Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

Leaving the post unaltered below for context.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/smarter-living/word-on-the-tip-of-your-tongue.html

Udhay

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 7:19 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> So here's a little life hack I use. I keep a list of easily forgotten
> phrases in Evernote [1] - you know the ones I am talking about, the ones
> that are perpetually on the "tip of your tongue" and drive you to
> distraction trying to remember them, usually because you remember a
> similar phrase and your internal search terminates at the false
> positive. :-\
>
> I thought it might be interesting to put out my list and ask the list:
> what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?
>
> Empirical
> Tabasco
> Hasselblad
> Dunning Kruger effect
> Dunbar  number
> Ambergris
> Sapir-Whorf
> Fermi Problem
>
>
>
> [1] https://evernote.com/evernote/
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
>


-- 

((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Thaths]

On Thu Feb 20 2014 at 12:49:53 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?

 Empirical
 Tabasco
 Hasselblad
 Dunning Kruger effect
 Dunbar  number
 Ambergris
 Sapir-Whorf
 Fermi Problem


I've been updating a list of such words/phrases for the last 5 months and
here are the words in my list:

Empirical
Dunning Kruger effect
Orthogonal
Contradiction
Zugzwang
Petrichor
Prosody

S.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Pranesh Prakash]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 2:49 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:
 Empirical
 Tabasco
 Hasselblad
 Dunning Kruger effect
 Dunbar  number
 Ambergris
 Sapir-Whorf
 Fermi Problem

Hasselblad? Ambergris? One learns all the time!  And you forget
Tabasco? What's the false positive your mind turns to instead?
Sriracha? :)

Mine would have (in addition to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the name of
which I keep forgetting):
Bildungsroman + Festschrift
Der Ring des Nibelungen + Götterdämmerung + Seigfried
Ouroboros
Onomatopoeia + Asafoetida (spellings of both)
Peter Principle + Parkinson's Law
Réné Margritte + George Lemaître + Mercator
George Cantor + Gottlob Frege + David Hilbert + Peano. Also, Neils Abel.

Actually, I forget words and phrases so often that I'd need to carry
around a dict+thesaurus instead of a short wordlist. :)  But it's a
useful idea.  I'll add this word list to my scrap.txt file.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 6:53 AM, Pranesh Prakash the.solips...@gmail.com wrote:

 Mine would have (in addition to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the name of
 which I keep forgetting):

I suspect both of us think that our knowledge of this phenomenon is
higher than it actually is.

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Ramakrishnan Sundaram]

I see what you did there, Udhay.


On 2 March 2014 08:12, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 6:53 AM, Pranesh Prakash the.solips...@gmail.com
 wrote:

  Mine would have (in addition to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the name of
  which I keep forgetting):

 I suspect both of us think that our knowledge of this phenomenon is
 higher than it actually is.

 Udhay
 --
 ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))




-- 
Ramakrishnan Sundaram | r.sunda...@gmail.com | +91 860 501 5851
--

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On 20-Feb-14 9:02 AM, Thaths wrote:

 That is a great life hack. I've had countless times when I've had trouble
 recalling the exact term, but could describe the concept in general terms.

Interesting thing I came across today that seems connected:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethologica

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 13:21 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 I'm trying to get my head around that as well. I suspect that it is
 only a matter of perspective but standing on my head is not helping
 (as yet.) 

LOL. Might be easier if you lived in Australia. Or Argentina maybe. 

I am reaching the end of my own knowledge of maths and physics -
subjects that I did study (again and again) till a few years ago as long
as it was necessary to help my children with schoolwork - and even those
times are receding fast.

I vaguely, very vaguely, recall some facts that I read in my son's
physics (or was it maths) textbook about 5 years ago. It was this
business of units and these little absurd details like how liters per
100 km actually ends up being a unit of area. The figure is an area,
mathematically simply because it is length^3/length. But the relevant
answer is not an area, it is a volume.

