# Please name this statistical phenomenon **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538 "2014-05-02T21:23:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/1 "2014-05-02T21:23:34Z")
I mean this scenario: you stumble upon a certain fact, person, data point, concept, whatever, you have never heard of before. You store this fact to your personal knowledge and carry on. A short time later, in a totally different context, you encounter this concept a second time! It’s a bit baffling, but probably not very surprising in a statistical way. I’m sure that there is a word for this phenomenon and that I once read the Wiki page for it, but I can’t remember the name. It’s hard to google for, so I’m counting on the Dope. P.S.: I’m totally expecting to get the answer soon and to read about it twenty minutes later in the still unread magazine on my table. That would be meta. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/2 "2014-05-02T21:28:38Z")
[Frequency Illusion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader-Meinhof_phenomenon#Frequency_illusion), aka Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Interestingly this came up in another thread recently. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/3 "2014-05-02T21:33:59Z")
Ah, that was quick. And “Baader-Meinhof” phenomenon rings a bell. Given that I’m German, there’s a good chance that I’ll stumble upon the RAF some time this evening. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/4 "2014-05-02T23:46:40Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > P.S.: I’m totally expecting to get the answer soon and to read about it twenty minutes later in the still unread magazine on my table. That would be meta. 😉 Given the fact that another thread about this very topic was started recently, one could say that the OP is itself an example of the phenomenon it’s asking about. How meta is _that?_ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/5 "2014-05-02T23:59:30Z")
Can someone please link to this other thread? I have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/6 "2014-05-03T00:12:24Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Can someone please link to this other thread? I have missed it. [Hear it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722008&highlight=phenomenon) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/7 "2014-05-03T00:16:53Z")
It is not really a statistical phenomenon; it is a psychological one. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/8 "2014-05-03T00:25:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Hear it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722008&highlight=phenomenon) Well shucks, I really didn’t see that thread :smack:. But it kinda proves the concept. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/9 "2014-05-03T01:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > [Hear it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722008&highlight=phenomenon) > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Well shucks, I really didn’t see that thread :smack:. But it kinda proves the concept. 🆒 You didn’t see it, but now you’ve heard it. ---
**Author:** ![kaltkalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@kaltkalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaltkalt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-name-this-statistical-phenomenon/687538/10 "2014-05-03T02:42:57Z")
Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon