"I Forget"

[Quasimodem]

Oh? Why not "I forgot"? My SO and I go round and round about this one.

"I forget" seems to me to say: "Sorry. I have this affliction: I forget things."

Yet this person would not also say, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late! I forget my keys!"

So how about it, SDMB phraseologists: Where did this one come from?

You "forget", right?



Quasi

[xanakis]

"I forget" is present tense eg:

Q: "Who wrote the hit song "You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet"

A: "Ummm, oh darn, I forget"

ie: you cannot recall who wrote it at that moment in time but you did once know.

"I forgot" is past tense eg:

Q: "Have you got the keys?"

A: "Damn, I forgot them"

ie: the actual act of forgetfulness occurred sometime previously.

ps Bachman Turner Overdrive

[Tedster]

I think they are the same people that write..

"The air filter needs replaced."

"The radio needs fixed."

I guess To Be, or Not To Be, isn't the question with those people. I forget.

[MEBuckner]

Hmmm. Personally, I wouldn't say "Hey guys, sorry I'm late! I forget my keys!" That sounds weird to me. What I would say is "I forgot my keys". I would probably also say something like "I heard such-and-such--I forget where..." (although I probably wouldn't say it in Great Debates); here, the act of forgetting is ongoing, if you will--with the keys, I forgot them some time ago in the past, but by the time I say "I'm sorry I'm late" or even "Oh, darn! We can't get in--I forgot my keys" I'm presumably no longer not remembering to take my keys. With "I forget where I heard this..." I'm still not remembering where I heard that right here in the present, but I'm going ahead and telling it to you anyway. (Contrast "There's this book--I forget the name--you should read" with "There's this book--I forgot* the name, but I posted to the SDMB and someone came up with the title in five minutes--you should read".)

*Or more likely "I had forgotten the name".

[Quasimodem]

Originally posted by Tedster
I think they are the same people that write..

"The air filter needs replaced."

"The radio needs fixed."

I guess To Be, or Not To Be, isn't the question with those people. I forget.

Or, in the case of my SO, "If you're gonna make fun of the way I speak, then I don't want touched!"

Thanks for the laughs, Tedster. BTW, since posting this I watched one of my beloved 3 Stooges episodes, and wouldn't you know it, Moe asks Curly "Where is it, you Numbskull??

Curly: "I forget!"

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk

Quasi

PS: I will lift a Hefe Weitzen in your honor, sir!

[Quasimodem]

I will lift a Hefe Weitzen in your honor, sir! [/b]

Whoops! That's Weizen. No t.

Quasi