If a car needs 6 liters for 100 km, it could be expressed as a unit of
area in which case it would be 0.0006 square meters. Someone correct
me if that figure is wrong because the calculation is as follows

1 liter = 0.1 ^ 3 = 0.001 cubic meters
6 liters = 0.006 cubic meters
100 km = 100,000 meters

0.006/100,000 = 0.0006 square meters. 

I wonder if that is the cross sectional area of a molecule of petrol - a
worthless piece of information. Seems too big actually.  A column of
petrol 0.0006 sq meters in area but 100 km long would be several
thousand molecules thick - because that translates to 0.06 square
millimeters - a huge area. Something is seriously wrong - either my
calculation, or the real world significance of the figure

In actual fact the unit that is useful is only the numerator - i.e 6
liters, not the result of the calculation. 

shiv

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 13:21 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 On 23 February 2014 13:13, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
  If that is correct, what is the real world significance of the unit km/l
  which can be broken down to the reciprocal of area - i.e. 1/area
 
 I'm trying to get my head around that as well. I suspect that it is
 only a matter of perspective but standing on my head is not helping
 (as yet.)
 
 -gabin

Take 2

Sometimes units don't make sense (this is what I vaguely recall from
those old school books)

For example:

force = mass x acceleration
acceleration is expressed as meters/sec^2
so,
force = mass x meters/sec^2

So what is force per unit area. If you work that out using the same
mathematical logic used for liters per 100 km you get the following
unit:

kg/meters x sec^2 is  the unit of force per unit area. Totally
meaningless. I don't think this unit has any real world significance.

shiv

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 23 February 2014 18:55, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 So what is force per unit area. If you work that out using the same
 mathematical logic used for liters per 100 km you get the following
 unit:


Cue the Einstein, Newton, Pascal joke -

Up in heaven, three great physicsts were playing hide and go seek:
Newton, Pascal, and Einstein. It was Einsteins turn to seek, so
Einstein closed his eyes and counted to 10 while pascal and newton
went to hide. Pascal hid behind a tree, but Newton just stood there
and drew a 1 meter by 1 meter box around him on the ground. when
einstein was done counting, he opened his eys and said, Newton, what
are you doing? you're supposed to hide! you're out! And Newton
replied, No, you're wrong, im not Newton, im Pascal! See, im one
Newton per square meter! Pascal is out!

-gabin

-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 19:00 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 Up in heaven, three great physicsts were playing hide and go seek:
 Newton, Pascal, and Einstein. It was Einsteins turn to seek, so
 Einstein closed his eyes and counted to 10 while pascal and newton
 went to hide. Pascal hid behind a tree, but Newton just stood there
 and drew a 1 meter by 1 meter box around him on the ground. when
 einstein was done counting, he opened his eys and said, Newton, what
 are you doing? you're supposed to hide! you're out! And Newton
 replied, No, you're wrong, im not Newton, im Pascal! See, im one
 Newton per square meter! Pascal is out!
 

:D 

Did you just make that one up? if you did it's brilliant.

shiv
 

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 24 February 2014 08:56, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 Did you just make that one up? if you did it's brilliant.


I only wish I had. This has been doing the rounds on the interwebs for a while.

-gabin

-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 11:18 AM, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:

 Which countries specifically speak of liters per 100 km?.

Here's a start point:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_automobiles#Units_of_measure

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sat, 2014-02-22 at 08:46 +0530, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
 The length/height of the column is exactly the distance the car
 travels. The area referred to above gives the other two dimensions.
 

That is the problem. If there are 3 dimensions, it is not area

If the column has a length/height as well as another two dimensions it
is not an area, but a 3D structure.

In terms of units, what Charles wrote is perfectly correct, it is an
area alright.

But the answer he provided was this

 It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep
 the
 car moving.
 
 Imagine a car with a fuel scoop continuously sucking up fuel as it
 drove.
 The area above is the diameter of the column of fuel it would have to
 suck
 up in order to be just enough to keep moving.

