# Slap your own forehead moments.



## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Geralmar's thread about "Earworms" prompted me to ask this question.

I had never heard, nor seen the term "earworm" so I had no idea what he was talking about. So I looked it up and had a "Of Course!" moment. Of course I get "earworms" all the time (often as soon as I wake up in the morning of something I hadn't heard in quite some time) and am familiar with the event.

But I'm just wondering what are some of those moments for people here when they see or hear something for the first time, have no idea what it is or what it means only to discover that most people know all about it. Especially when it comes to something in the common vernacular such as "earworm."

And I'm not talking about something new such as an app for a smartphone that has only been out for 3 months, yet 50 million people world wide under the age of 17 are already using it. I'm referring to something that has been around for a while, yet somehow evaded your radar all that time.

V


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

Varick said:


> Geralmar's thread about "Earworms" prompted me to ask this question.
> 
> I had never heard, nor seen the term "earworm" so I had no idea what he was talking about. So I looked it up and had a "Of Course!" moment. Of course I get "earworms" all the time (often as soon as I wake up in the morning of something I hadn't heard in quite some time) and am familiar with the event.
> 
> ...


OMG WTF RU saying!! IMO IDK. Will this be a TFH? NISM? LOL.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm sure back when I was younger this kind of stuff happened. I remember when I heard Shostakovich's PC no. 2, and I thought it Saint-Saens because I could recall it from fantasia 2000. But alas, learning the composer corrected many things for me.

It took me a long time to find out what the Strauss _Zarathustra _Sunrise theme was _actually _classical and not some commercialized symphonic spoof soundtrack, because commercials were the only place I ever heard it. Finally in high school, hearing about its use in _2001: A Space Odyssey_, was that cleared up.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

You need to be careful slapping yourself in the head. Hope this caution is not too late.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ukko said:


> You need to be careful slapping yourself in the head. Hope this caution is not too late.


My head is so hollow that I can play tunes on it, via slaps and knuckle raps as mallets.

For me, your warning comes far too late, but nonetheless, you have my profound thanks for your urgent concerns for all mankind


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

I don't know if this counts, but I was once browsing through a newspaper someone left in a restaurant when I came across a small feature story on a medical condition I had never heard of. I was startled that the symptoms described were exactly those that I had been experiencing. I don't want to sound overly dramatic; but, yes, it probably saved my life.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

In my late thirties - early forties, living abroad, I had three guest musicians in my place; a Russian, a Swede, and a German. Natch, the talk was about music. Our common language was English.

In the flow of conversatio, out of my mouth popped "Rococo," the way I had pronounced it ever since I learned it in childhood and the way every American musician, including PhD professors I'd heard, had pronounced it:
Ro*Co*co.

In a trice, all three of them had fallen out of their chairs and were literally rolling on the floor laughing uncontrollably... including involuntary tears streaming from their eyes.

When they came back to some semblance of order after having come so quickly unraveled, I asked. It is
*Ro*coco 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well into my full adulthood, in one moment while reading I realized I had for a lifetime until that moment I always heard in my inner ear "*Myzld*" every time I ran across the word, "*misled*," while catching the drift of being directed away from right understanding, yet thinking of it as *myzld*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The late nineties: the Sib and I were watching a news segment about this new bundle of the populace now first dealing with the 'new' technology of computers. One of the commentators said, "Now we are going to address some of the most common FAQs.

We both had seen the acronym, knew how it was spelled, but in one flash we both had the gestalt, and as sibs will, looked at each other while simultaneously rolling our eyeballs as we both exclaimed, "Frequently Asked Questions," in that slap on the forehead tone.

Enough trivial embarrassments made public. I'm saving the rest for my biographer.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Wow, I would never think an Italian term would be accented on the first syllable. That's like Finnish!

I think I've also had the same situation before about not knowing how to pronounce something. To this day, I've still not seen a consensus on Steve _ Reich_. Some pronounce it like the ch in Bach, but others have said it like a sh sound at the end.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Wow, I would never think an Italian term would be accented on the first syllable. That's like Finnish!
> 
> I think I've also had the same situation before about not knowing how to pronounce something. To this day, I've still not seen a consensus on Steve _ Reich_. Some pronounce it like the ch in Bach, but others have said it like a sh sound at the end.


It's the 'misled' that rings a bell with me. It took awhile to stop reading/pronouncing it the same as being on the receiving end of a missile. As for Reich, just call him Steve, or if you insist on formality Mr. Righteous. He'll understand.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Once I was eating a vegetable salad in a restaurant and at a neighboring table, the lady was drinking a red liquid and I saw the container it came in.

Damn it!!! I could have had a V-8!!!!


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

geralmar said:


> I don't know if this counts, but I was once browsing through a newspaper someone left in a restaurant when I came across a small feature story on a medical condition I had never heard of. I was startled that the symptoms described were exactly those that I had been experiencing. I don't want to sound overly dramatic; but, yes, it probably saved my life.


Priapism? I had to google that one.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> To this day, I've still not seen a consensus on Steve _ Reich_. Some pronounce it like the ch in Bach, but others have said it like a sh sound at the end.


However everyone in your neck of the woods would pronounce "The Third Reich," that last being the identical word... then again, as H.Powders said, just call him Steve or ask him


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I was giving a talk about a monograph I did and then the teacher asked me about some very subtle topic which I explicitly said to him I wanted to avoid; I got so nervous and the topic was so tricky that I completely messed up the answer, basically saying the opposite to the correct answer... but it was so technical that nobody noticed it, even the teacher, lol. And I noticed that the answer was wrong only a day after.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

aleazk said:


> I was giving a talk about a monograph I did and then the teacher asked me about some very subtle topic which I explicitly said to him I wanted to avoid; I got so nervous and the topic was so tricky that I completely messed up the answer, basically saying the opposite to the correct answer... but it was so technical that nobody noticed it, even the teacher, lol. And I noticed that the answer was wrong a day after.


You have a potential then for an alternate career as a grifter / con man


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

PetrB said:


> You have a potential then for an alternate career as a grifter / conman


It happens more often than people in the field would admit, it can become quite labyrinthine


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

PetrB said:


> You have a potential then for an alternate career as a grifter / conman


Or a politician. 

V


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Varick said:


> Or a politician.
> 
> V


One and the same -- or at least a huge portion of their required skill-set -- so it does not need saying


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

I once asked my doctor how often I should get an annual physical.


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