Thursday, November 8, 2007

Ubiquity

I don't know what is wrong with my brain, but it doesn't seem to be functioning properly. Last night DH was sitting at the dining room table (after dinner) and looking at the newspaper. He asked "What does 'ubiquity' mean?"

I knew intuitively what the word meant. I understood it's meaning, and could have used it in a sentence, but for the life of me I was unable to state the definition. Fortunately, I was on-line at the time and was able to look up the word and provide DH with the definition. But it bothered me. Not that I had to look up the word for the definition, but that I was unable to fire my brain cells to provide the definition.

I seem to do that a lot. I read words in a book, and I know what they mean without having to look them up. Yet if someone asks me to define a word, even if they provide the sentence for the word so that I understand the context, I find that I am at a loss for words.

I'm not talking about difficult words, I have problems with everyday words too. I think that my brain is going to mush.

10 comments:

Lynanne said...

Maybe your brain has been so busy that the easy words just seem too obvious? I notice I do this more when I'm short on sleep or stressed. It got so bad one time that I was convinced that there must be something wrong. It's very, very frustrating, I feel for you!

Patti said...

I have stuff like this happy to me as well. It is frustrating, as lynanne said.
I often can't think of the simplest words when I am speaking. I blame it on stress and tiredness.

Anonymous said...

Me too.

ms chica said...

I blame multitasking for some of this. In an effort to maximize my effectiveness, I will have several projects going simultaneously, the consequence of this technique is I don't focus as well as I used to.

Ralph said...

But why would you choose to use the word 'ubiquity'in a sentence anyhow?

Michele said...

Welcome to my world. It's a bit scary isn't it? I go through this every single day, Lynn. It's my meds. and it's frickin amazing how I don't go insane. It gets to a point where I will literally just sit down and silently weep. Be ok with the "once in a while, my friend", it's not so bad.

Lynn said...

Lynanne - The easy words do seem obvious, and I can't seem to find the easy words to define the hard ones.

Patti - Stress and tiredness work for me too.

Deb - At least I am not alone:~)

Ms. Chica - I notice that my kids seem far better able to focus than I...it could definitely be the effects of multitasking.

Ralph - Beats me...it was in the newspaper...you know one that is supposed to be written so that a fourth grader can read it. Yeah, right.

Melissa said...

Yeah, that's frustrating. But I figure, if something's got to give, being able to define words is a skill I can live without. I can think of way worse things to not be able to do.

Lynn said...

Melissa - Welcome to my blog. I agree that there are way worse things to not be able to do...I just want to be able to do it all.

Lynn said...

Melissa - I have been trying to leave a comment on your blog for the last two days. Each time I click on your profile I get part of your blog and then my computer freezes. I will continue to try to reach your blog. I want to know what happened with the pot holder.