A column of fuel with some area That is a 3D concept, not an area. I
suspect that this problem will need a face to face meeting and a paper
and pen. 

shiv
 

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

The reverse for cars and bikes, mileage in kmpl (kilometers per liter) is the 
usual answer to kitna deti hai?. Curiously enough no one says kilometrage.

--srs (iPad)

 On 23-Feb-2014, at 11:18, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 
 On Sat, 2014-02-22 at 10:45 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 While it is indeed common in India to measure mileage in km/l many
 (if not most) countries do measure consumption in l/100km.
 
 Interesting. In the UK it was always miles per gallon as it was in the
 US, and still appears to be. I have not seen any car ads that refer to
 liters per 100 km, but I do know that heavy vehicles such as battle
 tanks usually come with information like liters per km
 
 Which countries specifically speak of liters per 100 km?. 
 
 shiv
 
 

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 23 February 2014 11:26, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 That is the problem. If there are 3 dimensions, it is not area

 If the column has a length/height as well as another two dimensions it
 is not an area, but a 3D structure.

 In terms of units, what Charles wrote is perfectly correct, it is an
 area alright.

I suspect you will need to look at this with a differential calculus
lens. Consider the cross sectional area of the column to be the
minimum amount of fuel that the vehicle consumes to move an
infinitesimal distance. To do this, the vehicle consumes a
sliver/wafer of fuel. In reality, this area would probably be the
smallest amount of fuel that is injected into a cylinder of the engine
(assuming a regular internal combustion type engine.)

If you change that assumption to a jet/rocket engine that continuously
burns fuel+air, the visual image is a lot cleaner.

-gabin




-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Kiran K Karthikeyan]

On 23 February 2014 11:26, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:


  Imagine a car with a fuel scoop continuously sucking up fuel as it
  drove.
  The area above is the diameter of the column of fuel it would have to
  suck
  up in order to be just enough to keep moving.

 A column of fuel with some area That is a 3D concept, not an area. I
 suspect that this problem will need a face to face meeting and a paper
 and pen.

 shiv


Assume that this 'area' is the same as that of the cross-section of the
fuel combustion chamber. Then if you add up the height of the columns of
fuel that was combusted during the 100km journey, it would be exactly 100km
if the car was an ideal machine[1] (and the chamber was empty at the
beginning and end of the journey if you want to nitpick).

I hope that helped or at the least didn't make it worse.

Kiran

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_machine

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 11:48 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 Consider the cross sectional area of the column to be the
 minimum amount of fuel that the vehicle consumes to move an
 infinitesimal distance. To do this, the vehicle consumes a
 sliver/wafer of fuel. In reality, this area would probably be the
 smallest amount of fuel that is injected into a cylinder of the engine
 (assuming a regular internal combustion type engine.)
 
Perfectly clear so far, but in my mind it gets complicated.

Fuel is a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules. Assume octane for
simplicity.

The smallest (shortest) column with the widest possible area would be
a single molecule thick area of fuel that the hypothetical car is
scooping up as it travels 100 km. The area of fuel that is scooped up
per stroke of each cylinder is exactly equal to the area occupied by a
one  molecule thick layer needed to fire one stroke in that cylinder.

So does this real world area represent the area occupied by a one
molecule thick layer of fuel needed to make the car travel some unit
distance? As far as I can figure out it does. 

shiv
 

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 23 February 2014 12:44, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 So does this real world area represent the area occupied by a one
 molecule thick layer of fuel needed to make the car travel some unit
 distance? As far as I can figure out it does.


Pretty much. :)

-gabin

-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 13:07 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote:
 On 23 February 2014 12:44, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
  So does this real world area represent the area occupied by a one
  molecule thick layer of fuel needed to make the car travel some unit
  distance? As far as I can figure out it does.
 
