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ericbono ericbono
 

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M$1.00  Funded By Mahalo ? |  April 13, 2009 05:45 PM

What is the the phenomenon of hearing a word repeated that you just learned or just heard or were just discussing? Deja Vu for words?

I have recently heard this phrase named but cannot remember the phrase nor the source of it.

A friend and I were discussing it the other night. I don't exactly remember why. We always seem to have these discussions about esoteric words since we both like to write.

Anyhow, let's pretend she was asking me if I had ever heard the word "impecunious"? Then, I was bowled over, because, in fact, I had heard it in some lame movie about Jane Austen the other day and went to look it up and was gratified to find that it was a really obnoxious way of saying "poor" or "broke".

Then, to top it off, we overheard someone using it in a drunken barroom brawl, "I am so going to kick your ass, you IMPECUNIOUS swine!!!"

What the heck is that? I know there is a name for this...

EDIT: I forgot to mention the dream-like quality of this happening to you and that it is not a strictly verbal thing at all. It could happen that the word or phrase or whatever shows up in the paper the next day, for instance.
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philipy philipy
 
 April 13, 2009 07:06 PM
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're after but there is something called the Cocktail Party Effect.

One version of this is that you're at a party, talking away. Then someone on the other side of the room mentions your name, or some topic you're interested in, or in this case the word "impecunious", and suddenly your attention switches to that conversation.

So it refers to the ability of the brain to tune in to things it's interested in.

As a result of this, once you get interested in something, you start seeing examples if it all over the place, where earlier they would have escaped your notice entirely.

http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/arousal.htm
http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~barons/html/cocktail.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect


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Voted as best: viridicus, jeffhoard, bbrookin
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ericbono ericbono
 
April 14, 2009 12:38 AM
Philipy,

Yeah, this is getting close.
Focus is an important part of the idea.
It could be that you have heard the word (or song, or concept, or whatever the thing is) before but you, for one reason or another, become acutely aware of it only to be confronted by it in some larger way shortly thereafter.
Maybe impecunious is on a billboard in gigantic title block letters as you come around a corner right after talking about it....

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drmatt drmatt
 
April 13, 2009 06:52 PM
It could be called "coincidence". Since I don't believe in coincidences, I'd call it "fate" or "the universe is trying to tell you something... wake up!".

Since a definition of deja vu is: "The illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time", I would still call this experience deja vu.

I'll keep digging...
Source(s):
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/deja+vu


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portilloda portilloda
 
April 15, 2009 04:06 PM
I experience this all the time. I remember asking someone this same question and they told me that when you hear or learn a new word it's more prevalent in your mind. You probably have heard the word before but didn't know what it meant and used context clues to decipher a meaning on the spot, without actually understanding the meaning of the word or taking notice that you did. When you learn the word you take notice, then when that word comes up it sticks out of the conversation you're in and you think Holy crap I just learned what that word is and now I heard it! Then it happens again, and you get to thinking, Okay this is weird, whats going on. Eventually you're brain gets bored of it and it just gets thrown in to every other word in your vocabulary and it loses that focus.

Watch the movie the number 23, crappy movie I know but they try to explain to the main character that his brain WANTS to see that number, so it makes it appear in everything. Similar concept, way more creepy.

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