From the Word Fugitives archive...

Um uh er uh

Please note: This page is a read-only archive of messages posted in the Word Fugitives conference of Post & Riposte.

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (1 of 9), Read 159 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, March 24, 1999 09:25 AM

Rachael, of Los Angeles, Calif., writes: "Have you ever forgotten a word and it was on the tip of your tongue but you couldn't remember it? What do you call being in that situation?"

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (2 of 9), Read 148 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Michael Fischer ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, March 24, 1999 01:33 PM

it's right on the tip of my tongue... if I
could just remember it...

lethologica!

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (3 of 9), Read 138 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, March 25, 1999 09:45 AM

It's a good-looking word, Michael, and I like it as a new coinage, but "lethologica" isn't in either the American Heritage or the OED. Do you remember where you found it?

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (4 of 9), Read 135 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Michael Fischer ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, March 25, 1999 07:37 PM

On 3/25/99 9:45:49 AM, Barbara Wallraff wrote:
>It's a good-looking word,
>Michael, and I like it as a
>new coinage, but "lethologica"
>isn't in either the American
>Heritage or the OED. Do you
>remember where you found it?

a web search turns it up in several places, but where I *found it was in a couple of "word books" -- one of which is Charles Elster's There's a Word for It! additionally, he has this gem:

loganamnosis - obsession with trying to recall a forgotten word

anyway, I'll try to see if I can figure out where he found it.

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (5 of 9), Read 124 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Michael Fischer ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, March 26, 1999 07:48 PM

...and here's what Charles has to say about it:

Unfortunately, the history of "lethologica," like many of the obscure terms in my book, is shrouded in mystery. It appears in a few tertiary sources--including "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary" and "Dickson's Word Treasury"--but in only one dictionary--Webster's New International, second edition--in the entry for "letho-," which reads, "a combining form, Greek letho-, from lethe-, forgetfulness, meaning 'forgetting,' as in 'lethologica,' inability to recall words." Clearly the word is formed from Greek lethe- and logos, word, speech, but who formed it first and who may have used it since I cannot say.

so, let's do what we can to bring this word into currency!

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (6 of 9), Read 70 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barry Eckert ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, April 08, 1999 02:17 AM

"Have you ever forgotten a word and it was on the tip of your tongue but you couldn't
remember it? What do you call being in that situation? " I would like to suggest 'lexstipated' :)
If you'd like some half-way serious justification for that coinage, lex- signifies 'word' and the root stipare means to crowd or press, and of course has the same history as 'constipated'. The advantage of this is that the average person is more likely to remember the word. :)

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (7 of 9), Read 47 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Carolyn Roosevelt ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, April 08, 1999 07:04 PM

How about, "tongue-tipped"?
(Happened to just about everybody the first
day of daylight savings time...

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (8 of 9), Read 46 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Jane Siow ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, April 09, 1999 05:24 AM

Usually when that happens, I'd just say I'm "stuppered" and strangely, my colleagues know exactly what I mean - I've never had to explain what it means! Then again, maybe that means I've been working here too long ...

Topic:	8) Um uh er uh (9 of 9), Read 50 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Les Morris ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, April 08, 1999 06:27 PM

Around my crowd, the situation is knows as a "Woodcrest moment." However the "Woodcrest" could be substituted by the locale (usually retirement location) of your choice.

I personally call it being in a state of "slipto"-don't ask me why! Again, everyone
knows what I mean when I say that I'm in slipto.

Return to the Court Record index.

Return to the Word Fugitives main page.

Topic:	um um er uh (1 of 1), Read 8 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Spencer Bagley ([email protected])
Date:	Tuesday, April 13, 1999 05:21 PM