# Your favorite Baader-Meinhof moments **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124 "2015-11-09T18:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/1 "2015-11-09T18:34:38Z")
Last week, I was driving to the train station with my wife on the way to work. We were listening to NPR, and as we arrived at the station, the story’s reporter mentioned something about impunity. I chuckled and mentioned to my wife that I don’t hear the word all that often, so whenever I do, I instantly recall exactly where I first learned it: “The Cask of Amontillado.” Specifically, the phrase “_[Nemo me impune lacessit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemo_me_impune_lacessit)_” from the book caused me to look up the meaning of impunity when I had to read it as a kid. I explained the context to her because she hadn’t heard the Latin phrase before. That evening, when we met up again at the train station after work, she greeted me with an odd expression and then showed me the page she was on in her Kindle. And, of course, that very same Latin phrase appeared at that point in her book (which had nothing at all to do with Mr. Poe). So, what are your favorite experiences with [Baader-Meinhof](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/) moments? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/2 "2015-11-09T18:37:08Z")
Hmm. Relocating to IMHO at the request of the OP. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/3 "2015-11-09T18:53:32Z")
When I was in middle school, I competed in spelling bees, making it to the national level twice. I found that when I was eliminated from a competition, the word I had missed would then seem to appear in random contexts soon afterwards. Purely a trick of the mind, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/4 "2015-11-09T19:07:36Z")
Surely you aren’t planning to leave us hanging on what the word was, are you? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/5 "2015-11-09T19:17:37Z")
The one that comes to mind is _efficacious_. It’s not really that obscure a word, so it’s not surprising that I would see it around. I also lost a classroom bee on _fuselage_. Again, not a very rare word. I _won_ a regional bee, and then saw the winning word somewhere. I think it was _seneschal_. That was also the first word I was given at the nationals; there’s a coincidence for you. On the other hand, the second time I went to the nationals, I was eliminated on _ipseity_, which is such a strange and useless word that I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it outside that competition. But I’ll never forget how to spell it! ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/6 "2015-11-09T19:22:46Z")
I’ve experienced many of these but can’t seem to remember any interesting ones at the moment. The phenomenon is interesting on it’s own, in the sense that it demonstrates just how many things we ignore during our lives simply because we don’t understand them (assuming there is nothing mystical going on). ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/7 "2015-11-09T19:24:58Z")
I think I liked their bombings the best. Wait, you weren’t talking about the German terrorist group? Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/8 "2015-11-09T20:11:18Z")
My favorite was when I learned they were called “Baader-Meihnof” moments, and then I heard that term used several more times over the next month. ---
**Author:** ![Graymalkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@Graymalkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graymalkin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/9 "2015-11-10T02:12:05Z")
I’ve never heard “Baader-Meinhof moment”. I am familiar with the 1970s crazies. I shall now be on the lookout for reference to a “Baader-Meinhof moment.” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/10 "2015-11-10T02:20:01Z")
I always get this term mixed up with [the Dunning–Kruger effect.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) The most recent example for me was the word “selfie”. It had never occurred to me that there was a word for, you know, that thing people do with their digital cameras. Naturally, as soon as I heard the word once, I started hearing it everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/11 "2015-11-10T02:30:45Z")
I thought this was a Red Army Faction thread. That’s the only Baader-Meinhof I ever heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/12 "2015-11-10T02:59:36Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I thought this was a Red Army Faction thread. That’s the only Baader-Meinhof I ever heard of. It is the only one. The perceptual phenomenon has nothing to do with them, so, dumb name for it. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/13 "2015-11-10T03:31:10Z")
I posted about my latest one only yesterday! [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18843550&postcount=12](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18843550&postcount=12) personally, I love the name Baader-Meinhoff it’s just weird enough so you know it is no accident when you hear it again… ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/14 "2015-11-10T15:49:34Z")
I’m not a car guy, so I rarely notice the make or model of cars. But I recently got a Chevy Sonic and suddenly I’ve been seeing them everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/15 "2015-11-10T16:41:51Z")
Shouldn’t it be Worse-Meinhoff moments? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/16 "2015-11-10T17:01:16Z")
Just FYI, I started a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=747839) with the same subject a year ago. It still baffles me. In my example I learned the word “dramaturg.” I learned it on 29 January, saw it again in a completely unrelated place on 30 January, and have not seen it since. ---
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/17 "2015-11-10T17:07:13Z")
At work on Friday, for no reason I can remember now, we were trying to remember the name of the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. We learned from the news today that this is the 40th anniversary of the sinking. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/18 "2015-11-10T19:09:33Z")
Listening to NPR I (twice) heard of a single word for this phenomenon, specifically as it relates to words. I’m sure it wasn’t Baader-Meinhof, but I can’t for the life of me remember it and I wish I could. (I also get Baader-Meinhof and Dunning-Kruger mixed up at times. :smack:) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/19 "2015-11-10T19:40:24Z")
I preferred the Red Army Faction. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124/20 "2015-11-10T22:49:22Z")
Just yesterday here on the 'Dope I was reading this thread. Not having thought about Baader-Meinhof as either anarchists or as coincidences in many years. Then in another thread this got posted: > [@What are the advantages of motorhomes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-advantages-of-motorhomes/737117/30): > > [Here’s the RV I picture **LSLGuy** living in.](http://www.demilked.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/old-boeing-727-recycled-plane-home-bruce-campbell-22.jpg) > > (Article [here](http://www.demilked.com/old-boeing-727-recycled-plane-home-bruce-campbell/) with lots more pictures.) To which I replied > [@What are the advantages of motorhomes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-advantages-of-motorhomes/737117/35): > > By an amazing coincidence about a half hour ago I was watching Mike Rowe’s _Sombody’s Gotta Do It_. The episode included a short segment on Campbell and his airplane house. > > I’d seen articles or websites on it before but this was the first time I’d seen much on Campbell himself. The guy’s nuttier than I thought. Gah what a horrible way to live. :eek: which triggered this response: > [@What are the advantages of motorhomes?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-advantages-of-motorhomes/737117/39): > > Quick! Go post the above anecdote in the nearby [Baader-Meinhof moments](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=774722) thread! … Which means not only did I/we have a Baader-Meinhof moment about Bruce Campbell’s stupid 727 house, but it was contained inside a Baader-Meinhof moment about Baader-Meinhof moments. Ain’t the 'Dope great? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-baader-meinhof-moments/737124.md?page=2)