Lethologica

"the inability to recall a specific word for something" Grandiloquent Dictionary

Lethologica comes over me often. Perhaps it's something to do with all those mathematical formulae and theorems that somehow drives all other expressions of ideas out of my mind (like words), or perhaps I'm just tired often. Examples would be "you know, the glass box that holds water and fish and isn't called an aquarium" (a tank) and "yeah, that person that stands at the front of the class and keeps the whole class awake, through the best napping hours of the day, no less, by constantly talking and scratching the blackboard with chalk" (a lecturer).

The cure? Why, that would be my good friend, the dictionary, which has brought me many lexical gems with which to illuminate the world of weltschmerz. There are online reverse dictionaries, where you enter the meaning and get a list of possible words.

Right. But, do we really want to be free of lethologica? What if the world becomes more disillusioning and you become more world-weary as you begin to name things? Does lethologica serve a higher purpose than embarrassment in conversations ("I can't believe you forgot the words 'tank' and 'lecturer'", replied my friend before cackling like fire-crackers.) and English writing examinations?

Well, let's create a character, say Tommy. I'll outline Tommy's actions with the corresponding forgotten word in parenthesis. By the way, these characters are not intended represent or misrepresent any persons of my acquaintance and is merely rhetorical device to illustrate the importance of forgetting certain words. So there.

Tommy has, though his many talents, earned some money. He decides to spend it on 50 hamburgers that he enjoys through the course of one day. (gluttony) Then, since Tommy has already earned some money, he decides to rest for the rest of the day watching random shows on television, instead of tackling any chores around his incredibly messy house with reeks of old laundry. (sloth) Tommy likes Erin and Erica likes Tommy, so Tommy flirts Erica to make Erin jealous and ask him out. (manipulative) While having pizza for dinner, Tommy eats the last piece without asking. (rude) Later, Tommy forgets about the email he promised to write to his friend Jim. Tommy agreed to drive Jim to a biking competition but telling Jim when they'd leave until the email he promised to send. The next day, Tommy forgets about Jim and goes on his merry way. Jim bikes 40 kilometers to his biking race, collapses halfway through the race and finishes last. (unreliable)

Satisfied with himself for a good night wasted, Tommy returns to his house at 4:00 in the morning, conveniently waking all of his housemates as he searches for a bottle of water, opening and slamming cupboard doors. (inconsiderate and disrespectful of others) Tommy buys lunch for Jim to apologize but forgets to throw out his trash after eating lunch. (littering) Talking to Erin and finding that Macbeth is Erin's favourite play, he claims to love Macbeth and Shakespeare, even though he dislikes Macbeth, never read the play, used the Cliff's notes to write his grade 11 essay on Macbeth, and doesn't think much of Shakespearean plays in general. (dishonest, hypocritical)///All in all, Tommy has does things that doesn't seem to out of the ordinary. Without the right words, he's just a … guy. A little forgetful and a bit inconsiderate, but Tommy seems to be alright. He did apologize to Jim, after all. But, with the ability of finding words restored, Tommy is gluttonous, lazy, manipulative, rude, unreliable, inconsiderate, disrespectful of many things, and dishonest. By Dante's standards, Tommy would be making his way to the Maleboge, where he would be walking around a fire wearing iron garments intended to inflict pain and difficulty walking. Admittedly, Tommy is a pretty crummy guy.

Without being extremely feministic, let's take a better example, say Jillian.

On a nice bright morning, Jillian wakes up with a headache and sleeps in (sloth). When she gets up, she cooks breakfast, but burns the eggs and bacon and forget to put the filter in the coffee maker. All the food has to be thrown out and Jillian goes out for breakfast. (wasteful) Being overly aware of her weight and a pimple on her nose, Jillian bursts into tears when she is teased about them. (hypersensitive) Jillian refuses to help her friend with homework because she is tired. (unkind) Jillian participates in a marathon for charity event, because the course goes through a nice part of town where Jillian doesn't usually get to run because of traffic. (selfish) The next morning, Jillian forgets to disable her alarm clock and wakes her roommate. (inconsiderate) Jillian then finds herself late to a midterm but persuades her professor to allow her the full time to write the exam, reminding him that he had been late to every lecture in the school term and leaves it to his conscience. (extortion)

You get the picture.

So, is the world always this much uglier when you pin words to actions? Perhaps, it is that the act of finding the right word involves the act of judgment. And judgment makes the world a weary place. It's a little like weltschmerz, isn't it?