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#25301 03/29/01 01:22 PM
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nagrao Offline OP
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can someone tell me the word for
"I am trying to express a word matching the situation, the word is at the tip of the tongue but unable to speak it out"
no.. not related to stammering.. the situation for any normal guy trying to express something..


#25302 03/29/01 02:10 PM
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wwh Offline
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Dear welcome nagrao: "on the tip of the tongue" is used very often, and I cannot think of a word that summarizes it.


#25303 03/29/01 02:27 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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"um"?

and welcome aboard


#25304 03/29/01 02:39 PM
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"I am trying to express a word matching the situation, the word is at the tip of the tongue but unable to speak it out"

Welcome to AWADtalk, nagrao. I would say that I was "fumbling for" or simply "looking for the right word".

Hope that helps!

Flatlander


#25305 03/29/01 02:41 PM
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"It's on the tip of my tongue" said Tom ....
Oops, sorry wrong thread!

Rod Ward

#25306 03/29/01 02:49 PM
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It's on the tip of my tongue" said Tom ....
Oops, sorry wrong thread!
said Tom, trippingly.


#25307 03/29/01 02:56 PM
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See:

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fugitives/index.htm

for a discussion of a related topic, "fugitive words." The term might be handy, if it sticks.

(tip of hat to absent pooh-bah)


#25308 03/29/01 03:04 PM
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Welcome to you, nagrao.
When we know we know a word but can't call it to mind to
say it, we often say, "My mind went blank", or "I have drawn a blank". Hope that helps.


#25309 03/29/01 03:37 PM
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My expression for it is "incipient Alzheimers" but maybe that's an exaggeration. Sadly, it happens to me much more often than it used to. It's certainly frustrating, and the more you try to remember the word you're groping for, the less successful you are. You have to just give it up and wait. When I do that, the word I want usually comes to mind in an hour or so, but often that's too late.

Have you ever noticed the frustration felt by people who have had a stroke and suffer temporary aphasia? That happened to my grandfather and I remember vividly when he first began to recover speech. After 2 days of being unable to speak, he finally got out, "G-g-g-g-goddammit!"


#25310 03/29/01 03:41 PM
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if you can't remember the "right" word, you are suffering from lethologica (the inability to remember names is lethonomia). the more medical terminology for difficulty in finding the right words or remembering names is anomia.

here is an interesting British slang word for a "what's it's name": oojah
a Freudian slip is known as a parapraxis
and "speaking in tongues" is more properly called glossolalia

{gotta get more stuff into my postaday}

by the way, Lethe, in Greek mythology, was the river of forgetfulness in Hades; the dead drank from Lethe upon their arrival in the underworld.

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