What’s the fancy-schmancy technical term for suddenly being unable something that you routinely know without really thinking about it? For example, I have an ID code that I punch in to my work computer to check my schedule, log in and out of the time clock, etc. Yesterday I could not for the life of me remember it when it came time for lunch. I stumbled on it after punching in a few likely combinations and remembered it long enough to punch back in after lunch, but then immediately could not recall it again. Some clever PhD candidate must have named this phenomenon by now.
CRS?
I got it right on the tip of my tongue.
It’s a form of pre-Alzheimer’s known as CRAFT* Syndrome.
*Can’t Remember a Frikkin’ Thing
Um, yeah, could we maybe see if there’s an actual answer before burying the thread in lame jokes?
Cortical flatus.
Apparently we can’t.
Very well.
Lethologica is the inability to recall the correct word; lethonomia is the inability to recall the correct name. I imagine a word could be coined for inability to recall the correct number. Aprosexia is the inability to concentrate.
The difficulty is that if you have these conditions it is almost impossible to recall the words when you have occasion to use them.
How about “lacuna?” One definition is–n 1: a blank gap or missing part.
I have actually heard brain farts called this.
You want to avoid “lacuna” because it would be confused with lacunar infarct. We don’t want Otto to go around thinking there’s a tiny hole in his brain for every factoid that momentarily escapes him.
My personal theory, based on many years of research while soaking in the bathtub, is that when one tries to remember something and can’t recall it immediately, there is a panic circuit that ensues, sort of like a rat in a maze. The feedback prompts more disorganization and panic, only on that one factoid. Undoubtedly it is due to a temporary derangement in neurotransmitter function, not to worry.
“Brain fart” is an accepted term which appears in Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. Page 1286.
Isn’t the tip of the tongue thing called aphasia?
No, aphasia is a lot more serious than a temporary inability to think of a word: