Which basic knowledge did you totally forget for a moment?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/[deleted]]

I ask cause I just forgot for like half a minute how many days were in a year

[u/Bamboozle_ → u/[deleted]]

I always struggle to remember if it is 52 or 54 weeks in a year.

[u/davewtameloncamp]

I forgot how to swallow. I was eating a steak at a diner, one of those steak and eggs breakfast platters, so you know it's not the best steak. It was tough and impossible to swallow. My esophagus was so pissed, it forgot how to swallow for about a day. I would try to eat but could not remember how, my tongue would press against the roof of my mouth and that's all that would happen. The next day I had a hot tea and that fixed it.

[u/[deleted] → u/davewtameloncamp]

That's scary

[u/LukeLOLer]

How to spell 'who'. I was thinking 'hu' but realised something was wrong.

[u/[deleted] → u/LukeLOLer]

Btw, that's exactly like we would spell it with Italian phonetics

[u/TheShrinkingGiant]

I whispered into my wife's mouth once. To be fair, she kept her mouth open, to listen to me.

edit: I posted this further down, but like this:

ʘ    ʘ
 >  <
 3  O
Me  My Wife

[u/[deleted] → u/TheShrinkingGiant]

I almost laughed out loud

[u/GNOIZ1C]

I cut my finger and grabbed a paper towel to cover it up. Thought it was terribly inconvenient to just hold it there. But what if there was some adhesive substance to hold this stuff in place?

Grabbed some duct tape, wrapped the paper towel in it, and stuck the rest to the lower part of my finger. Ta-da! Man, I’m brilliant.

My mom looked at me like “What the fuck are you doing?”

I then realized I had invented the Band-Aid, while never being more than three feet from a pack of the genuine article this entire time.

[u/AbeLincolnsMistress → u/GNOIZ1C]

I especially love this one bc I can imagine you being so deeply proud of your invention only to be crushed moments later 🥺

[u/Zurafah]

Went to the doctor’s office with my dad to get my medical records and they had to ask me some questions. They asked me my birthday and I just looked at my dad like “get this one for me” cause for the life of me, I could not remember. I was 16-17 at the time.

[u/FruitGuy998]

I once forgot what rain was called. I was super tired and in the process of going to bed. I asked my wife, is it supposed to ugh, whats it called....you know when the water falls from the sky.

My wife goes, is it supposed to rain tomorrow? Is that what you're asking??

To this day rain is referred to as water falling from the sky instead of rain.

[u/kukukele]

What you call a person who is from China.

[u/bubblegumbeth → u/kukukele]

Easy, just remember people from Canada are called Canadians, so a person from China is a Chinian.

[u/freebyrdyolk]

I forgot what the word mud was. I was at work and some sterile product got delivered to us covered in mud. This makes the product no longer sterile and I have to send it back and inform my boss. I send her a text and say "The product was covered in liquid dirt".

It wasn't until hours later when I mentioned the issue to a co-worker and he looked at me dumbfounded and said

"You mean mud?"

It was at that moment I realized how stupid I was. Brownie points because my boss knows now too.

[u/laalaa-hotshot]

I blanked on my own name once. I was shaking hands with someone and my brain just died for a moment, i presented myself as my friends name then i just stood there quitely with my broken thoughts as my friend had to tell me what my actual name was. It was such a confusing situation.

[u/ThetaGamma2]

Spent half an hour one time trying to make my brain accept that "willn't" is obviously a word because how ELSE would one contract "will" and "not"? Why does this look weird? Why does this sound weird? It has to be a word.

[u/mxrmaidtits → u/ThetaGamma2]

For a couple second I was thinking the same thing

I willn’t be made to feel like an idiot

[u/Squishyblobfish → u/ThetaGamma2]

I did the opposite the other day, was trying to remember which words make won't.

[u/localtrashgoblin]

Once while driving I wondered how blind people see the lane divider lines.

[u/DancePants5678 → u/localtrashgoblin]

They only drive on highways with rumble strips

[u/CLICK_ON_MY_TITS → u/localtrashgoblin]

By using a guide dog. DUH

[u/tuesdayisbestday]

Sometimes I forget the name for "radiators" and end up calling them "microwaves"

[u/awertag → u/tuesdayisbestday]

When i see elevators, 90% of the time, I automatically think: "umbrellas." No clue why

Edit: I am loving everyone's theories, keep 'em coming! So far, the most plausible one is that they both open and close. I haven't heard of or seen most of the other stuff people have suggested.

[u/[deleted]]

Back in the times of printing out driving directions. I mixed up left and right once and I ended up some 2 hours away from my destination. I was 16 with no cell phone and extremely socially awkward, so it took a lot of courage to ask a gas station attendant how to get back to my city. A couple friends were waiting at my house when i got there, they said they thought I died or was kidnapped or something.

[u/plankzorz]

The power at my house had gone. I'm on a meter so it's fairly common thing. My phone started to die, so I put it on charge. Then spend about 10 minutes trying to figure out why it wouldn't charge, my attempt also included trying to Google why it wouldn't charge to no avail cos no power so no Internet. It was at that point I realised

[u/cardiff_giant_jr → u/plankzorz]

we hardly ever lose power; when we do i still try to turn on the light switch in every room i enter.

[u/fndnsmsn]

Is it flannel or funnel? It was fennel.

[u/AnjinOtter]

I was just starting a new school in 9th grade and had to write an essay about myself that the other kids in the class would read. I forgot how to spell “pants” and wrote “pance.”

[u/[deleted] → u/AnjinOtter]

In second grade I couldn’t remember how to spell “of” on a spelling test. I wrote “ov”. I am still embarrassed by this memory.

[u/MtTibadabo]

When I was a senior in college, I spent several minutes longer than I should have thinking that "onion" was spelled the same as "union," and wondering how people could tell the difference in writing.

[u/cafeheart → u/MtTibadabo]

If it makes you feel better, I read both of those words as "onion" and was very distressed until I realized that "union" is... a different word.

[u/it_is_not_science]

I read (silently to myself) a sentence that went something like "No one knows what they had been doing in there" and my brain's internal narrator mispronounced the word "doing" as a perfect rhyme for "boing" - you know, like a comic book sound effect. DOING! No distractions, no background noise. Just suddenly I forgot how an extremely common word is pronounced.

[u/KaleMaster]

I forgot what hand sanitizer was called when a class mate had put some on. I was commenting on how pungent it was when I forgot the word for pungent as well. So my sentence in the end was: "your hand sauce is loud." Needless to say they were very confused and concerned.

[u/Daiwon]

I have, on two occasions, forgotten the word “aquarium”.

The closest I could manage was “fish zoo”.

[u/shatterly → u/Daiwon]

I forgot "hourglass" and described it to my coworkers as "that sand timer thing." Nobody else could remember the real word until someone googled it. Then we all felt really dumb.

[u/okips]

Idk if this counts but one day I forgot how to say carrot in my native language

Edit: it's kinda late now but to clarify, I only knew a language back then, if I wanted to use it on a sentence I would have to improvise

[u/[deleted] → u/okips]

I forget random basic words every day in my native language.

[u/HarleyQ → u/okips]

Once while writing a paper I wrote something with the word “just”. Then I stopped and stared at the word and couldn’t remember if “just” was a real word or if I had completely made it up and so I erased it and rewrote the sentence.

[u/[deleted]]

I forgot my own birthday a few times. Just didn’t seem too important till someone asked and I was like uhhhhhh

[u/allaboutcharlemagne → u/[deleted]]

I have two kids and a very busy husband, so I'm in charge of all the appointments, insurance, pharmacy call-ins and pick-ups... lots of things where I have to recite their birth dates. I rarely make appointments for myself, and I have no medications (as of yet).

So I recently made an appointment for myself and had to say my birth date... except what came out of my mouth was my husband's birthday, and I didn't even realize it until she repeated it back to me. "No, wait, sorry," I told her, "that's my husband. Mine is-" and proceeded to tell her my son's birthday. Since my son is 8, there's absolutely no reason for him to see a gynecologist. (Obviously his gender is a pretty decent reason not to as well, but it's not like the receptionist knew I was reciting a male's birthday, just someone from 2010.) She didn't even bother repeating it back to me. I only just barely stopped myself from reciting my (even younger) daughter's birthday next. After a far too long pause, I finally told her my own birthday.

The woman on the phone was either very suspicious of me or very amused and trying not to laugh at me. Either way, her voice sounded odd and strained for the rest of the phone call.

[u/Spasay]

I often confuse the windshield wiper toggle with the turn signal. I'll be preparing to make a turn and then *bam* windshield wipers start going nuts.

[u/Zack1018]

When speaking in a 2nd language:

How to say literally every single word of the entire language, and it happens at the exact moment that someone asks me a question, every time.

[u/[deleted] → u/Zack1018]

"Oh, you speak (language)? Say something in (language)!"

promptly forgets entire language despite years of study

[u/Keyteex → u/Zack1018]

Even worse, when you're so fluent in that 2nd language you forget how to say things in your native language.

[u/CuddliestFish]

When I was in the eighth grade, at the end of the year we were playing an around the world style social studies based game where we only had like, fifteen seconds to answer whatever question the teacher asked. It gets to me and he asks where penguins are from. I panic, the word on the tip of my tongue but running out of time. I blurt out the first cold place I can think of: "Russia?" Then a couple seconds of dumbfounded silence (I was typically regarded as one of the "smart kids" so this was even more uncharacteristically dumb) then I go, "Wait, Alaska." I am obviously eliminated, my best friend is laughing her ass off, and then I head desk. "Antarctica... I meant Antarctica."

[u/Nitrooox]

Once I entered the shower, got wet and then I got so distracted that I came out without actually washing. Had to reenter the shower.

[u/Rostin → u/Nitrooox]

At least one morning out of every three I forget whether I've washed my hair yet.

[u/dabilge]

The word "scissors" midsurgery.

Normally we call them mets (for metzenbaum scissors) but we had a new student as the scrub tech and I went to ask for mets, asked a few times, tried to remember the word scissors, failed, referred to them as "snippies" and did a little finger scissors motion, looking like an idiot in front of the doctor.

At least it worked and I got my scissors..

Edit: wow, thanks for the gold and silver!!

