to think of all of the most common first names... and sooner or later the name pops into my head, but never through the use of my techniques. Meanwhile I bought unshelled peanuts for the first time in an eternity the other day. The last time I remember buying them was when I got stopped by the police in the middle of nowhere in Senegal ("speeding in an urban zone"). While I was negotiating an unofficial international friendship contribution, half of the faraway village ("urban zone"?) seemed to be running up to the car with baskets of peanuts. I felt it would be wise to buy some of them, too. Anyway, they are a bloody nuisance to shell, but I suppose that makes them a good diet food because you get tired of doing all the work after eating only about 25% of the amount you would eat if you had a normal bag of peanuts. Kerouac I thought I was the only one still running the alphabet through my head when trying to remember names of people or any item for that matter. As far as peanuts in the shell goes - that was one of my first efforts at growing any kind of vegetable. Growing peanuts, then un=earthing them from the soil and roasting them, was a wonderful experience for a 12 year old on a farm. Now one has to experience the ultimate peanut shelling experience at Raffles Hotel bar while sipping a Singapore Sling. Throwing the shells on the floor is compulsory -as I'm sure you know.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 8, 2018 11:56:09 GMT
I am feeling so much better knowing that I am not in the minority....
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Post by whatagain on Feb 11, 2018 5:28:22 GMT
The worst to me is when a word comes back to me in say English or Flemish but escapes me in french. Since we are still laughing about my father asking how to say curtains in French it is no option to ask the translation of the word. Words who evade you have a way to drive you crazy. Some words I never remember. Like these yellow small trees that blossom in a few weeks. I have a mnémotechnicalbtrick to remember it but I forgot what. Ends with ´ a ´ I think. Jeeez now it will not help getting back to sleep.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2018 5:34:04 GMT
Some words I never remember. Like these yellow small trees that blossom in a few weeks. I have a mnémotechnicalbtrick to remember it but I forgot what. Ends with ´ a ´ I think. Mimosa?
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 11, 2018 8:28:43 GMT
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Post by questa on Feb 11, 2018 8:46:07 GMT
I love pistachios but, like most people, found them hard to crack open. An elderly Pashtun chap in a bus heading up to Swat valley laughed at my chipped thumbnails and showed me how to open an easy nut (older and drier) then use the sharp end of the shell to split the other nuts open.
In Lombok they boiled the peanuts first, let them dry then the shells came off easily. Roasted them in a big pan with various spices etc.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 11, 2018 9:41:34 GMT
What a good idea about the pistachios!
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Post by bjd on Feb 11, 2018 12:20:43 GMT
I thought that is how everybody opens pistachios! It doesn't work unless the shell is at least slightly open.
Despite the weather, here the mimosa trees are in bloom, as are Japanese quince and yesterday I saw a few daffodils and a forsythia bush with some flowers on it. The forecast is for warmer weather so I guess even more trees and flowers will bloom. My hellebores are blooming too, as are some camellias.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2018 19:06:15 GMT
Mimosa in Mexico. Possibly forsythia in northern Europe here the mimosa trees are in bloom Patrick, the reason I think Whatagain might be referring to mimosa is because 1) he said tree; and 2) ages ago, & I can't remember where, I seem to remember Kerouac showing bunches of mimosa (from the tree) being sold in Paris at a certain time of the year. It seems to me that it was when the weather was still cold in central France, so the flowers were probably coming from Bjd's region. I adore forsythia, but think of it more as a shrub than a tree. I remember going into the Metropolitan museum in New York in February of 1989. The large gray foyer had twin massive vases of forsythia which lit up the whole place gloriously.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 11, 2018 19:10:16 GMT
My parents had a row of forsythia bushes in their garden. Glorious.
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Post by bjd on Feb 11, 2018 20:03:06 GMT
Bixa, I think the mimosa sold in Paris usually comes from around Nice. You get people selling bunches on the market here but it's just locals, not really professionals. It would be sold in early spring.
Forsythia looks nice when it's blooming but the bushes afterwards are not too interesting. I think the same about lilacs, which tend to get scraggly.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 11, 2018 20:28:12 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2018 21:21:10 GMT
Yes ~ that's it, Kerouac. The one I meant when I said the word Whatagain wanted was "mimosa". My parents had a row of forsythia bushes in their garden. Glorious. Oh, that is the perfect word to describe them! Bixa, I think the mimosa sold in Paris usually comes from around Nice. You get people selling bunches on the market here but it's just locals, not really professionals. It would be sold in early spring. Forsythia looks nice when it's blooming but the bushes afterwards are not too interesting. I think the same about lilacs, which tend to get scraggly. The selling of them in Spring sounds like a lovely old-fashioned custom. I wouldn't care how scraggly any lilac got, as long as I could have a lilac tree. It's been years since I've lived anywhere with the right climate for them. The house where we lived in Madrid had several lilac trees -- lilac, darker lilac, & white -- in the garden. There is nothing like the scent and sight of them in full bloom. Back to Patrick's comment about nomenclature ~ in Texas the yellow-flowered tree is called a mesquite, genus Prosopis. I am pretty sure the mimosa to which Bjd refers & which is shown in Kerouac's pictures is an Acacia, possibly Acacia dealbata. Generally called "acacia" in the US. In the south of the US the tree called "mimosa" is actually Albizia julibrissin, & has fluffy pink powder puff flowers.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 11, 2018 21:28:16 GMT
I love lilac too but Forsythia is not in my top 100.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 11, 2018 21:45:44 GMT
At this time of year they ship such huge branches of "mimosa" up to Paris that I feel sorry for the trees. But it does give us hope that spring will arrive some day.
My grandparents had two lilac trees in front of the house -- a purple one and a blue one. I loved them both.
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