# Ever experienced a temporal discontinuity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292 "2011-05-09T17:11:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/41 "2011-05-10T16:50:30Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’ve had this happen a few times. A lot of artistic types actually seek out this experience. > … > When I finally looked up at the clock, it was 3 am. This happens sooner or later to everybody who plays any of the Civilization series of games. > [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > About two months ago I left work at 4 o’clock. I sat in the car almost exactly on the hour, which I recall because All Things Considered on NPR had just begun. The drive home is 20-30 minutes depending on traffic, was was typical that day. Once at home I went into the bathroom – well, nobody wants detail – and that, too, was unremarkable. But somehow, when I glanced at the clock immediately afterwards, it was 6:30. > > I don’t know where the missing hour went. Per policy I blame the people of Wales. Something very like this happened to me yesterday. I got in my car after going to the supermarket, and somehow it was 7 o’clock. Damn Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/42 "2011-05-10T16:53:54Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Isn’t that an oxymoron? Ha! I _ **almost** _ put that in parenthesis when I wrote it, (an oxymoron to some) but then I decided I was being cynical. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/43 "2011-05-10T17:01:44Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > I swear, when I was younger, red = Democrats, and Blue = Republicans. Now, all of a sudden, after one of the Bush elections, it’s completely opposite. I even remember watching the news, and having a double take when they were talking about “Red States,” meaning Republican states. I KNOW it’s a fucking conspiracy against me… > > Joe OK, now that’s weird, I remember that too. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/44 "2011-05-10T17:15:13Z")
I think the colors became fixed in people’s minds during the controversy over the 2000 election, with Florida and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/45 "2011-05-10T17:18:45Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I think the colors became fixed in people’s minds during the controversy over the 2000 election, with Florida and all that. Yabbut, it’s DIFFERENT than before… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/46 "2011-05-10T17:27:55Z")
Before 2000 they might have been interchangable or alternating from election to election, who knows. I don’t remember that anyone cared before 2000. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/47 "2011-05-10T17:34:33Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I think that that happens to people a lot. Some call it Driver’s Amnesia. Not quite. In my case, I pulled into the parking lot and (probably) parked, went into the supermarket and purchased items (including some I would have had to have made a decision and thought about before buying). Then I went home, looked at the mail, probably helped with the cooking and started eating. Yet I didn’t remember any of this. Driver’s Amnesia is just that you don’t remember all the moments of a drive; it’s very normal. Re: red states/blue states. Prior to 2000, the colors were arbitrary. I think the incumbent party was blue and the challenger red, but there was no standard and the networks would make their own choices and did not coordinate with each other. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > By 1996, color schemes were relatively mixed, as CNN, CBS, ABC, and The New York Times referred to Democratic states with the color blue and Republican ones as red, while TIME and The Washington Post used an opposite scheme.[10][11][12] ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/48 "2011-05-10T17:45:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Re: red states/blue states. Prior to 2000, the colors were arbitrary. I think the incumbent party was blue and the challenger red, but there was no standard and the networks would make their own choices and did not coordinate with each other. Well I’ll be dipped. Thanks… Joe ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/49 "2011-05-10T17:46:02Z")
Well, that clears THAT up. I’m relieved. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/50 "2011-05-10T17:52:26Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > I think the examples in this thread are addressing the title of the OP (“temporal discontinuity”) and not the main point of the OP. I think you’re right, **Polerius,** although I don’t really mind; the two topics are related and both very interesting. But, I didn’t know what else to call it. This is a device you run across not infrequently in science fiction (especially reading Philip K. Dick, heh!) but I don’t recall ever seeing a good descriptive term for the specific situation. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/51 "2011-05-10T18:10:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not quite. In my case, I pulled into the parking lot and (probably) parked, went into the supermarket and purchased items (including some I would have had to have made a decision and thought about before buying). Then I went home, looked at the mail, probably helped with the cooking and started eating. Yet I didn’t remember any of this. > > Driver’s Amnesia is just that you don’t remember all the moments of a drive; it’s very normal. It sounds like DA, only… bigger. But if it starts happening a lot, see a neurologist. I once had a half memory about having a dream that about 15 years ago, two major television networks swapped all of their shows. After a quick post in CS, I found out that they actually did that. It just seems so surreal now. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/52 "2011-05-10T18:20:27Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I once had a dream so long, detailed and realistic that when I woke up I had a few genuine moments of panic… I had this once, although it doesn’t fit the OP’s definition of “temporal discontinuity.” In my case, I lived through the zombie apocalypse completely, from the initial start of the plague to the intense middle of hiding and surviving, to the beginning of the development of a post-zombie civilization. When I woke up, I felt that I had been asleep for YEARS, and I actually missed some of the people I’d met in the dream. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/53 "2011-05-10T18:42:05Z")
