# Share Experiences with Deja Vu **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162 "2006-11-20T16:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/1 "2006-11-20T16:08:12Z")
I read somewhere (it may have been here, I really don’t remember) that deja vu is not just experiencing something that you have done before; it was described as a peculiarly familiar feeling that you get when experiencing something that you most definitely have never done. When I read about it I thought it sounded silly and had no idea what on Earth it was talking about. But I think I felt it recently, the strangest feeling just hit me in the middle of mundane activities. I was cleaning up after having dinner with my husband and listening to music when very suddenly I had the strangest feeling of familiarity. Something about the particular song and the image of the dishes in my mind made me feel like I was remembering something. I can’t even put my finger on exactly what felt familiar or what I felt like I was remembering. I was so caught off guard that I dropped the dish I was washing and had to leave the room! (My husband must have thought I was losing my mind.) Is this deja vu? Anyone else ever had strange experiences with deja vu? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/2 "2006-11-20T20:10:14Z")
This is definitely deja vu. Congrats 😉 It usually happens to me when i’m doing the most mundane tasks, or focusing on something in particular. It seems so last for abour 5 to 10 seconds, then it’s gone as suddenly as it came. But it is a most peculiar sensation, almost feels as if you are remembering the _present_ (rather than the not so distant past). When my wife mentioned she was experienceing deja vu the other day, I said “didja now I was gonna say _this_?!”. I gathered she didn’t from her rolling eyes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/3 "2006-11-20T20:50:44Z")
Wasn’t there a topic on this before? I swear I can remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/4 "2006-11-20T23:22:38Z")
Well, my first time there was when I was 19 and the dancers there were quite hot and… What do you mean not THAT Deja Vu? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/5 "2006-11-20T23:34:09Z")
On a related note, I was with the parents at a restaurant when my mom said, “Wow, I’m having the strongest deja vu” I immediately answered, “We heard you the first time.” For about five seconds, the look on her face was priceless as she tried to work it out. Dad and I had quite a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/6 "2006-11-20T23:56:23Z")
Two times stick out in my mind. I went with a girl I barely knew, to a clothing store in Toronto, where I would never have gone on my own. Standing at the back of the store, I had an intense feeling of having been there before, having seen those people and heard them say what they said - though it couldn’t have happened. Another time I went on a moving job from a temp agency, and was sent to the home of the head of a record label. He lived in a townhome in a rejuvenated area of downtown Toronto. I started having deja vu as soon as I walked in. I knew where everything was in the house, and I had the strangest flashes of a party there. There is a very, very remote possibility that I could have gone to a party there in years previous, when I may not have been in a condition to remember it, but it’s unlikely. I didn’t used to travel in those circles and there is no reason why I would have been there. But the place was very familiar for reasons I still don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/7 "2006-11-21T05:13:23Z")
Deja Va is the feeling you have been there before. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/8 "2006-11-21T05:30:10Z")
Deja Va is the feeling you have been there before. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/9 "2006-11-21T18:39:40Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] Deja Va is the feeling you have been there before. [/QUOTE] Weird. I feel like I’ve heard you say that before. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/10 "2006-11-21T18:47:36Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] Deja Va is the feeling you have been there before. [/QUOTE] Weird. I feel like I’ve heard you say that before. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-experiences-with-deja-vu/381162/11 "2006-11-21T18:56:15Z")
Cut it out, guys, you’re FREAKING ME OUT! I sometimes get vuja de. That’s the feeling that I’ve never been here before.