I've noticed a disturbing trend among my friends and family lately. I know it's contagious because I've got it too. I've started calling it 'Fill in the Blank' disease but I think the official name for it is CRS Syndrome or 'Can't Remember $hit.'
I just got a phone call from my friend, K. She's known for those 'and now from left field' type questions and today was no exception. Here's how the conversation went:
K: Listen to what I'm saying and fill in the blank.
Me: Um...okay.
K: I said to my husband, "Do you have any _______ to me going out tonight."
What's the missing word?
Me: Ummm...objection! Do you have any objection to me going out tonight!
K: Yes! That's it! Oh my God, that's it.
Me: Yay! What did I win?
K: Nothing. I've been wracking my brain trying to complete this sentence. My husband thought the missing word was 'repute'.
Me: Do you have any repute to me going out tonight?
K: Yeah. I knew that wasn't it.
So the conversation turned to how often we forget words, simple, everyday words that are part of our conversations. I do this all the time. Usually it's nouns - "Where's the thing?" I'll ask my husband. "What thing?" he'll reply. "You know, the thing to turn the thing on?" "You mean the tel-e-vision re-mote?" He sounds out the words like he's talking to someone who just flew in from Jabib.
It's annoying more than anything. I'm not embarrased by my dwindling vocabulary because apparently everybody has the same problem. I'm just inconvenienced. I think maybe I need to make some flash cards for ordinary objects and commonly used phrases so I don't have to call anyone and ask them to fill in the blank, and then not offer any kind of prize if they get the answer right.
Does anyone have any repute to that?
4 comments:
LOL, JAC. CRS Syndrome runs rampant at my house. I'm glad I'm a writer, at least I can put a little * in my manuscript to hold it's place til I come up with the right word!
It's really terrible when you can't remember people's names. Not odd acquaintances, mind you, but people you see on a regular basis.
My theory is that I only have so much room in my noggin....like space on a hard drive. So when something new goes in *poof* something else has to go.
LOL -- You should see the amount of ____________s I leave in my manuscript (esp. when I'm writing by hand).
My husband is much worse than me though. He'll say, "You know, that guy that was in the show...with a house in it."
Sadly, 9 times out of 10, I know exactly what he's talking about.
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