Sometimes I’ll notice that a building that I used to drive by all the time is gone (leveled to the ground). I know it’s gone, but I can’t remember what it looked like or what was in it. I just know it’s gone.
Is there a name for this?
I know I used to know a word for this, but I’m not sure what it was.
Ha
No, that wasn’t it.
Barankie
I am now genuinely curious if this is a nonsense word or not.
Interestingly I can’t find a german word for this and usually we germans have an unspeakable long word for everything. weird.
I figured out of anyone y’all would have a good word for this experience.
What about Missenstuf?
I don’t know what it actually means, but it sounds like “missing stuff”.
Are you looking for the word, “forgotten”?
Gone, but also forgotten.
I get this. I call it “deja durrr”.
Getting old
Alzheimer’s
There’s probably some really specific word in German for this, but I can’t think of a single word in English that would fully describe what you’re talking about.
Oh course there is, it’s:
Existenzerinnerungsverlust
German is crazy like that.
It was a joke ;)
There is no word for that.
(But to be fair, if there was, this one would kind of work)
Well, shit: That sounded really plausible.
Gone but not remembered.
Out of the blue and into the black…
That totally happened to me the other day when I was visiting the town I grew up in. It’s only a little over an hour away by car, but I hadn’t walked around the downtown in years, and it’s so different that I couldn’t even remember what buildings used to be when they were replaced sometimes.
Dementia
Edit: I figured for sure that giving the wrong answer would lead to the right answer immediately showing up in the replies… Sadly, I was wrong
Virtually everyone over 40 visiting their former home town has dementia in that case.
When you go into a room for something and then can’t remember what it was. There is something about crossing a threshold that makes memories go poof.
That’s called context dependent memory.
I have that HARD. As I’m heading out the door, I have a mental list (grab keys and that paper for work, stop for gas, message person about thing) and if my wife asks an unrelated question on my way, I essentially rip up the list, answer her question, go out the door, head to the car, come back in for my keys, get to work, notice the empty gas tank, and remember that paper I left at home.
I have this bad as well. I have to go back to where I started if I want to remember. That seems to help “reset” stuff.
This is why I usually keep a list on my phone.
Context dependent memory is different. It’s when you can recall something because you’re in a similar environment where the memory was formed.
Yep, then you walk into another room (new context) and poof, it’s gone, but sometimes you can go back into the other room and you start to remember. I’m no expert but I believe that’s all related to context dependent memory.
Another trick can be to chew a certain flavor of gum when studying for a test, then chew that same flavor of gum while taking the text: It will help you remember your studies.
Love the concept, don’t know the name. Is “evanescent” approaching (I know it’s an adjective but maybe it helps)?
evanescence then?
WAKE ME UP
Presque Vu maybe?
In New Orleans you’ll often hear “Ain’t there no more.”
As in, “hey wasn’t there a great little cafe here before the storm?” “Yeah, but aint dere no mo”
Reminds me a bit of Jamais Vu
It’s not a perfect match to what you describe but it’s defined as “the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognizes in some fashion, but that nonetheless seems novel and unfamiliar.”
In your case, you recognize there was a building, and recognize it should be familiar, but it still feels unfamiliar to you nevertheless.
Hopefully this is in the right direction lmao
saudade
edit: also, differently, mono no aware
Both of these are a lot less specific, and refer to types of melancholy.
oh true. anemoia?
