# Is there a word for ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179 "2011-11-07T17:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/1 "2011-11-07T17:32:19Z")
i’ve never heard of the name Cochran before the current season of Survivor and now i’m noticing it elsewhere. i’ve never seen monkeybar motorcycles before the current season of The Walking Dead and now this thread pops up - [How is riding a crazy ass motorcycle like this on the road legal?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14437266#post14437266) is there a word to describe this? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/2 "2011-11-07T17:43:28Z")
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? Read more [here](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/). ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/3 "2011-11-07T17:52:37Z")
i don’t feel it’s pattern recognition though, or more precisely the failure to recognise uninteresting data. while i may very well have seen and subsequently forgotten the name Cochran, i’m quite sure i would remember something like that odd motorcycle. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/4 "2011-11-07T17:57:56Z")
**shijinn,** do you live in the U.S.? The name [Johnnie Cochran](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cochran) (no relation to the current Survivor contestant) was certainly famous during O. J. Simpson’s murder trial to the point where he became almost as big a celebrity as the Juice. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/5 "2011-11-07T18:11:16Z")
Well, in addition to Baader-Meinhof and its gang of synaptic connections, there are also _[synchronicity](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synchronicity)_ and the old reliable _coincidence_. With all the events in the world, the odds that some will happen at the same time as others are very high and the odds that a word or phenomenon will be mentioned in a separate discussion in a short time period are even higher. (I think you might be reading too much into the “pattern” aspect of Baader-Meinhof, but I am not going to dwell on that.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/6 "2011-11-07T18:12:40Z")
As to Cochran, that name is prominent in my maternal ancestry, so I have a hard time thinking of it as rare. And six of the [Cochran’s in Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochran) seem to be still alive. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/7 "2011-11-07T19:08:41Z")
there it is again! a twofer! no, i don’t live in the U.S. and i didn’t follow the trial. it’s still highly probable that i did see that name in passing though. that motorcycle on the other hand… anyway, The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a mouthful and it doesn’t seem to be a widely accepted name for such a common phenomenon. (it was booted from wikipedia) yet it describes my OP exactly. i don’t think it is synchronicity or coincidence. two more examples - say you or Uncle Bob has a pet phrase that you or him use unconsciously. once someone else points it out to you, it becomes glaring and obvious. or faces - a colleague who is not in your radar goes unnoticed till you are introduced, then you see them everyday! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/8 "2011-11-07T19:15:41Z")
C’mon everybody, are you seriously telling me you have never heard the name Cochran before? Well, there ain’t no cure for that.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/9 "2011-11-07T19:19:01Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > anyway, The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a mouthful and it doesn’t seem to be a widely accepted name for such a common phenomenon. (it was booted from wikipedia) yet it describes my OP exactly. > > i don’t think it is synchronicity or coincidence. > > two more examples - say you or Uncle Bob has a pet phrase that you or him use unconsciously. once someone else points it out to you, it becomes glaring and obvious. or faces - a colleague who is not in your radar goes unnoticed till you are introduced, then you see them everyday! Well, you could always go with “confirmation bias.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/10 "2011-11-07T19:20:30Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? Read more [here](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/). I’d never heard of this phenomenon before. But I expect to be hearing a lot about it in the immediate future. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/11 "2011-11-07T19:52:00Z")
I can understand someone not having heard of Johnnie Cochran. What I can’t understand is someone not having heard of [Zefrem Cochrane](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane) (pronounced the same). ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/12 "2011-11-07T20:06:54Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I can understand someone not having heard of Johnnie Cochran. What I can’t understand is someone not having heard of [Zefrem Cochrane](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane) (pronounced the same). “Zefrem” is pronounced like “Johnnie”? Odd… ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/13 "2011-11-07T20:07:38Z")
It’s not quite the same phenomenon, but the OP’s question reminds of “[jamais vu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamais_vu)”, which is often described as the opposite of déjà vu. In the case of jamais vu, the “I know that’s familiar” is strangely unfamiliar. What the OP is looking for is a word for “how have I never noticed that before…it’s everywhere!” So not an answer to the OP, but it’s related, and something I’ve always found kinda cool. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/14 "2011-11-07T20:13:02Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > “Zefrem” is pronounced like “Johnnie”? Odd… There’s one in every crowd. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/15 "2011-11-07T20:14:47Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > It’s not quite the same phenomenon, but the OP’s question reminds of “[jamais vu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamais_vu)”, which is often described as the opposite of déjà vu. In the case of jamais vu, the “I know that’s familiar” is strangely unfamiliar. What the OP is looking for is a word for “how have I never noticed that before…it’s everywhere!” > > So not an answer to the OP, but it’s related, and something I’ve always found kinda cool. - Toujours vu\*, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/16 "2011-11-07T20:18:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > C’mon everybody, are you seriously telling me you have never heard the name Cochran before? Well, there ain’t no cure for that.:eek: :D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/17 "2011-11-08T03:13:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I can understand someone not having heard of Johnnie Cochran. What I can’t understand is someone not having heard of [Zefrem Cochrane](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane) (pronounced the same). Never heard of 'im. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/18 "2011-11-08T03:20:13Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > say you or Uncle Bob has a pet phrase that you or him use unconsciously. once someone else points it out to you, it becomes glaring and obvious. Bob’s your uncle? (now to sit back and wait until you hear that again and blow your mind) ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/19 "2011-11-08T03:52:39Z")
[Availability heuristic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179/20 "2011-11-08T10:28:05Z")
[diegogarcity](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=diegogarcity) is the word you want. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/602179.md?page=2)