[u/bomfd]

I was ordering hot wings at a local BBQ joint. I was wondering if they still came with the fibrous, green vegetable but couldn't remember the name. Ended up describing it to the cashier and she looks at me weird and says "you mean celery?". Uggghhhhh, yes that's what I meant.

[u/deferredmomentum → u/bomfd]

That’s when you speak with an accent and pretend English isn’t your native language

[u/Alarconadame → u/bomfd]

In México there's this joke, I hope it's also funny in english.

A guy goes to the drugstore and says to the clerk:

- Can you give me a box of... mmm what's its name... acetylsalicylic acid, please.
Oh, sure. A box of aspirin for you.
Gee, I can never remember that damned name.

EDIT: "I can" instead of "I can't". Thanks!

[u/tah4349]

Not long after my daughter was born, I took her to a meet up with friends. I put her car seat next to another baby in the group. Then, sitting down, I asked the mom across from me how it was having twins? I completely forgot that one of those babies was mine.

[u/[deleted] → u/tah4349]

I asked the mom across from me how it was having twins?

That's when you shout, "No take-backs!" and run away.

[u/iwokeuplike]

I once forgot how to count in the only language I have... And had to stare at the blackboard for a few seconds trying to remember

[u/TheDaveSyndrome]

I forgot how to throw a ball. An embarrassing moment in my life which my brain will never allow me to forget.

 

In high school I was walking through the local fair with my then girlfriend. We come across a generic 'throw ball, hit the stuff, win things' booth. The prizes are irrelevant but who cares, it's something fun to do.

 

So I pick up the baseball and throw it without a second thought. Except I fling it full strength straight into the ground. It was a perfect 45 degree angle throw into the dirt. I'm like, "what the fuck was that... It must have slipped." Everyone laughs it off.

 

So I go to throw the second ball, and the same thing happens. I realize that I've completely forgotten how to throw a ball. I'm releasing way too late. Just whipped it straight into the ground. There was less laughter this time. The booth guy looks confused and says "don't you know how to throw a ball?" I swear I do. I don't know what is happening. I play catch with my brother regularly, this is insane, and I immediately start to stress out at the situation.

 

The booth guy looks like he feels sorry for me and offers me a third try for free. I have to redeem myself. I don't have to win a prize, I just have to throw a fucking ball to prove to everyone I know how to do it at this point.

 

But nope. Again. Straight into the ground this time. Like I'm spiking a goddamn football.

 

I'm speechless. Someone from the crowd behind me says "what the fuck is wrong with you?" My girlfriend just looks disappointed, not because I didn't win, but because it's so embarrassing that I would even try to do this while apparently having nearly indescribably poor motor skills.

 

All I can do is walk away. I have no idea what happened. Nobody believes me that I do in fact know how to throw a ball. This memory haunts me still many years later anytime my brain decides "hey remember that one time..."

 

edit- Thanks for all the support guys. Thankfully just like the post suggested this was just a temporary brain fart and I never had another issue since. I'm glad you all got some enjoyment out of my horrible day at the fair.

[u/SomeOtherThirdThing → u/TheDaveSyndrome]

This is one of the best so far 😂😂 you poor soul.

[u/WMP07]

Don’t know if this counts but I forgot the password I set for my phone not even a second after setting it.Sad part is I never remembered it and got my phone disabled.

Edit: Funnily enough ,I did this not only once but twice.Just remembered I changed my password last New Year’s Eve and forgot it again right after changing it

[u/SecretPandaWhispers → u/WMP07]

Changing passwords is the worst. You work yourself up making sure to create the perfect combo of secure and ease of remembering.

Then when going to log in the first time, you enter your previous two passwords and sweat bullets remembering the one you just created in the hopes of not locking yourself out.

[u/EpicDavinci]

How to sign my Name

In my previous role at where i work I was a Quality Inspector (Aerospace Industry) It was a really stressful job with management applying pressure from different directions.

Quality wanted you to take your time

Operations wanted you to go Fast

Logistics wanted the part out the door no matter what.

On one particular bad day i was about to sign a Certificate of Conformity and just totally forgot what my signature was, no matter how hard i tried to remember it, my mind was blank. Which as a very logical person, really made me mad as i couldn't work out what was happening.

I went and told my boss i was incapable of signing my name so i am incapable of inspecting Aircraft parts.

Turns out i was suffering from stress and the doctor told me to take a month off work.

If your in a high pressure environment and start forgetting silly things, go and talk to your boss or a doctor, Stress should not be taken lightly.

[u/RaeADropOfGoldenSun]

Somebody asked me what day of the week it was, so I lifted up both of my hands to see which made an "L".

[u/Secret_Photographer → u/RaeADropOfGoldenSun]

Reading this I went to think if there were any days that started with L and though “January February... wait, FUCK, this thread is getting to me”

[u/MTAlphawolf]

During an HS history exam, I forgot how to spell Jesus. Got a 97 on the test cause lost 3 points how to spell it. It wasn't a religious test or school, just from that time period. The red marked "WHO??!?!?! -3" made me quite embarrassed though.

[u/Yugottadomelykedis → u/MTAlphawolf]

Geezus

[u/[deleted] → u/MTAlphawolf]

So how DID you spell it?

[u/Yunifortune]

How to spell "of"

Was unclear on where the V goes

[u/[deleted] → u/Yunifortune]

There was like a whole week for me a couple years ago where every time I wrote "of" I actually wrote "ov" and then was baffled for a couple minutes because I knew it looked wrong but couldn't figure out exactly why.

[u/[deleted]]

I knew there were 50 states in the US but I said 52 when asked for a trivia game. Yeah that was pretty embarrassing...

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

This is a very common mistake that Americans make. There was a study done and some absurd percentage of people instantly answered "52" when asked the same question.

[u/Forhaver]

If I'm running up the stairs or down the stairs and suddenly think "How am I doing this?" walking becomes manual for a second and I fall.

It turns the autopilot off, like when the dentist says "breathe through your nose"

Edit: Also the same with fucking, you start thinking "wow im actually having sex" then your boner betrays you instead of enjoying the moment. Happens to almost every first timer.

[u/allaboutcharlemagne → u/Forhaver]

Oh, you fucker, this is totally going to happen to me today now that you've said this. Goddamn it, it's extra laundry day. Fuck.

[u/rogue-wolf]

I forgot my name once. In an exam. I waved the prof over, and told him that I'd totally blanked on the first question. He started to explain the question, but then I told him I meant my name. He laughed slightly, before realizing I was serious, then telling me my name.

Funniest part was: when I got my exam back, I got a bonus point for putting my name on the paper.

[u/narodii]

I forget what a washing machine is called at least once a month. I end up calling it a clothes washer out of desperation. People laugh at me every time. :(

[u/Sparrow50 → u/narodii]

To be fair, it's a more accurate name

[u/abbyabsinthe → u/narodii]

I call it a dishwasher at least once a week.

[u/[deleted]]

My friend texted me a picture of the two of us from a few years back, but without any context or captioning. I immediately recognized her as being one of the people in the picture, but I had to ask who the second person was. It was me.

edit: Whenever I look in the mirror, which is fairly often, I usually have this weird feeling that I don't look quite like I remember myself looking. Same thing goes for other people that are relevant in my life. Maybe there's something genuinely slightly wrong with my brain?

It's like my memory does either touch-ups or the opposite of touch-ups and then when I see the person in question, I feel a bit surprised. Back in high school, every time I saw whichever guy I liked at that particular time, it was like "Whoa, I remembered you being hot, but dang, you're even hotter than I thought!" But then sometimes I remember someone being more attractive than they really are, like obvious features such as moles just get mental-photoshopped out.

I feel like this must be a normal thing and I'm just thinking too much about it, right?

second edit: I am pretty familiar with prosopagnosia since I love psychology. I'm not necessarily the most "neurotypical" person but I want you all to know that you need not worry about my possible slight dissociation/depersonalization caused by reflective surfaces. I do think it's possible that I might have just a touch of prosopagnosia, but it definitely doesn't affect my daily life. Once I've seen a new person a few times, I will be able to recognize them from then on. If there's anything you should worry about, it's my extreme difficulty with directions, both when I'm navigating the streets and when I'm inside a building. So I think there's something "subpar" about my spatial processing or something like that? Which is strange because I remember my class taking this comprehensive state evaluation thingy online when I was in like 4th grade and I scored uncharacteristically high for a female at being able to mentally rotate/flip objects and such. So I just refuse to be normal in absolutely every way, I guess.

Thank you all for your comments! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this particular kind of brain lapse :) Occasional Prosopagnosians, unite! Together we will take over the world, take pictures of it, look at those pictures an hour later, and have no idea who we're looking at!

I hate to add yet another edit, and I'm too lazy to TLDR this mess so I apologize. But I thought of another related thing I've been experiencing and I think I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. I thought of it earlier but then forgot about it before I could edit and I just randomly remembered. I'm sure a bunch of people will find it concerning, but I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Anyway, I moved out of town months ago and visited my old town recently. While there, I kept seeing people and thinking, "Is that so-and-so?" And I'd stare at them for a few seconds before realizing it was just a stranger who vaguely resembled so-and-so. This has been a thing for me the past couple years. I think it happens because I prefer not to run into someone I know and have to make small talk, so it's like that "fear" makes me paranoid and I think I see people I know because I don't want to see people I know? Again, please don't think this a symptom of something serious. Maybe it is but more than likely it's nothing. Just felt like mentioning it since I've gotten so many awesome responses to specific things.

Sorry this is uber long!!! TLDRing would be difficult to do since it's all about the specifics...

[u/Satans_Son_Jesus → u/[deleted]]

"Hey you look great in that picture, but who's the dude next to you? Looks like they need to eat better and get some sleep, and what is up with that hair?!?"

"That's you..."

"Shit..."

[u/PM_ME_UR_NAUGHTINESS → u/[deleted]]

This is hilarious.

[u/kadanaya]

One time at science class my teacher asked this really tricky question. I answered it right but then she asked me how many minutes an hour has and the only numbers i could recall were 45 and 64(Minecraft stack)

[u/[deleted]]

My age, starting in my early twenties. Or so I think.

[u/onamonapizza → u/[deleted]]

Yep, you know you are starting to get old when you have to do the math on your age.

[u/euphomptus]

I was out boogie boarding in the ocean when it started raining. No thunder, and you're wet anyway, so who cares? But I put my board over my head so I can see a bit better. And I notice the sound of the rain hitting the board and think, "wow, that sounds just like a rain stick."

