Losing It

As I have mentioned here several times, I seem to be "losing" words. Almost everyday, I have to stop in the middle of a conversation to say, "Just a sec. I lost the word that I was going to say." I find this loss of words is worse when I am talking to strangers, speaking on the phone, or when I am in a stressful situation. Very often, I say to Mr. Fixit, "I lost the word I want, but I think it starts with. . .(a letter of the alphabet). When the word comes to me later (sometimes it happens quickly; other times it can be several hours), I'm usually right about the beginning letter. It's a bit worrying.

Lately, though, something else weird as been happening regarding words. I love word games. . .scrabble, boggle, other assorted word games on line, and, best of all, crossword puzzles. This afternoon I was playing a boggle-like game with a letter grid. The grid on this one is six by six. I wasn't really paying that much attention; I had some other things on my mind so I was playing on automatic pilot you might say. Then I found myself mousing over the letters to make the word "chukka." That one stopped me in my tracks. Chukka? I thought, "How did I come up with that? I don't have a clue what that means." I looked it up later and found that it is a boot that was/is worn by polo players. I am not a polo fan. I don't think about polo. I don't read about polo. I may see scenes from games on tv, but my only thoughts are wondering how many horses are injured by swinging mallets and hard balls.

I have also been taken aback when I come up with correct answers working crossword puzzles that I have no idea how I know the information. It's a little scary sometimes. I look at the clue and know that I don't know the answer and then the answer just flows from pencil into the little boxes. "Where did that come from?" I ask myself.

After thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that somehow I have all of this trivia hiding in my brain and I have forgotten that at one time I learned from one source or the other. It's like my "dead zone." Sometimes when I least expect it comes out of hiding when I am on automatic pilot. That "dead zone" must be where my words go when I lose them.