Humor: When Writers Forget How to Spell
- One Candle Press
- Jul 6
- 5 min read
This came in the email, and determined to be both humorous and a bit of relief - an absolute must to share.
Writers? Your sanity hangs in the balance.
The next time someone tells you, or your negative thoughts tell you otherwise, consider:
"Forgetting a word or phrase that you know you’re familiar with can be frustrating, but it happens to everyone. This phenomenon is often referred to metaphorically as something being on the “tip of your tongue.” It also has a technical name, “lethologica,” meaning “the inability to remember a particular word or name.”
That term was coined in the early 20th century from the Greek words lēthē, meaning “forgetfulness,” and logos, meaning “word.” While it’s not usually any more bothersome than forgetting a name or stumbling in the middle of a sentence, it’s ubiquitous enough to be considered a universal experience. Let’s learn more about what’s happening on the “tip of your tongue.”
Lethologica Is Universal
Tip-of-your-tongue lapses can happen to anyone, regardless of language or culture. According to a 2011 paper on lethologica that appeared in the journal Memory & Cognition, around 90% of speakers surveyed (across many languages) described the phenomenon using wording similar to the “tip of your tongue” metaphor in English.
Spanish: Lo tengo en la punta de la lengua (I have it on the tip of my tongue)
Italian: Ce l’ho sulla punta della lingua (I have it on the tip of my tongue)
French: Sur le bout de la langue (On the tip of my tongue)
Turkish: Dilimin ucunda (On the tip of my tongue)
German: Es liegt mir auf der Zunge (It’s lying on my tongue)
Greek: Είναι κάτω από τη γλώσσα μου (It’s under my tongue)
What Causes Lethologica?
While it happens to everyone, lethologica is a complex neurological event involving many factors that aren’t completely understood. Scientists believe one contributing element could be sleep levels, as lethologica tends to happen more often to those who are tired. Other factors might include how well the memory was encoded (the base memory of the word) and interference from other memories, which can cause confusion.
Studies have also found a positive correlation with age. Older adults might experience lethologica up to once a day, while younger adults experience it around once a week. The average native English-speaking American adult knows around 42,000 dictionary words; it’s only natural that some are forgotten from time to time.
How Can Lethologica Be Resolved?
Unfortunately, there is no “cure” for this pesky phenomenon. Typically, as time passes (or if a first letter or a part of the word is remembered), the “lost” word will finally come to mind. The good news is that these events are short-term, universal experiences and don’t usually indicate serious cognitive problems. (However, if they become more persistent or frequent, that might be a sign of another condition, and you should consult a doctor.)
Researchers also have found that once lethologica occurs when trying to remember a certain word, it is more likely to happen again later with that same word. This is because our brains respond to associations that we make with new information. After an episode of lethologica, the brain likely associates the “lost” word with the event of losing it, making the same situation more likely to recur. And researchers have found no evidence that continuing to dig deeper for the word helps. In fact, doing so might actually make the situation worse, causing you to draw a blank the next time you’re trying to remember it.
The best thing to do is move on — often, the missing word will spontaneously pop back into your head. Continuing to scour your brain for the right word might turn you into a loganamnosis, or someone who is obsessed with recalling a word that has been forgotten.
How Does Lethologica Differ from Lethonomia?
“Lethologica” describes the phenomenon of forgetting any word, while “lethonomia” (with the Greek root onoma, meaning “name”) refers to the inability to remember a proper name, another tip-of-your-tongue event. This can happen at any time, whether you’re watching a television show or unexpectedly running into someone in the street. It’s another short-term impairment that usually randomly resolves itself.
“Lethonomia” is a newer term — it doesn’t appear yet in most common dictionaries, as “lethologica” does — but both words were inspired by Greek mythology. The word for “forgetfulness,” lēthē, was taken from the River Lethe, a river in Hades whose water made the dead forget their life on Earth. While tip-of-your-tongue events might not be as serious as life in the underworld, the resulting sense of empty-mindedness might make you feel as if you just drank from the Lethe."
Not to be confused with dementia/Alzheimer's (just in case you're not convinced):
Memory loss disrupting daily life: Frequently forgetting recently learned information, important dates, or names, and relying heavily on memory aids.
Challenges with planning or solving problems: Struggling to follow a familiar recipe, keep track of monthly bills, or concentrate on complex tasks.
Difficulty completing familiar tasks: Trouble managing a daily routine, driving to a familiar location, or operating common appliances.
Confusion with time or place:
Losing track of the date, season, or the passage of time, or forgetting how they got to a certain location.
Trouble understanding visual/spatial relationships: Experiencing difficulty reading, judging distance, or seeing color contrasts, which can impact driving or balance.
New problems with spoken or written words: Struggling to follow or join a conversation, stopping mid-thought, or frequently using the wrong words.
Misplacing things: Putting items in unusual locations (e.g., placing keys in the freezer) and being unable to retrace steps to find them.
Decreased or poor judgment: Making uncharacteristic, poor decisions regarding finances, grooming, or personal safety.
Withdrawal from work or social activities: Dropping out of hobbies, social projects, or sports due to communication or memory struggles.
Changes in mood and personality: Becoming unusually confused, suspicious, depressed, anxious, or easily upset, especially outside their comfort zone.
Then there is the ubiquitous dysorthographia which plagues 90% of all writers (totally made that percent up but it could be true...).
Dysgraphia: difficulty with writing mechanics, sometimes including spelling.
Dysorthographia: difficulty spelling correctly, more specifically.
Remember these ... in spite of your lethologica.
Orthographic collapse
Sounds like a terminal diagnosis, but it's not. It's the inability to recall how to spell words you're familiar with. This remarkable phenomenon usually shows up as an uninvited guest, and the Spelling Bee Association would push you out the door. Forcefully.
It's that bizarre, frustrating moment when your brain completely shuts down. Forgets how to spell. Then you search for the word in Merriam-Webster, and the dictionary can't find it since the spelling is so mangled. Merriam-Webster thinks you're speaking a foreign language from the planet Zork.
You are not alone.
Reasons?
Semantic Satiation - stop staring at it! It's now mangled into a meaningless shape.
The Brain Jam - you have two routes like a fork in the road. The lexical route (mental dictionary of word shapes) and the sublexical route (sounding it out phonetically). Once you're 'supposedly' exhausted, these two become one big bad mashup and your brain says, not today, Brain (ha!). Not today.
The Autocomplete Crutch - stop the autocorrect. We already know it can mess up spectacularly with meanings unintended. But it can make your brain lazy.
The Fix Is In ... Maybe
Look Away: Close your eyes or change your focal distance for 30 seconds to reset your visual cortex.
Change the Font: Swap your document temporarily to a completely different typeface (like Comic Sans) to force your brain to re-process the visual shapes of your text.
Write It Out Physically: Grab a pen and scribble the word on paper; muscle memory will often override the cognitive block.
Look it Up: You, Merriam-Webster, and your editor will appreciate it.
There you have it. You may well be normal.
For writers, debatable.
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