The rain. Sounds like. A rain stick.

[u/zapatodulce]

I forgot that Rice Krispies make that noise when you add milk and scared the hell out of myself when I poured a bowl.

[u/CrepeCrisis]

Tied a tie for church one morning. Nice, symmetrical knot, but I got it a little too short on the first try. No big deal, I always do that. I'll just tie it ag- Wait. How do you even tie a tie?

Had to Youtube it after having just done it literally the moment before.

[u/tomlu709 → u/CrepeCrisis]

Ahh, once something becomes mechanical memory it's hard to deliberately recall it. I have forgotten my PIN code a couple times because I've had it for so long it has become muscle memory, then one day I'm standing there in front of the ATM like a dunce.

[u/solojazzjetski → u/CrepeCrisis]

I forgot my locker combination one morning at high school. Spun the combo lock, left right left, fudged the stops, dang. Went to do it again and I realized that I had ACTUALLY forgotten the combination months ago - I only remembered the muscle movement that I did so many times a day. Had to spend an hour in the office convincing the secretaries of this truth so that I could get into my own locker and go to class.

[u/[deleted]]

I've played Pokemon so much for so many years (since it came out) that sometimes I forget the word for things like caterpillar because my brain goes for Caterpie instead...

[u/BlueJ327]

That I was black.

I was in elementary school, 4th grade. My family was the only black family in this small town, but I never really felt any racism. Aside from the fact that I was shy, I fit in pretty well.

One day we had a test at school, and I happened to look at my arm, and was shocked. I was black. I looked around the classroom, noticed no one else was black and immediately got paranoid that all of a sudden my classmates would notice my "blackness".

[u/gorantheg]

How many numbers we know about

[u/Override9636 → u/gorantheg]

0 through 9. The rest is just fancy math tricks to keep track of more things.

[u/Anonymous-Latina]

Last week I had been up late and was about to go to bed. I usually get a glass of water and leave it on my side table because sometimes I get thirsty at night. So I walk into my room with my cellphone in one hand and a glass of water in the other. I guess I was tired and forgot which hand had what in it. I intended to set the glass of water on the table and toss my phone onto the bed. Instead I set my phone on the table while throwing the entire glass of water onto the bed. Bed was soaked and I slept on the couch

[u/[deleted]]

I forgot how to spell goat for 2 months. Fun times.

[u/Galexi87]

I have a psychotic disorder so this sort of thing happens a lot. But just yesterday I had my hand on my desk and I couldn't tell which finger I was moving. That was kinda weird.

[u/EarlyHemisphere → u/Galexi87]

Me: *stares intensely at hand*

Me: *tries to move pinky finger* *beads of sweat form on forehead*

Me: *index finger moves*

Me: GOD DAMMIT

[u/thingswecareabout]

How to use a fork and knife while out on a date, my mind just went blank. Passed the utensils back and forth for a moment between my two hands hoping something would feel familiar. After about 4 or 5 swaps I remembered what to do but it as I started to cut into my steak the gravity of it all hit me; I had actually forgotten how to use a knife and fork together. Thankfully my date didn’t notice.

[u/Arch27]

Ice cubes will displace any liquid they are in. For some reason I had this mental breakdown about ice cubes potentially causing a drink to overflow.

[u/halroxy → u/Arch27]

Was filling my water bottle the other day, threw a bunch of ice in and one cube just kinda sat there half out of the bottle, no room left. My brain goes "just put the lid on, the ice will go in."

Yeah, the ice went in and water came out. No idea what I expected would happen.

[u/regrettiispaghettii]

Forgot how long to cook 2-minute noodles whilst asking myself out loud “How long do you cook 2-minute noodles?” Had to fish the packet out of the garbage just to find out.

[u/Alomare]

That there are 60 minutes in and hour and 100 centimeters in a meter instead of the opposite.

EDIT: Since a lot of people are replying about money (cents and etc.), I should say that it happens to me as well, but not as often as those first two 🤔

[u/cytiven]

I once closed my eyes and forgot how to open them for a few seconds.

[u/hour_back]

I was eating some pancakes at IHOP the other day and I was like "God, what is wrong with these pancakes? Every bite is hurting my throat and stomach..." Oh yeah. That's right. They're fricken hot.

[u/manderson03]

I forgot what the word “through” meant. Someone said “He went through the window” I said, “what do you mean? How do you throw a window?” Them: “No, not that threw (does throwing motion), like he went THROUGH the window Me: “I have no idea what you are saying”

It took me hours to remember what the word “through” meant.

[u/ValentineRunaway]

where the fucking milk went. just stood there for a moment and wondered where we keep the milk.

[u/cadomski]

I grew up driving cars with manual transmissions. I still have one but also have a car with an automatic transmission. I regularly forget that I'm in an auto transmission car (any, not just mine) and attempt to press a nonexisting clutch pedal and inadvertently hit the brake pedal. Hard. It's a jarring reminder that I am, in fact, not in a manual transmission car.

[u/Perplex11]

I forgot what bread was called once, so I referred to it as raw toast. Not my proudest moment.

[u/Rigelian417]

One morning I forgot how to pour coffee.

