So I was responding to my e-mails today, (3 actual, 57 spam) in the course of on reply had to use the word “jockey”, which is a word I don’t say very often and have probably typed twice in my life including this instance and the one earlier today. My hands typed the word without any help from the conscious parts of my brain, which is good, because somtime during the typing of that word I lost all rational communication ability.
J. . . .O . . . .C . . . .K . . . . E . . . . Y . . . . Hmmm, Is that a real word?
I could not accept that what I had typed was an actual word, not just the spelling, but I questioned the word jockey!!! It was as if my brain had temporarily discarded English for some more crucial bit of information. Not only did the word not make sense, but individual letters started to look new to me. If someone had converted my document to Wingdings, it would have been no less legible for me. It took me about 5 (FIVE!!!) minutes to reorganize my entire knowledge of language and communications enough to get past that one word and continue with the e-mail, during which time I believe I sat at my desk with what must have been a slack and completely vacuous look on my face. I am now mildly concerned that I may be the first 25 year old to contract Alzheimers. Somebody please tell me that I am not alone in this phenomenon. I need to know that I am not losing it, or at least not losing it alone.
That happened to me not too long ago. The word I got stuck on was “tact.” I had to type it twice, for some reason, and by the time I finished it the second time, I was utterly convinced that I totally made up this word.
It happens to me all the time. If I’m going through a transcript making a global-type change, after a while looking at the same word over and over again it starts looking like compete gibberish. I’ve even had to run a spell-check to make sure it’s a real word. Not to worry, you’re just having a premature senior moment.
For some reason this happens every time I have to write or say the word ‘super’ – it just doesn’t sit right. I think of a bowl of soup, and SuperMan, and the two images just aren’t reconciled. Say it long enough and you’ll go insane, I swear.
The more fundamental and abstract the concept behind the word is, the easier it is for the word to lose all meaning to me. The other day I spent a couple of minutes trying to remember what make means.
I have had this issue when speaking certain words aloud. Temporary, but totally annoying. Then again, in a high school class, (I don’t remember which one.) we were asked to choose a word and say it over and over. After you say a word, “dog” for example, about 50 times, it starts to sound really strange and loses meaning for a second. Very wierd.
Heh. I grew up in Seattle, and I had this awful problem that every now and then, I would totally lose the word “rain.” I have no idea what’s wrong with me. But I’m heartened to know that it’s wrong with y’all as well.
I’ve always thought my vocabulary was exceedingly wide, and my spelling correct to the point of correcting the spell check as often as it corrected me. I mention this because it only served to increase my embarrassment at mis-spelling “lawyer” as “lawer”. In grade 10. In front of the whole class. Three times in a row. The only defence I could think of was that despite having read the word countless times, I figured it was probably the first time I’d ever had to actually spell it.
So there ya go. In case anyone cares, I agree that the act of repetition can make almost any word sound silly. lawyer…lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer.
I do this frequently; if I’m typing an email, I type a word a couple of times and then it starts to look really weird, but I know I haven’t mis-spelled it. And then after a moment I don’t even know what it means anymore; it just starts to look like Chinese to me.
And then I have to remind myself that the only difference between an insane person and a sane person is that the sane person keeps their insanity to themselves.
Which means this is the first time I’ve mentioned it to anyone.
screams in fear
This must mean I’ve come out of the Looney Closet.
I was writing an exam once in junior high and wanted to use the word “stereotype” – but got very confused with the “stereo” thing – then “type” started being weird – how can “stereo” + “type” mean “stereotype,” which means something completely different from either of them?
The repeating words things happens to me all the time when I’m checking footers (the line at the bottom of a magazine page with the page number, title, and issue date). When you page through a stack of proofs checking that the dates are correct, after you look at the word “September” 176 times, it starts too look a wee bit … unnatural.
Hmm, the problem is more common than I thought. I wonder if there is a name for it. If not, we should invent one . . . But then we’ll all just start questioning the spelling of the name, so why bother.
