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Mar 3, 2018 · However, normally that refers to a new word that makes sense when you combine two words, not an already established word that doesn't make sense in the context you intend. Urban slang for what happened when you said "handful" would be a brain fart or a senior moment. But neither of those specifically refers to saying the opposite of what you meant.
Jan 31, 2024 · New insights into why we forget names. Samantha Deffler, a cognitive scientist at Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida., surveyed 1,700 men and women of various ages and found people often ...
Jan 16, 2017 · A lot of people mix up children's names or friends' names, but Deffler is a cognitive scientist at Rollins College, in Winter Park, Fla., and she wanted to find out why it happens. So she, and her ...
Jan 17, 2017 · The cross-race effect, as psychologists call it, occurs when the aforementioned brain folder is one categorized by race. Thus, people will sometimes confuse, say, two Asian people with each other ...
- Spoonerism
- Malapropism
- Other Ways We Play with English Words
A ‘spoonerism’ is when a speaker accidentally mixes up the initial sounds or letters of two words in a phrase. The result is usually humorous.
A ‘malapropism’ is when an incorrect word is used in a sentence that sounds like the correct word but means something completely different.
Blends
One of the easiest ways to get words mixed up is to think of one word while trying to say another. This is how blends end up happening. These mistakes happen regularly in all languages and are usually easy to notice. One famous example in pop culture is from the 2004 film Mean Girls, where the main character Cady gets nervous and accidentally creates the word grool.
Portmanteaus
Sometimes, though, these blends are intentional and become official words of their own. These new words are called portmanteaus and are quite common in English. Don’t believe me? Well, think about the last time you listened to a podcast (iPod + broadcast), breathed in smog (smoke + fog), on met friends for brunch (breakfast + lunch). A relatively new blended word is for a type of food from Louisiana that has increased in popularity in recent years, especially around American Thanksgiving. Do...
Nov 5, 2020 · Trouble naming items (anomia) can happen because of degenerative diseases, stroke and other reasons. Visual naming problems can also be part of a broader language problem called aphasia, which also affects reading, writing and talking. On the subject of misnaming people, that’s another story. We may all fail to conjure someone’s name ...
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Sep 23, 2024 · What happens next. This study revealed something new about how complex feelings are formed in the brain, but there is much more to learn. Mixed emotions are so interesting, in part, because of their potential role during important life events. Sometimes, mixed emotions help you cope with big changes and turn into cherished memories.