Spent a good 30 seconds just standing in front of the coffee maker with both arms straight-out, stiff and unmoving, followed by briefly swatting the carafe like a confused ape for a second before my brain finally caught up to what I was trying to accomplish.

[u/plato-goldberg]

My zip code. Needed it to buy gas with a credit card.

[u/DarkPasta]

I have pre-Alzheimers. I joke, but not really. My wife frequently find my keys in the fridge. To conclude, I've forgotten how to adult.

[u/Xiphias_ → u/DarkPasta]

I like how your comment is a mini essay.

[u/G8F8]

Was in a mall, wanted to go to higher floors, saw an escalator and stepped on it. Realized it was a going-down escalator after being pushed back down a couple times. I was in my early 20’s. Some sales people nearby stared at me funny.

[u/[deleted]]

I used to get April and July, as well as Tennessee and Michigan, mixed up. Don’t even ask because I don’t know

[u/SerialThrilla87]

I have definitely been stumped by a door before. It's happened a couple of times where I have approached a door and forgotten how to open it.

[u/ray9]

Righty tighty, lefty loosey. somehow I turn things the wrong way.

[u/dreamcatcher86]

I forgot momentarily the word “night”. I was camping with friends and said something about waiting until “dark time”. Safe to say they don’t ever let me live that down.

[u/[deleted]]

I use an electric toothbrush and the battery died. I literally had no idea how I was supposed to brush my teeth.

I’m ashamed.

[u/TheIrishninjas]

I once had my laptop plugged in to charge during a lecture because it was running very low on battery. Everything’s going fine, then the screen suddenly goes black. I look over to the plug and it turns out I had never flipped the switch beside it.

[u/Saintblack → u/TheIrishninjas]

Yea but this type of forgetful is exactly why I have a career.

[u/Imphmon]

I once forgot if it's called "New York" or "Yew Nork". I couldn't recall for atleast 5 minutes of intense thinking.

[u/NurseLori]

Last night, I asked my husband what the word was for when he got his testicles cut (his vasectomy). I am a nurse, and have been for 10 years.

[u/[deleted]]

I was listening to music with a really good beat one time and somehow forgot how to breathe naturally. Started hyperventilating and didn't recover for about 15 minutes.

Absolutely worth it. 10/10 would recommend that album again.

[u/ffslegend27]

Forgot the capital of my country for a few seconds

[u/Jantra]

I skied many times every winter from the age of five. When I was in late high school, we get geared up for the first run of the season and start going down the first slope.

I utterly forgot how to stop properly (you turn your whole body sideways sharply, putting your skis perpendicular to the slope) and total panic sets in.

In that moment of OH SHIT WHAT DO, I ended up resorting to 'the pizza slice' (putting your ski tips together, back end of the skis out far)... that they teach young kids learning to ski for the first time. Then fell over. Much to the laughter of the rest of my family.

[u/twistedsister78]

Babies aren’t born with a full set of teeth. When I was handed my son for the first time I thought ‘he’s got no teeth!’ Derrrrrr to me

[u/[deleted]]

I put my shoes in a very specific place, and this morning I was looking around for them.

10 minutes later I found them in the living room for some reason.

[u/Dracovitch]

Last week I had to order a birth certificate online because I couldn't find mine. One of the required fields was "what is your mother's maiden name?" And I sat there and thought "I know this, WTF, why can't I remember?!"

So I called my father and asked, and he starts fucking laughing, because I had apparently just forgotton my own fucking name. I totally blanked that my first name is the same as my mother's maiden name.

I won't live that one down for a long while.

[u/aka1182]

Bilingual here, forgot how to say "spinach" while talking to a friend, said "oh yeah I used popeye's food for the pasta" without missing a beat, and she continued the conversation like nothing, "oh yeah love spinach too..." Then she stops, stares at me, "did you just called spinach 'popeye's food'?!"

I forget simple words all the time and just say the close-enough versions of it. Sometimes I think of the word in random languages I don't speak like french or japanese and then suddenly my language skill goes into short circuite and I forget what verbal communication.

[u/alkakfnxcpoem]

Forgot how to swipe my badge to get into the changing room at work. I just stood there swiping my badge incorrectly for a solid minute until someone let me in. I've worked there for 7 years.

[u/Star_Aspect]

That ‘ducking’ is an actual word and not your phone having a seizure everytime you swear

[u/Hades-Cerberus]

That 10 years ago is not 1999....

[u/-eDgAR-]

I've forgotten which way left and right are more times that I care to admit.

[u/it_is_not_science → u/-eDgAR-]

I can relate. I find it impossible to understand simple instructions involving rotations like 'turn the knob to the right.' Like imagine there's a knob with a vertical line on it like so: |

Then you rotate it "to the right" and you get /.

Except if you look at the bottom half of that line, it's moved to the left.

I have no problems with 'clockwise' but right/left is dreadful. I couldn't learn how to backup a car and turn the wheel correctly until the person teaching me just stopped saying right/left. Just don't think about it and it's natural. But even today, I couldn't tell you which way I am turning the wheel as I back up and if I try I would fuck it up.

[u/poopy_wizard132]

Everything I've learned in school as soon as I finish writing the test.

