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Does anyone know a word or any words which help to describe the state of teetering on the brink of remembrance? I remember seeing in a psychology textbook in a chapter on memory a wonderful description by... ah... possibly Mark Twain, I can't remember (oh the irony), all about the exquisite a agony of having a word on the tip of your tongue. Now... how did that go? Anyway, if it helps, this was brought to mind by a passage from the short story 'Legeia' by Edgar Allan Poe. For context, the narrator is describing how aesthetic parallels between Legeia and the natural world (as along Diotima’s model of ascension) tantalize him with a sense of metempsychotic foreknowledge: Quote:
There is no point, among the many incomprehensible anomalies of the science of mind, more thrillingly exciting than the fact [...] that, in our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember. And thus how frequently, in my intense scrutiny of Ligeia's eyes, have I felt approaching the full knowledge of their expression – felt it approaching – yet not quite be mine – and so at length entirely depart! And [...] I found, in the commonest objects of the universe, a circle of analogies to that expression. I recognized it, let me repeat, sometimes in the survey of a rapidly-growing vine – in the contemplation of a moth, a butterfly, a chrysalis, a stream of running water. I have felt it in the ocean; in the falling of a meteor. I have felt it in the glances of unusually aged people. And there are one or two stars in heaven [...] in a telescopic scrutiny of which I have been made aware of the feeling. I have been filled with it by certain sounds from stringed instruments, and not unfrequently by passages from books.
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presque vu, from that famous 'vu' triad: déjà, jamais, presque (already, never, almost)
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I dated the Vu Sisters when I was a much younger man. Lovely Vietnamese girls, as I remember. Jamais remained unmarried and childless, I heard. Not sure what happened to Deja and/or Presque.
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Quote:
I dated the Vu Sisters when I was a much younger man. Lovely Vietnamese girls, as I remember. Jamais remained unmarried and childless, I heard. Not sure what happened to Deja and/or Presque.
Maybe they heard one of your jokes and committed suicide.
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You've probably heard this one before.
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Quote:
ah... possibly Mark Twain
What am I saying Twain... it was William James.
Quote:
Suppose we try to recall a forgotten name. The state of our consciousness is peculiar. There is a gap therein; but no mere gap. It is a gap that is intensely active. A sort of wraith of the name is in it, beckoning us in a given direction, making us at moments tingle with the sense of our closeness, and then letting us sink back without the longed-for term If wrong names are proposed to us, this singularly definite gap acts immediately so as to negate them. They do not fit into its mould. And the gap of one word does not feel like the gap of another, all empty of content as both might seem necessarily to be when described as gaps. When I vainly try to recall the name of Spalding, my consciousness is far removed from what it is when I vainly try to recall the name of Bowles. There are innumerable consciousnesses of want, no one of which taken in itself has a name, but all are different from each other. Such a feeling of want is toto coelo other than a want of feeling: it is an intense feeling. The rhythm of a lost word may be there without a sound to clothe it; or the evanescent sense of something which is the initial vowel or consonant may mock us fitfully, without growing more distinct. Every one must know the tantalizing effect of the blank rhythm of some forgotten verse, restlessly dancing in one's mind, striving to be filled out with words.
William James, The Stream of Consciousness (1892)
Last edited by Stag_Beetle; 03/04/06 08:04 PM.
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Then of course there's lethologica.
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Does anyone know a word or any words which help to describe the state of teetering on the brink of remembrance?
Usually we'd say, "it's on the tip of my tongue."
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Quote:
Does anyone know a word or any words which help to describe the state of teetering on the brink of remembrance?
Usually we'd say, "it's on the tip of my tongue."
well S_B, now you know the thrill of being mantled (but it was already hidden).
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Mantled... that must be when someone overlooks your post and tells you what you've already said... is that a neologism?
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presque vu, from that famous 'vu' triad: déjà, jamais, presque (already, never, almost)
AHA! I've been wondering at the meaning of "Presque Isle", the name of a Michigan county. Google map Presque Isle, Michigan, and you'll see almost an island.
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Ooops, sorry, not overlooked, I read too fast and missed that sentence.
What's wrong with using "tip of your tongue" though? It says exactly what you're looking for, in a way that everybody understands.
A word picked out of a psychology book might be scientifically accurate, but not practical because nobody would understand it.
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>missed that sentence. pssst.. bel.. there was a link back there, under subject heading A TOT (Tip Of the Tongue) Experience. here it is again for your convenience.
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Interesting that. My son and I had a tip of tongue experience together, at the same time, a week ago. We were talking about this woman who seems to seek validation with every sentence she utters. For the 30 minute ride in the car we were throwing out words - justification, acceptance, and so on, but both of us kept on feeling "no, that's not it." I dropped him off at home, and then the search just kept niggling at my mind all night. At 10:00 p.m. I get a call from my son...I pick up the phone and the first thing I hear is a triumphant "Validation!" "THAT'S IT!! Yay. Thanks, it was bothering me." "I know, that's why I called past 9:30." "Bye, love you." "Love you too." 
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What I hate about reality, belMarduk, is that it is not always as pointed as art. For example let's re-write your report about you and your son riding down the road in search of a meaning...We were talking about a type of woman who seeks validation with every sentence she utters. For the 30 minute ride in the car we both keep throwing out words - justification, acceptance, and so on, but both of us kept on feeling "no, that's not it." I dropped him off at home, and then the search just kept niggling at my mind all night. Finally at 1:00 am the word hit me...I grab the phone and call my son. He answers and without preamble I triumphantly say "Validation!" Then there is long pause on his end of the line, finally he says quietly... "yes, mom, I know, that is why I was not sleeping but waiting for your call. Good night Mom, love you too." Click.
Last edited by themilum; 03/05/06 03:20 PM.
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Quote:
...Such a feeling of want is toto coelo ...
Thanks SOOO much for posting that... now I'll be stuck with that song all day...
I eat cannibal, feed on animal, your love is so edible to me... ARGHHH! Shoot me now!
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