this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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Looking it up just kinda feels like cheating, y'know? Or at least throwing in the towel.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I was going to say “old age” but, yeah, stubborn is definitely the personality trait. :-)

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (3 children)

There's probably a word for it in German or Swedish. I bet it's long and hard to pronounce, maybe with a non-English pronunciation symbol.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Google translate says "Zungenspitze" is the German word for "tip of tongue".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There isn't one in German.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Let me rephrase that: I never heard one. There is a word for tip of the tongue but not for the concrete situation OP described. I mean the possibility to just look up stuff wherever you are is a very recent development so it makes sense that a word that incorporates this isn't invented yet.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Still don't believe you. Just smash a sentence together or whatever y'all do. We need you. Latin doesn't do this.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I invented one for you:

Zungenspitzendilemma, das

When you have something stuck at the tip of your tongue, but looking it up feels like cheating.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

We're best friends now. Do another one: "when an Internet stranger connects with you over an infinitesimally small and unlikely shared idea or experience, and for the first time in your life, you don't feel alone on an earth with 7 billion humans, and you have a best friend"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I’d be surprised if there isn’t a German word for it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I think it's "tipphoffzetongue"

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

sometimes it's something that can't be looked up like a song tune or a scene from a show. i tried searching once using humming and it didn't work, but thankfully it only took a couple days for me to remember where it was from

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

A couple of days...! I get annoyed after a couple of minutes, lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

it was definitely annoying that's for sure

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Once, I had a song in my head that I wasn't able to remember much about. I posted on the /r/tipofmytongue community, letting them know that all I could remember was "eh, oppah"

After a few incorrect guesses, somebody realized that it was Moby's "Natural Blues"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Definitely the worst part of being a post rock fan, or I guess a fan of any instrumental music.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Generally it is literally called a “tip-of-the-tongue” state in psych literature. Presque vu is the “fancy” french term for it, and means almost seen, similar to deja vu (already seen).

E: as a sidenote, I am fairly sure Vsauce had a video on this.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I thought the post title was a joke. Like you couldn't remember the word you were thinking of to describe when you can't think of a word.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yes I did see the irony at the time of writing

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is there a word for when there's a word that's on the tip of your tongue but it turns out the word doesn't actually exist?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Something like onamanfuckmeah

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I’m partial the term ‘wonder kill’ for when one does look it up.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I always experience a phenomenon in which no matter how hard I wrack my brain trying to think of the thing that's on the tip of my tongue, as soon as I go to look it up or ask somebody, it suddenly comes to my mind right before they tell me the answer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Happens to me often with wordle. I take a screenshot to send my friend and show her that I'm stuck, and for some reason right after I send it, the answer comes to me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yes it happens to you too, isn't it a weird phenomenon??

like I wouldn't be surprised if I could even predict the lottery Powerball numbers a fraction of a second before they are called out LOL

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

CRS syndrome.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Brain fart.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Sounds like it could be called "trivial pursuit"