Learning, only to forget again
The latest challenge was to come up with a word for the opposite of déjà vu, to “describe the feeling of learning something a hundred times but never being able to remember it.”
Since then, you may recall, I wrote a column about macaronic literature, or literature written in more than one language — e.g., the Bayside Boys’ lyrics for “Macarena”: “When I dance they call me Macarena / And the boys they say que estoy buena.”
Coincidentally, many of the coinages I received for the opposite-of-déjà-vu challenge were macaronic, as reader John Thomson, of Beverly, pointed out about his submission, toujours new — which comprises one word in French and one in English. So does déjà new, proposed by MaryAnn Kane, of Exeter, N.H.; and déjà knew, by Leanne Goldman, of Newton, and Larry Kerpelman, of Acton.
More macaronicisms: déjà review, from Basil Chapman, of Newton; déjà obscura, from Joel Hariton, of Topsfield; oublie knew, from William Derry Heasley, of Gloucester; déjà did, from Steve Straight, of South Windsor, Conn.; and déjà void, from Amy Yatsuhashi, of Reading, who explained: “Instead of remembering something one already knows, there’s just an empty space in the brain.”
“It’s embarrassing how often Homer Simpsonisms play out in my life,” Mark Garvey, of Concord, confessed, “but the exasperation of knowing I’ve forgotten something for the hundredth time is a déjà d’oh! moment for me.” By this time, you may be ready, as I was, for the coinage proposed by Marc McGarry, of Newton Highlands: déjà phooey.
I received even more suggestions that were entirely in French — jamais vu, meaning “never seen”; déjà oublié, “already forgotten”; toujours oublie, “always forget”; déjà-vu-mais-perdu, ”already seen but lost,” and more. I’m doubtful, however, that enough of us Americans speak French for us to adopt a new all-French term unless it has to do with food.
So let’s move on to the non-French suggestions I received.
Milda Contoyannis, of Concord, wrote: “I would say uv ajed is the opposite of déjà vu. Hit your forehead when you can’t remember what you heard a hundred times and exclaim ‘Uv ajed!!’”
Tim Burke, of Peterborough N.H., offered mind slippage, “as in ‘It slipped my mind.’” Pat Nicholson, of Falmouth, wrote: “I like slippories, short for ‘slippery memories.’” Norm Quesnel, of Framingham, and Marjory Wunsch, of Cambridge, proposed wreckollection, which Norm explained as “Whatever it was, that memory’s smashed.”
John Bluthardt, of Jamaica Plain, sent me “floral forget me lots”; Barbara Lee Leventhal, of Raynham, sent me forget me nots; and Naomi Angoff Chedd, of Brookline, wrote: “I like forget-me-knots: The information was input a hundred times, but now it’s an unretrievable, crumpled cranial mess.”
And how about oubliette? I was startled to learn, thanks to Sandy Sonnichsen, of Goshen, N.H., that this is an English word. Sandy reported that her spellchecker had replaced oublie with it, and she whimsically deemed such a thing “the dungeon of constant forgetting.” Indeed, an oubliette is a secret dungeon that can be accessed only through a trapdoor in its ceiling, and the word has been in use in English since 1777 (though, thank goodness, not all that often). Some “examples of my own oubliette,” Sandy added, are “how to spell surprise, where exactly is Missouri, who was the fourth president, where did I put that irreplaceable family document, and did I put the sugar in the scones?”
I am so charmed by this accidental but apt coinage that I am awarding bragging rights to Sandy, with an honorable mention going to her spellchecker for tossing the inspiration her way. Well done, Sandy!
The new challenge comes from Louise Bellucci, who writes: “I am in search of a word for when someone says something and you have a line from a song for it. For example, someone says ‘One day more’ and that results in an outburst from ‘Les Miz.’ Or ‘What’s going on’ results in a bad impersonation of Marvin Gaye. I do this all the time and believe there is a song for every occasion. My kids call it the Louise disease because I annoy them with my frequent outbursts of song. I know a lot of musical theater lovers who do this all the time too.”
Send your suggestions for Louise’s word to Barbara.Wallraff@globe.com by noon on Friday, April 12, and kindly tell me where you live. Responses may be edited. And please keep in mind that meanings in search of words are always welcome.