Kind of. A number of years ago, we moved from Madison to Minneapolis. My friend had become increasingly allergic to her cat over the years, and asked me if I’d take Tosha since I a) love cats and b) would be moving somewhere where I could have a cat. I talked it over with my husband, and I distinctly remember him acting like it was a foregone conclusion that we’d take the cat, no worries. Before the move, we were over at my friend’s house, and I told her that we’d discussed it and we’d take Tosha. My husband looked at me like I had three heads and asked just when we’d discussed that (but it’s no big deal, yes we’ll take the cat). I was totally bewildered. I mean, we’d just talked about it like the week before! Whaddya mean you know nothing about this? Really, really strange. One of us either forgot or invented a whole conversation out of whole cloth, and I’m still not really sure who. But I don’t think there’s anything supernatural or woo behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/54 "2011-05-10T20:02:14Z")
Yep. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/55 "2011-05-10T20:09:17Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I think you’re right, **Polerius,** although I don’t really mind; the two topics are related and both very interesting. But, I didn’t know what else to call it. > > This is a device you run across not infrequently in science fiction (especially reading Philip K. Dick, heh!) but I don’t recall ever seeing a good descriptive term for the specific situation. Retroactive continuity, aka. Retcon. The most common example is when a sequel disregards something in a previous work, but it also can happen in the work itself. TV Tropes calls the latter a [Cosmic Retcon](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CosmicRetcon). There may be a more specific term for what you are describing–actual acknowledgment of the change, but I’m having trouble finding it. But it’s still a reaction to a retcon. EDIT[Ripple Effect Proof Memory](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RippleEffectProofMemory) is close. Still, I’d’ve titled this thread “Ever expereinced a Real Life retcon?” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/56 "2011-05-10T20:16:16Z")
I have two sisters. Susan was born on May 2nd. Lori on May 7th. Lori is older. I remember as a child that I could remember their birthdates because Susan was born first but is younger. Born first in the daily calendar order. Now they, my sisters, insist that Lori was born on the second and Susan on the 7th. I don’t think this is a temporal discontinuity. I think they are lying to me for reasons unknown. Our parents are dead so I can’t go ask them. But… There are some words are spelled differently in the universe I grew up in compared to the universe I inhabit now. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/57 "2011-05-10T21:03:24Z")
Wow, **BigT,** nice google-fu! Thank you! **Zebra,** I sympathize. It’s a little disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/58 "2011-05-10T21:14:42Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I had this once, although it doesn’t fit the OP’s definition of “temporal discontinuity.” In my case, I lived through the zombie apocalypse completely, from the initial start of the plague to the intense middle of hiding and surviving, to the beginning of the development of a post-zombie civilization. When I woke up, I felt that I had been asleep for YEARS, and I actually missed some of the people I’d met in the dream. Aye, but I kind of meant how much time passed in the dream as compared to the real-world, but time-wise my dream was nowhere near as impressive as yours! Perhaps we should start a thread on whether other people have had such realistic dreams? _(btw I still go for the alternate-reality theory myself)_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/59 "2011-05-10T22:00:58Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Okay, I know I’m going to get a lot of trolling with this one, but I figure this is still the best place to ask because Dopers as a whole seem to be paying attention more than others. > > Have you ever noticed some small fact or detail of your life, that has suddenly changed, with the implication that it has always been that way; and yet you are certain that you remember it differently? > > For example, a friend’s birthday is on a certain day which you know very well, but then one day you find it’s a different day. Or a common item you use frequently is a different color. Or a passage in a book does not say what you remember it saying. > > Obviously, much of the time when this happens there is a reasonable explanation. But sometimes not. I’m especially interested in the ones you can’t explain. > > Thanks! Yes several times, it is ‘flaws in the Matrix’ so to speak or God changing things. Most don’t notice at all, when they do many assume they were incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292/60 "2011-05-10T22:18:34Z")
When I was a kid I had an aunt that I would only see once a month or so. She lived a few hours away. One time we went to my grandparents house and she was there, sitting in the kitchen. I knew it was my aunt because of the way everyone was talking to her. But I did not recognize her face at all. After, I asked my sisters if she looked different, and they said she looked the same. TO this day I have the mental image of how I remember her looking vs. how she looked after that day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-experienced-a-temporal-discontinuity/581292.md?page=4)