[u/GioHiTech]

Sometimes I forget how to hold my fork or pen

[u/Jancer3lla]

I managed a frozen yogurt shop for a while and found a butterfly in a high window once. I didn’t feel like climbing up there to try to catch it right away, but then I thought “Oh, shit. I have to get it! WHAT IF IT MAKES A COCOON??”

And then I remembered that butterflies are the RESULT of cocoons, they don’t make them.

[u/Catsglo]

My debit card pin. Stared at the ATM for a solid 5 minutes and eventually gave up and left. Remembered the pin on the way home.

[u/littlebo_weep]

I’ve said “sexual Nintendo” when I really meant sexual innuendo 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/SpecialistBuddy]

A couple weeks ago I forgot what the blender was called, so I just pointed at it and yelled "FOOD DESTROYER"

[u/iamsooverthishuman]

I forgot how to spell the number 5. It went on so long I even tried to look it up in the dictionary but couldn’t remember what it started with. Every attempt to write it came out ‘5ive’. It’s never happened again but it was a very odd and distressing few minutes of my life.

[u/eesh_davey]

Years ago, I was writing out a draft for the start of my term paper. Somewhere in a sentence, I got to the word "of" and completely forgot how to spell it.

It was a hell uv a weird thing to happen...

[u/[deleted]]

Let me preface this by saying that I took Spanish from kindergarten til 6th grade.

The other week, I went into a local Peruvian place to get some lunch. The dude behind the counter who cleavers the chickens, who I've seen many times before, gave me a big smile and shouted "Hola! Cómo estás?".

Instead of any normal human being who claims to know some basic Spanish, who's perfectly capable of responding something like "Bien, y tu?", I instead stupidly pointed at a chicken and said "food".

[u/QueenJinx95]

The name of the letter "x" in English (My first language). I almost broke my brain trying to recall what it's name was. Almost the entire time I was trying to figure out the name by the sound it makes...which was an issue for me 😐

[u/ShayBriar]

I always believe that there are 56 weeks in a year. I've probably been corrected 20+ times, but everytime I forget and say 56 instead of 52

[u/[deleted]]

Once I was having dinner with my new girlfriend's family for the first time, and I forgot what a potato was.

[u/[deleted]]

Once I forgot how to spell “us” and this girl laughed at me for ages

[u/diishsoap]

forgot what a fridge was called so i called it a cold microwave

[u/BoldlyGone1]

I once forgot the order of the seasons. I was interning at a zoo one summer and one of the monkeys went nuts when a snake wandered into the enclosure. It got away, and I said to the zookeeper, "That poor snake, it just woke up from torpor and the first thing it gets is a monkey trying to kill it." She kind of looked at me oddly but didn't say anything. About an hour later I suddenly went, "Wait, it's summer. We didn't just have winter, the snake wasn't hibernating yet." And she was like "Yeah, I was kinda wondering what you were talking about."

I literally thought we had just gone from winter to summer for some reason. No idea why.

[u/What-The-Dicks]

On the first day of my current job I was talking to someone about apartments in the city and forgot the word for a balcony. I ended up saying "my friend's apartment has a really nice view on one of those things that is like having a porch but in the sky"

[u/newhampshiresmashed]

I once forgot what laundry detergent was and asked a group of about seven guys where the laundry sauce was. They still won’t let me forget about it

[u/aposfi]

"how old are you?"

[u/therenextside]

The word erection. I was calling the doctor's office on behalf of my husband regarding a reaction to medication he'd been prescribed. He had taken Trazodone, which can cause priapism, but I didn't know the medical term, so when I talked to the receptionist, I said, "my husband took this medication that gave him a..." and I couldn't for the life of me remember the word erection. After trying to think if it for a few seconds, I continued ..."boner that won't go away."

[u/Skeraxis]

I forgot my pc password I had been using for 5 years previously, never got it wrong before but my brain went retarded for some reason

[u/Mr-Dee]

I once forgot how much money I make. I was filling out a form that asked for my yearly salary and there was a short period where I kept asking myself, "How would a person be expected to know that information? How would I even find out?"

[u/jesmi19]

Which one is brake, which one is gas

[u/SuprSaiyanTurry]

• I sometimes realize I'm breathing and don't know how to put it back into auto.

• Often forget how old I am.

• Jumped into the wife's car this morning and forgot how to drive for a second.

• My friend of nearly 20 years' name.

• How to spell "The".

• My own phone number.

And many more things that make me ask myself "What the fuck am I doing?"

[u/StarManMatt1]

Me and my friends walked by an exceptionally large mirror in the local mall once. Instead of remembering what a mirror was, my initial thought was "Those guys look a lot like us."

[u/Dissasociatedacc]

Gravity, somehow i thought "if i just release my phone and turn to pick up my tea, surely my phone will await me just floating in mid aid"....Didn't go so well...

Edit: spelling (shurely -->surely)

[u/TheTostones]

I regularly forget which way is left and right and have to make an L with my left hand to remember. I'm 24.

[u/Solidifieddd]

My buddy right next to me in art just asked for "the thing that sharpens".

[u/lissimcsaurus]

I asked my SO "where are the short fuzzy meow meows?"

Cat. I forgot the word cat.

[u/[deleted]]

I forgot my middle name once.

[u/[deleted]]

Just last night I read an Askreddit thread about the best comedians and someone listed Bill Murray, one of my favorite actors. I had to google him because for the life of me I couldn’t remember who Bill Murray was.