 
 Pretty much. :)

If that is correct, what is the real world significance of the unit km/l
which can be broken down to the reciprocal of area - i.e. 1/area

shiv

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 23 February 2014 13:13, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 If that is correct, what is the real world significance of the unit km/l
 which can be broken down to the reciprocal of area - i.e. 1/area

I'm trying to get my head around that as well. I suspect that it is
only a matter of perspective but standing on my head is not helping
(as yet.)

-gabin

-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 2:16 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Charles Haynes
 charles.hay...@gmail.com wrote:

  With respect to Fermi Problem two things. First MIT is offering
  Street-Fighting
  Math 
 http://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-sfmx-street-fighting-math-1501:



 Much of the content of the course is available in Creative
 Commons-licensed book form:


 https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262514293_Creative_Commons_Edition.pdf


Indeed, the course listing explicitly mentions that the book for the course
is available via Creative Commons. I think this is very cool (and yet
another reason to take the course!)

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 12:06 AM, Charles Haynes
charles.hay...@gmail.comwrote:


 the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
 100km, right? litres of petrol per 100km is length^3/length = length^2.
 What is the real world significance of this area?


It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep the
car moving.

Imagine a car with a fuel scoop continuously sucking up fuel as it drove.
The area above is the diameter of the column of fuel it would have to suck
up in order to be just enough to keep moving.

Visualise it thus. Take the number of litres in the formula and stretch it
till it's a column 100km long. The vehicle will completely consume that
fuel while it traverses that distance. The area is the area of the cross
section of the column.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Shenoy N]

 It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep the
 car moving.

 Imagine a car with a fuel scoop continuously sucking up fuel as it drove.
 The area above is the diameter of the column of fuel it would have to suck
 up in order to be just enough to keep moving.

 Visualise it thus. Take the number of litres in the formula and stretch it
 till it's a column 100km long. The vehicle will completely consume that
 fuel while it traverses that distance. The area is the area of the cross
 section of the column.

 -- Charles

Nice!


-- 
Narendra Shenoy
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On 21-Feb-14 4:51 PM, Charles Haynes wrote:

  the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
  100km, right? litres of petrol per 100km is length^3/length = length^2.
  What is the real world significance of this area?
 
 It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep the
 car moving.

Now that there's no danger of spoilerage, the obligatory xkcd link:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/11/

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[SS]

On Fri, 2014-02-21 at 21:21 +1000, Charles Haynes wrote:
 It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep
 the
 car moving. 

A column is always 3 dimensional. Area is 2D. How high would that column
be? One molecule thick/high?

The other point is, fuel consumption is usually measured as km/L and
less commonly as liters per 100 km

km = length
liter = length^3

km/l = 1/length^2 = 1/area

How does that square up with fuel consumption being simply area?

shiv

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 8:37 AM, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:

 A column is always 3 dimensional. Area is 2D. How high would that column
 be? One molecule thick/high?

 The other point is, fuel consumption is usually measured as km/L and
 less commonly as liters per 100 km

 km = length
 liter = length^3

 km/l = 1/length^2 = 1/area

 How does that square up with fuel consumption being simply area?

The length/height of the column is exactly the distance the car
travels. The area referred to above gives the other two dimensions.

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[gabin kattukaran]

On 22 February 2014 08:37, SS cybers...@gmail.com wrote:
 The other point is, fuel consumption is usually measured as km/L and
 less commonly as liters per 100 km

While it is indeed common in India to measure mileage in km/l many
(if not most) countries do measure consumption in l/100km.

-gabin



-- 

They pay me to think... As long as I keep my mouth shut.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

Just recently I was having trouble recalling the word scalded with
respect to milk (I was making yoghurt.)

But I have a solution that works better for me than Evernote. I asked my
amanuensis.

What's the term for heating up milk just below boiling?
Scald?
Thanks!
You're welcome.

Hm. Maybe I should try asking Siri. Or Google Voice...

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Sumant Srivathsan]

 Hm. Maybe I should try asking Siri. Or Google Voice...


I think you mean Google Now. Google Voice is that virtual phone thingy.

