Word Retrieval

I was driving the car and thinking to myself.  I can’t remember what about.  Whatever it was, my thinking was derailed by a problem I encountered with word retrieval.  Ironically, I was trying to remember the word used to describe an experience, often mystical or religious, that cannot be described in words.

When I can’t think of a word, which happens not infrequently, my first strategy is to say a sentence leaving a blank for the forgotten word, hoping the sentence will trigger the memory.  “Mystics often refer to (blank) experiences.”  Didn’t work.

That having failed, I implement strategy number two.  I go through the alphabet.  A, B, C . . . “E”, I think the word I’m trying to remember starts with the letter “E”.

Elemental . . . no, that’s not it.  Efficacious . . . no.  Epiphanous, no. Epiphenomenal, no. Elegiastical.  Elegiastical, where did that come from?  Is that even a word?

Anyway, as I am unable to think of the word, I get increasingly frustrated, The tension builds as the word just won’t come to me.  “E”, I’m sure it begins with “E”.  “E” what?  Maybe, if I go through the alphabet again, I can get the second sound.  For some reason, I’m almost certain the word begins with “E-L” or “E-F”.  Furthermore, I think the word has 3 syllables. Da'-duh-duh, emphasis on the first syllable.  How do I know that?  I don’t know. I just do.

The word still doesn’t come to me, but the worry does.  Is this normal?  Is this part of aging?  Is this the sign of early dementia?  There’s been too much Alzheimer’s in my family.  The thought of it terrifies me.

I could use my phone and look up the word.  Using Google as my mental laxative, I could rapidly and easily relieve the tension and get the impacted word out of my head.  But this is too important to take the easy way out.  There’s too much at stake.  This is about my memory and my brain.  I need to think of the word, no shortcuts.

I take a deep breath and try to relax.  I say to myself that if I stop thinking about it for a while then it will suddenly come to me.  I try to stop thinking about it.  It doesn’t come to me.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  I say to myself start over.  Maybe your wrong and it doesn’t start with “E”.

My mental anguish is interrupted by the arrival at my destination, Costco.  I get out of the car, I get my shopping cart and I show my card at the door.

“INEFFABLE,” out of nowhere, that’s it, that’s the word, “INEFFABLE.”

AAAHHHHHHHHHH, what a relief!  It’s hard to describe in words.