"I Forget"

Factual Questions
1

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?

:slight_smile:

Quasi

2

“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

3

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.

4

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”.

5

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!

6

Whoops! That’s Weizen. No t.

Quasi