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'What was I looking for?'

DEFINITION: n. A condition where you get so distracted by the fact that you can't find something, that you forget what you were looking for. v. To forget what you are looking for while you are looking for it.

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Verboticisms

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Wanderlost

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: won-der-lost

Sentence: Kev almost always has trouble keeping track of his things. Whatever he has in his hands when he gets home gets dropped somewhere. He then gets to play hide and seek finding them again. Sometimes he spends so much time hunting that he forgets what ha was looking for. He gets completely wanderlost.

Etymology: wander (to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray) + lost (having gone astray or missed the way) play on wanderlust (a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about)

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Seekersblock

Created by: Bulletchewer

Pronunciation: sikh-errs-blok

Sentence: He knew it would be in the last place he looked, but his seekersblock proved something of an obstacle.

Etymology: From "writer's block" and "seek". Always wonder whether you're allowed 2 separate words, because "seeker's block" would be better here.

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Outoflocus

petaj

Created by: petaj

Pronunciation: out-o-FLOW-cus

Sentence: Conor was so outoflocus that he spent all day retracing his steps trying to remind himself of what he was looking for.

Etymology: out of focus (not focussed) + locus (location)

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Alzhunter

mrskellyscl

Created by: mrskellyscl

Pronunciation: allz-hun-ter

Sentence: Carl was certain that he had early onset of Alzhunter's Disease when he began to forget what it was that he was looking for in the first place; however, while he was hunting it, he found what he was looking for yesterday -- except he couldn't remember why he was looking for it.

Etymology: Alzheimer's Disease: dimentia often beginning with short-term memory loss + hunter: one who searches or seeks for something

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COMMENTS:

artr I often find things by looking for something else. - artr, 2009-10-01: 11:06:00

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Unfounder

Created by: Discoveria

Pronunciation: Un-fownd-dur

Sentence: Tom had been searching for his car keys for hours when suddenly he unfoundered; his mind blanked and he couldn't remember what he needed to do.

Etymology: Unfound + founder. Founder: to stumble, fail, collapse etc.

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Seeknesia

artr

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: sēknēzhə

Sentence: Al suffers from seeknesia. Not only does he have trouble finding things, he often forgets what he was looking for in the first place. The results of these slips can sometimes be a bit shocking like the time he went out to shovel his sidewalk and realized that what he had been looking for before seeknesia struck was twofold, his snow shovel and his pants.

Etymology: seek (attempt to find something) + amnesia (a partial or total loss of memory)

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Seekeying

Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: see kee ying

Sentence: Al Zymer did it again...he went into the room but forgot what he went in there for. He forgot what he was seekeying. In future he decided he would right it down or make a code of words to relate to what he needed to get. His favourite movie was "Johnny Mnemonic" starring Keyanu Reeves, but since he got that bad bronchial infection, he thought he was actually "Johnny Pneumonic".

Etymology: Seeking (looking for, trying to find or obtain) & Keying (effective; producing a desired effect;a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access)

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Fourofourgot

Created by: purpleartichokes

Pronunciation: for-oh-four-got

Sentence: Because she suffered from mysplasia, Sue fourofourgot that she was looking for her keys and walked out to her car, content in the fact that she had found the remote.

Etymology: 404 - error message "Not Found"; forgot (literally, to not find, then forget)

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COMMENTS:

I can imagine people of the future using this word... - Discoveria, 2007-03-15: 10:11:00

Speaking of people, I wonder why so many players are 404'd lately. Hope they weren't verbducted to another room. - purpleartichokes, 2007-03-15: 11:46:00

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Distrocupied

Created by: ziggy41

Pronunciation: (dis-TROC-you-PIED)

Sentence: He was so distrocupied with looking for the remote that after he forgot and walked to the tv to turn it on.

Etymology: "Distract" (to change your attention to something else), and "preoccupy" (engross one's thought into, such as finding something)

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Absentfindedness

Created by: splendiction

Pronunciation: AB sent find ed NESS

Sentence: Able tore around the apartment, digging through gobs of stuff to find many things he forgot he had. Unfortunately, his absentfindedness prevented him from actually remembering what he was looking for. Perhaps Able found it after all that finding!

Etymology: I forgot... (Uh, a twist together of absentmindedness and find).

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COMMENTS:

Good word...amazing how many people are afflicted with this disease...not me, at least I don't remember having it! - Nosila, 2009-10-01: 20:19:00

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Comments:

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-03-15: 00:12:18
Today's definition was suggested by mana1066.
Thank you mana1066! ~ James

erasmus erasmus - 2007-03-15: 12:25:00
I do believe in the UK the DJ on Radio 2 called Terry Wogan calls this a senior moment but thats two words.

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2007-03-15: 20:02:00
Funny thing is that it's been happening to me since I was a kid... Do think it's going to get worse as I get older?

Verbotomy Verbotomy - 2009-10-01: 00:12:00
Today's definition was suggested by mana1066. Thank you mana1066. ~ James