November 07, 2003
The Thing
Sometimes the vagaries of language get the best of us. My brother was (and maybe still is) notorious for his overreliance on the word "thing." He would use it in place of just about any noun possible, often to describe more than one object in the same sentence. And he would become furious with you if you didn't know which thing was the "thing" he was referring to.
My other brother used to have problems with pronouns -- specifically people's names. When he called for one of us, he would cycle through all our names -- Mom! Dad! Andrew! Peter! Molly! (the dog) -- until he found the right one. Fortunately, he grew out of that soon after he started school, otherwise his teachers might have used him for roll call.
My mom, on the other hand, just loses words altogether. She'll be talking and talking and talking and suddenly come to a halt, unable to find the word she's looking for. Or a name will disappear, as happened when she was trying to say something about a movie we had seen recently and tried to jog our memories by saying, "You know, it was that one with the people in it."
I've got the same problem. I've got a great vocabulary, but sometimes the pages in my mental dictionary stick together and I can't quite get to that one right word. Sometimes I find a way around it, either by rephrasing my sentence or by substituting a synonym or near-match, with the hope that the right word would manifest a little later. I was talking with a friend recently about the birds that eat wild strawberries in her yard. I said she should get a, um, uh, water feeder to put nearby. She knew what I meant and rolled with it, and a split minute later I was able to interject that birdbaths were what most people called those water feeder things.
I worry sometimes that there's something wrong with me because of this. Then I think of the stereotypical college professor, pausing for long periods of time in apparent deep thought, searching his own mental dictionary for the word he needs.
Posted by Andrew Huff at November 7, 2003 01:37 PMuh... yeah... i... uh... know what... you mean.
Posted by: spudart at November 8, 2003 08:10 AMI have the same problem. I think there are two reasons for it:
First, not only do you know tons of words, but you understand the difference in subtle connotation between them. So you search for a specific word because of its specific meaning with specific shading that makes it different from all other related words. To me, it's the difference between "fear", "hestitation" and "trepidation". Sometimes that specific word isn't readily available because you have to scroll through all the other words you know that could fit in that place.
As for forgetting "birdbath" or simple words like that, I think it's a matter of thinking more about the point that the words are serving to make and less about the words themselves. You have a specific, higher minded idea to convey, and sometimes those pesky minutae like, you know, words just kind of get in the way. Or at least that's how I justify it in my mind.
Posted by: Jeffrey Utech at November 10, 2003 03:14 PMI've been worrying about this characteristic in myself lately, too. It's not like I'm wondering which word to use - it's that there's a sudden void, and I can't even begin to venture what word I was hoping would come out of my mouth. Particularly embarassing in meetings.
Posted by: shokufeh at November 10, 2003 06:27 PMSuch a universal issue, thinking about this all the time. Embarassing too, if you work as a writer and you can't speak to save your life. My folks use the completely ridiculous made-up word "thingyway" or "thingus", which I guess I shouldn't have even mentioned to anyone who hasn't had the misfortune, I mean absolute joy of growing up in my clan.
Posted by: robin at November 11, 2003 11:54 PM