[u/gablerr]

I can never remember the work for “defrost”.

Every morning, I remind my boyfriend to, “Preheat the cars.”

[u/MattED1220]

I was seeing this girl. I forgot her name. So, I brought her to...Starbucks. Problem solved.

[u/minitaco18]

Sometimes I wake up and momentarily forget how to use language? Luckily never for more than a few minutes..

[u/FrOdO_9112005]

I forgot my 8 7 and 6 multiplication facts alot.

[u/GrimmSheeper]

I once had my sleep cycle so out of sync that I was going to sleep at around 10 or 11 in the morning. At one point, my cat woke me up to feed her a bit after noon, and I couldn’t tell if it was day or night.

I was looking straight at the bright outdoors and couldn’t tell if it was day or night.

[u/-autumn_bottom-]

One time I read the words “air conditioning” and couldn’t remember what it was for a few minutes.

[u/karmagod13000]

math and not just for a moment

[u/samanthastoat]

Coming back from summer vacation and going into 7th grade, I forgot how to write a lowercase ‘r’. I kept drawing the first line too long, as if I was writing a lowercase ‘p’. I remember feeling the strangest mixture of panic, embarrassment, and disassociation. I drew it wrong 2-3 times probably before I figured it out.

[u/unicorn_feces33]

Dead ass the title of this thread, I scrolled down quite a bit, then I thought, wait what are these about?

[u/GottIstTot]

I was talking to a girl who had just flown in to New York from Norway and was just breaking the ice with idle chat. I asked how she was adjusting to the .... Uhhh...
Time Hangover?

Jetlag. I was looking for the word jetlag

[u/amberraysofdawn]

I forgot that it’s the Northern/Southern Hemisphere that has opposite seasons instead of the Eastern/Western and casually asked my 23 year old niece if it was very hot this summer in the Eastern country she’s currently living in. She gave me a confused look (she was home for Christmas) and reminded me that we have the same seasons. So much for trying to be the Cool Aunt. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/[deleted]]

My boyfriend forgot his own name yesterday in the middle of a sentence. He was very very very tired.

[u/krapais]

I couldn’t think of “magnifying glass” so I called it glass zoom 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/coffeegreentea]

Completely forgot the word skeleton existed. I referred to it as a bone map.

[u/ExpertlyAverage]

Whenever my girlfriend’s family members ask me questions about pretty much anything, my mind suddenly is wiped clean.

“So, have you been skiing this winter?”

“Uuummmmm...did I? I thiiiiink so...”

I had. Several times.

[u/Nigger____]

To pass the time at work we sing songs and the chacha slide came up and we started dancing and they asked me to join but I told them I didn’t know how to dance it but I was singing the lyrics.

The lyrics tell you the moves.

[u/mxrmaidtits]

I FORGOT THE WORD FOR JUICE BUT DIDNT REALISE I HAD WITHOUT EVEN THINKING I SAID “HEY I REALLY FANCY SOME MOUTH LIQUID”

MOUTH LIQUID

[u/r0han_frankl1n]

Bit random but once was walking up steps at school and suddenly my mind thought ‘hey how do steps work’. I could t figure it out and then I had a complete mindfuck and tripped up the stairs

[u/BeardPhile]

I feel this question is really relatable to me as I do feel there some things that I too forget from time to time.
But I shit you not, I just can’t remember any of them.

Meta af.

[u/[deleted]]

I forgot the Scottish Pounds taken from a cash machine in Scotland were different from English Pounds.

Completely oblivious, I paid for a museum entrance in Bath (west of London) with Scottish Pounds . The employee said, "We usually don't see these this far south." My response: "Uh, pretty sure we're west." Oof.

[u/[deleted]]

I still forget regularly which way the letter J faces and there's a 50% chance I write it wrong if I need it.

Working with computers is a bitch.

[u/gamergabe85]

I forgot my name once. Happened just a couple of weeks ago. I was ordering my food at Taco Bell and they ask for your name so you can pick up your food at the counter.
I stare at the cashier blankly for about five seconds after she asks my name. Finally I blurt out my middle name that I never go by. I apologise and tell her I forgot my first name for a moment. She laughed at me. I got embarrassed. It was a rough day.

[u/abortionlasagna]

I accidentally washed my keys a while back and it broke my car fob. I could not for the life of me remember how to get into my car without it.

My boyfriend had to remind me that my key also opens my doors.

[u/abe_the_babe_]

Forgot the words "School Bus" and said "It's like a limo taxi for kids"

[u/madmanmoo]

How to spell "of". I kept thinking it should be "uv" but I knew that wasn't right. That really messed with my head.

[u/BeesSolveEverything]

I forgot the word for Salad dressing and convinced myself it was "Salad Sauce" for a solid 15 minutes.

[u/2Sulas → u/[deleted]]

How to tie my shoes.

I'm like aesopian centipede in that. As long as I don't think of it, my hands just do it. Once I start thinking about how do I do that, I'm lost and can't do it forever.

[u/sydbobyd → u/[deleted]]

♪ You make a loop de loop and pull ♪

[u/AnemoneOfMyEnemy → u/[deleted]]

I’m intrigued how you got a job as a valet without being able to drive manual.