-- 
Sumant Srivathsan
http://sumants.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

With respect to Fermi Problem two things. First MIT is offering
Street-Fighting
Math http://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-sfmx-street-fighting-math-1501:
Teaches, as the antidote to rigor mortis, the art of educated guessing and
opportunistic problem solving. as a MOOC (free!) starting in March.

Second, my favorite dimensional analysis problem: you presumably know that
the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
100km, right? Well, litres of petrol are a volume measure, and 100km is a
length measure. Volume is length^3, so litres of petrol per 100km is
length^3/length = length^2

What might the real world significance of this area be? (Answer later if
no one gets/spoils it.)

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Sumant Srivathsan]

 Second, my favorite dimensional analysis problem: you presumably know
 that the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol
 per 100km, right? Well, litres of petrol are a volume measure, and 100km is
 a length measure. Volume is length^3, so litres of petrol per 100km
 is length^3/length = length^2

 What might the real world significance of this area be? (Answer later
 if no one gets/spoils it.)


Nice. One of my favourites as well. :)

-- 
Sumant Srivathsan
http://sumants.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Shenoy N]

 Second, my favorite dimensional analysis problem: you presumably know that
 the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
 100km, right? Well, litres of petrol are a volume measure, and 100km is a
 length measure. Volume is length^3, so litres of petrol per 100km is
 length^3/length = length^2

 What might the real world significance of this area be? (Answer later if
 no one gets/spoils it.)

 -- Charles

The smaller the area number the longer the distance the car will go?

[silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Shoba Narayan]

 what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?
 
 Empirical
 Tabasco
 Hasselblad
 Dunning Kruger effect
 Dunbar  number
 Ambergris
 Sapir-Whorf
 Fermi Problem

I don’t understand the bottom half at all.  Besides ambergris.

Great idea!

If I look at words I “thozhuvu-fy” for (Tamil word meaning search but really 
more than that— connotes grasping or searching in the dark for specs and such). 
 It would be stuff like

very specific English words like encomium and confusing ones in the “in-un” 
category (ingrate versus ungrateful).
malolactic fermentation and associated chemical stuff 
Tavel and other regions.
Sanskrit phrases like “vinaasha kaale viparitha buddhi” very useful during 
election time for stunts like the one Amma pulled.
Tamil proverbs that my grandmother used to say.

The Math course sounds great.  I signed up for that Stanford course on 
“Mathematical Thinking” by Kevin Devlin but each lecture was like two hours.  
Way too long. these guys should learn from TED talks.  

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Charles Haynes
charles.hay...@gmail.com wrote:

 With respect to Fermi Problem two things. First MIT is offering
 Street-Fighting
 Math http://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-sfmx-street-fighting-math-1501:
 Teaches, as the antidote to rigor mortis, the art of educated guessing and
 opportunistic problem solving. as a MOOC (free!) starting in March.

Much of the content of the course is available in Creative
Commons-licensed book form:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262514293_Creative_Commons_Edition.pdf

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

So here's a little life hack I use. I keep a list of easily forgotten
phrases in Evernote [1] - you know the ones I am talking about, the ones
that are perpetually on the tip of your tongue and drive you to
distraction trying to remember them, usually because you remember a
similar phrase and your internal search terminates at the false
positive. :-\

I thought it might be interesting to put out my list and ask the list:
what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?

Empirical
Tabasco
Hasselblad
Dunning Kruger effect
Dunbar  number
Ambergris
Sapir-Whorf
Fermi Problem



[1] https://evernote.com/evernote/

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Dibyo Haldar]

On 20 February 2014 09:49, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 So here's a little life hack I use. I keep a list of easily forgotten
 phrases in Evernote [1] - you know the ones I am talking about, the ones
 that are perpetually on the tip of your tongue and drive you to
 distraction trying to remember them, usually because you remember a
 similar phrase and your internal search terminates at the false
 positive. :-\

 I thought it might be interesting to put out my list and ask the list:
 what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?

