Forgetting Words

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I wasn't really sure where to put this, so I'm just setting it up here.

Anyone ever forget if certain words are real? Sometimes I'll want to use a word (usually a simple one) and I'll know what it's supposed to mean, but I won't be certain it's a real word. Just last weekend I had to ask my friend if "only" was a word. Is this something I should be worried about or is it fairly normal?

Can be normal for me sometimes, I forget words on rair occasion but dont worry about it, just a brain fart.

Happened to me a few times. I remember once telling my mum that the word "us" wasn't a real word when I was 14. I soon remembered that it was.

Yeah, mostly it's tip of the tongue, but I've occasionally had to ask if "____" was a word.

I DO THIS TOO!

My ability to spell and use words has always been far better than that of people in my peer group, so it always made me wonder "what the hell? am I ret*d?"

It's really surreal. I sometimes freak out after using a word, realizing that I can't remember for the life of me if it's an actual word, and I have to look it up to make sure I didn't make an ass out of myself.

It's almost like... all of the sudden, the word just sounds weird or made up to me even if I've used it a thousand times before and never had the feeling. It's never the same word either. The last word I did it with was "especially". One before that was "resonance".

Strange stuff.

Okay, apparently I can do it with the same word twice, because right now I have this insane urge to look up "especially" again. Even though I looked it up yesterday. Even though Mozilla's spell check is not underlining it.

I'm so weird

I can not remember any such experience with certainty. Not really, but there is something that irks me a tad bit in some words, for instance the -ci- in "especially", that makes me think twice about it.

I have similar situations occasionally

If I look at any one word for more than a few seconds, it becomes completely foreign and I get confused. I also have a tendency to dissect a word (e.g. prefix, root, suffix, etc.). That happens when I think about a particular word for more than a few seconds.

Usually, the dissection precedes the utter loss of any recognition.

No, I don't experience this. Although, when talking to my mother, nearly everything she talks about it named a, "thingy".

oh yeah..married to a woman who is 'noun-challenged'... This is especially fun when the subject changes, but 'she' is still telling 'her' something.

Things, oh yes, everything's a thing. Her vocabulary is a bit on the thin side, which makes conversations more like courtroom drama. I get in trouble for it.

so it's not just us...

WOW, I guess I am not that bad. I rarely wonder if a word is real. Sometimes others wonder if a word I am using is real, and it always turns out to be real. That is especially odd because I might refer to words in like 20 different languages. I rarely even get languages mixed up. It is more common that I might get a word switched. Luckily, I rarely express that publicly.

NOW, if only I can learn all the words I want and be fluent with them. I'm afraid I will be looking at words until I am practically fluent in perhaps 12 languages. It is my latest interest, but I don't have the time to really pursue it like I should. 8-(. BTW I am only trying 6(And have some level of fluency with them), and playing with like another 4.

At the rate I am going, I might be able to communicate with about 1/2 the world in a couple years.(Three of the languages are very popular, and 2 of the others are even more popular.) It is a pity I don't have the social acumen or the desire and zeal to really use such an ability. I'm not even quick enough to be a simultaneous translator.

KristaMeth,

Why do you consider that you might be ret*d when you find you have a better use of language than your peers? Frankly, you should be happy about that and it makes up for some deficits, if any, that you may have elsewhere.

I meant the fact that I use language well, yet still seem to screw up the simplest things, just makes me feel defective. Like I'm capable of being so much better but still keep making really silly mistakes.

BY THE WAY. I wanted to let you know that your username keeps me up LATE at night because I want to be able to pronounce it, but that 2 in there is screwing me up. It bothers me. Often.

TOO-KEN-KERL?

TOO-OO-KEN-KERL?

TOO-YOU-KEN-KERL?

TELL ME! AHHHHHH.

I hate when this happens to me. I have a good vocabulary and hate sounding like an idiot.

KristaMeth,

Forget the 2. It is silent. I just got tired of waiting for alex to change my name, so I created another. I guess I just placed the 2 in front so someone wouldn't create one without it, etc.... I was HOPING the other would be simply changed, but it never was.

Anyway, don't worry about it.

As for messing up simple things? I do also. I just try to be more careful, check, or avoid them. Besides, for every simple thing I seem to find hard, I find some hard things simple! That makes it hard for ME to be hurt by some attacks, and such attacks are very rare now. I mean like I could go YEARS without one. BESIDES, a real ret*d person would just find things harder.

The problem I've been having for the last couple of years is that I keep forgetting the name for what everyday common objects or places are called. It's like the information is there, just not where it should be. So I have to suddenly switch and use all the brainpower I can muster to find the word within my brain. And oh my God is it ever so aggrivating! It gets to be such a chore that sometimes when it happens, I honestly feel a little tired. Like it took physical energy finding the lost word.

I was in the car with my fiance and I suddenly lost the name for a word. It took me 5 entire minutes to remember the word. And after I did I swear to you that I felt so tired that I needed a nap.

That happens to me a lot. I've always had that problem, but it's gotten worse over the last few years, because I started thinking in English. Sometimes the English word completely overwrites the German and I only notice it when I'm talking to someone, because then I usually translate "on-the-fly". I should really read more German stuff, but it just seems so clunky and awkward. Considering that it's my mother tongue that's pretty strange

Sometimes words completely lose their meaning when I look at them or think about them for too long. Then I'm not sure if it's a real word or not. It's very confusing and frustrating.