on the tip of one’s tongue
idiom
1. Used to say that one knows a word, name, etc., but cannot remember it.
– Merriam-Webster1
2. The reason IMDb exists. – The Nut
My husband is making me dumber.
You know how they say people start to look like their spouse – or their dog – over time? Well, I’m starting to think that doesn’t just apply to outside appearances.
I think marriage is literally warping my brain.
Nutty Hubby is one of those people who loves books and movies, but for the life of him can almost never remember the names of the real-life people who had a hand in their creation. He has a handful of favorite authors, and a handful of favorite actors. Those precious few alone are afforded the luxury of a remembered name.
Anyone else is just, “You know, that guy…”
I never used to have that problem. Once upon a time, I was a one-woman Wikipedia entry on “that guy”. I could list his name, his body of work and his current marital status without even thinking about it. I used to be GREAT at “that guy” identification.
Then marriage made me stupid.
From the very beginning, Nutty Hubby and I have always been eerily in sync when it comes to our thoughts, and it’s only been getting worse. For instance, at least once a week I’ll be humming a tune quietly to myself at my computer, only to have Nutty Hubby arrive home from work singing the exact same song. Neither of us will have heard the song recently, nor can we find any good reason for it to have come to mind other than that we’re just a couple of weirdos.
We think and say the same things in unison so frequently (to the disgust/amusement of our friends and acquaintances) that we gave up on remarking “I was just thinking/was just going to say the same thing!” to each other and just substituted “Duh!” to save time.
Only problem is, “Duh!” is turning me into a dunce. Because lately I’m finding that Nutty Hubby’s inability to recall the names of all those “that guy”s is becoming my inability to recall the names of all those “that guy”s.
Which is now a major problem when Nutty Hubby and I are talking pop culture with friends and loved ones who don’t share our semi-telepathic freak show of a bond, because I used be our “that guy” interpreter. I was the name-bringer; the Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon star player; the girl with all the answers. The goddamn Encyclopedia Nuttica.
So what the fuck happened?
I have a theory. I don’t think the editor of the Encyclopedia Nuttica ever came back from Nutty Hubby’s and my honeymoon in the Caribbean. I think she’s still there, sipping piña coladas on a black sand beach in Dominica, snickering to herself as my brain’s reference section goes all to hell and I have to turn yet again to my IMDb app for something I could’ve remembered easily five years ago.
That bitch.
I’d curse her name, if only I could remember it.
Today’s blog post was brought to you by the letter O, the number 1990, and the You Know, That Guy, The One Who Was In The Movie About That Thing That Happened Challenge, AKA the Blogging A to Z Challenge.
1 “on the tip of one’s tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2016. Web. 18 April 2016.
Spoken Like A True Nut 
Encyclopedia Nuttica ….hahahahaha I am so glad I ran into you and your nuttiness. I have really been enjoying your posts~!
Semi-telepathic freak show … bwahahaahah (The post title takes the cake too!)
http://www.thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com
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Haha, thank you. Glad to know the entertainment value of my everyday frustrations is still going strong. 🙂
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I have the same problem! My mom would always call me with those “that guy” questions and I would whip the info right out of my brain for her. Now, forget it. I can’t even remember my own name some days. My theory is that the Internet (not you hubby) made us dumber. Having all that information at our fingertips has made our brain lazy. It’s not working hard enough and has therefore turned to flab…
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Technology has definitely stunted us in some ways – remember back when you actually had to memorize people’s phone numbers? Ha! These days I know a whopping total of three by heart: my husband’s cell and my parents’ two landlines. Not that I ever really call anybody anyway, thanks to social media, but still. We just don’t have to learn things the way we used to, and it shows. When I worked as a cashier I used to have people complain to me all the time about having to enter a PIN to use their credit/debit cards, because it was too hard for them to remember. Four numbers. People can’t remember FOUR numbers anymore.
Sigh.
That said, I can firmly place the blame for my “that guy” issue in Nutty Hubby’s court, because it’s only when HE says he can’t remember something that suddenly I can’t either. Like some kind of stupid “that guy” marital solidarity. Under literally any other circumstances, my memory does just fine.
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I could compliment you appropriately for this piece , if only I could remember it 😉
My mother is “that guy”,”that thing” ,”this one” person .. she not only forgets name of person , but objects .. so it goes something like .. “Bring me that thing ..aaa..” and taking the cue from what she is doing , we would get her things ..:D
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Ah, yes, “that thing, you know, the one that does the stuff”. “That thing” and I go way back. I may be a “that guy” failure these days, but I’m still great at fetching “that thing”.
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Are brain farts contagious?! :O
I think there’s just so much STUFF around us that is clamouring for attention that the old stuff just sneaks off quietly to make room for the new. Like remembering goddamn Kardashians’ names none of which I want to but have assimilated against my will because god forbid they don’t come up in the news or casual conversation at least once a day.
Technology is definitely making me lazy though – I discovered an anagram solver a few weeks ago and now use it all the time to cheat when playing online scrabble, a game which I supposedly play to boost my brain power. :S
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