 Empirical
 Tabasco
 Hasselblad
 Dunning Kruger effect
 Dunbar  number
 Ambergris
 Sapir-Whorf
 Fermi Problem


I always forget the hyphenated ones more, like Baader-Meinhof.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Deepa Mohan]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 7:19 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:


 Empirical
 Tabasco
 Hasselblad
 Dunning Kruger effect
 Dunbar  number
 Ambergris
 Sapir-Whorf
 Fermi Problem

 Now I will have to google some of these. I always thought Hasselblad was
 cameras, and have never heard of 4, 5, and 7.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Thaths]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 So here's a little life hack I use. I keep a list of easily forgotten
 phrases in Evernote [1] - you know the ones I am talking about, the ones
 that are perpetually on the tip of your tongue and drive you to
 distraction trying to remember them, usually because you remember a
 similar phrase and your internal search terminates at the false
 positive. :-\


That is a great life hack. I've had countless times when I've had trouble
recalling the exact term, but could describe the concept in general terms.

I thought it might be interesting to put out my list and ask the list:
 what are *your* easily forgotten phrases?

 Empirical


The above causes pain for me too. My brain refuses to index this word for
some reason. One other I can recall from the top of my head (Because of the
nature of the problem with these words, I cannot easily recall a list of
these problem words):

Orthogonal (I usually terminate the search and just say 'tangential')


Thaths
-- 
Homer: Hey, what does this job pay?
Carl:  Nuthin'.
Homer: D'oh!
Carl:  Unless you're crooked.
Homer: Woo-hoo!

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 The above causes pain for me too. My brain refuses to index this word for
 some reason. One other I can recall from the top of my head (Because of the
 nature of the problem with these words, I cannot easily recall a list of
 these problem words):

Which is why the Evernote list makes sense. As and when you remember a
phrase, put it in the list. :)

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Srini RamaKrishnan]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 10:25 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 Which is why the Evernote list makes sense. As and when you remember a
 phrase, put it in the list. :)


If there is a pressing need to absolutely recall something, I agree, having
crib notes is the way to go.

But why bother? It is very natural and human to have a memory lapse,
besides we never truly forget anything.

Much easier to admit the word escapes us and leave it at that. No struggle
to recall the word; just respect for the brain and acceptance that it is
busy with something more important, or needs the rest.
As Deepa observed, some of these words need to come with explanations
anyway. Usually even when I can recall such words, I search for simpler
common phrases to express the same idea. Especially if the word isn't in
common use between me and the listener. Big words detract from the subject
of the conversation.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Thaths]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:27 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 Much easier to admit the word escapes us and leave it at that. No struggle
 to recall the word; just respect for the brain and acceptance that it is
 busy with something more important, or needs the rest.
 As Deepa observed, some of these words need to come with explanations
 anyway. Usually even when I can recall such words, I search for simpler
 common phrases to express the same idea. Especially if the word isn't in
 common use between me and the listener. Big words detract from the subject
 of the conversation.


You know what else detracts from the subject of the conversation? Sermons.

S.
-- 
Homer: Hey, what does this job pay?
Carl:  Nuthin'.
Homer: D'oh!
Carl:  Unless you're crooked.
Homer: Woo-hoo!

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Srini RamaKrishnan]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 11:01 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 You know what else detracts from the subject of the conversation? Sermons.


:-) I sense anger :)

In all honesty, this wasn't intended to be a sermon, apologies if it sounds
so. I am quite happy to share what little I know, is all.

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Thaths]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 11:01 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:
  You know what else detracts from the subject of the conversation?
 Sermons.
 

 :-) I sense anger :)


Annoyance and mirth, yes. Anger, no.


 In all honesty, this wasn't intended to be a sermon, apologies if it sounds
 so. I am quite happy to share what little I know, is all.


I know your intention was good, Cheeni.

Thaths
-- 
Homer: Hey, what does this job pay?
Carl:  Nuthin'.
Homer: D'oh!
Carl:  Unless you're crooked.
Homer: Woo-hoo!