{"id":23647,"date":"2024-09-03T15:05:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T15:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23647"},"modified":"2024-09-03T15:05:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T15:05:39","slug":"doorgetting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23647","title":{"rendered":"Doorgetting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you&#8217;re there? Or have you ever opened the fridge or a cupboard and couldn&#8217;t remember what you were looking for?<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/58231478@N00\/7739966376\/in\/photolist-cMXmm9-ov4Wg-xPeLY-6GYLam-ewRhAS-oWsWjJ-q1LQ1Z-pNrG24-e1WJ7U-GANBLj-86v2Hk-CKU9K-pTox3j-pinT7r-edoAfo-zfEHH-FoMBNx-pxyacG-bHvGbc-i4D7s-bzFogN-8XkWWB-2F9Na-omftbH-bAihQ8-9oU97U-6sVR6y-5oYosd-cyMnJE-5pxeat-mqoKx-UQY2-xLtNU-8CcV8x-w7JHak-c6Q3hL-nLy8fv-c7zWSU-4jdNqT-zfEL8-4vmaDi-pU8ig5-6fNyN7-86yfaj-BmpTUk-8VDDjh-by4HSL-7bqVJP-CX1ZN-aksCEd\" title=\"Doors\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/8285\/7739966376_c656242d12_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" alt=\"Doors\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is a common phenomenon known as the <strong>Doorway Effect<\/strong> or <strong>location updating effect<\/strong> and can occur when you&#8217;re thinking about or trying to remember too many things, get distracted, and particularly when you move from one location to another that differs significantly. This apparently primes our minds to receive something new. So if you want to avoid this effect, it&#8217;s best to keep whatever you need to remember at front of your mind.<\/p>\n<p>This morning, for example, I put my laundry in the washing machine, then forgot to start it. I did remember later, but before then, I got distracted preparing my breakfast. It&#8217;s time to hang up the laundry now. I&#8217;ll be right back, unless I get distracted and start doing something else, which is quite likely. <\/p>\n<p>Right, where was I? I did get distracted and did some lessons on Duolingo (2,600 days today, by the way), Anyway, sometimes I put bread in the toaster, or a pan on the cooker, and forget to turn them on. These memory lapses aren&#8217;t the result of going through doors into other rooms, or passing through portals, but they involve thinking and doing too many things and getting distracted.<\/p>\n<p>I came up with an alternative name for this effect today &#8211; <strong>doorgetting<\/strong>, a portmanteau of <strong>door<\/strong> and <strong>forgetting<\/strong>, inspired by a video on TikTok by Jess Zefarris about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@jesszafarris\/video\/7408634124950359339\">Words for Things That Don&#8217;t Have names<\/a>. These are also known as <strong>word fugitives<\/strong>, a term coined by Barbara Wallraff, an author and editor at <em>The Atlantic Monthly<\/em>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=11686\">sniglets<\/a> &#8211; any word that doesn\u2019t appear in the dictionary, but should &#8211; coined by American comedian Rich Hall. If they don&#8217;t enter  into common usage, they are also known as <strong>occasionalisms<\/strong>, <strong>protologisms<\/strong> or <strong>nonce words<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>An example she gives is <strong>serenquipity<\/strong>, for when you accidentally say something witty and quotable, or in other words, come up with a serendipitious quip. Another is <strong>pandephonium<\/strong>, for the confusion experienced when a phone rings and no one nearby is sure if it is theirs.<\/p>\n<p>More on this phenomenon:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/scientists-find-the-doorway-effect-could-be-real-but-only-in-overloaded-brains\">https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/scientists-find-the-doorway-effect-could-be-real-but-only-in-overloaded-brains<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20160307-why-does-walking-through-doorways-make-us-forget\">https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20160307-why-does-walking-through-doorways-make-us-forget<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget\/\">https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you-forget\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/17132-forget-walked-room-doorways-blame-study-finds.html\">https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/17132-forget-walked-room-doorways-blame-study-finds.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a song I wrote about this some years ago called <em>What Did I Come In Here For?<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>What did I come in here for?<br \/>\nSomething important I&#8217;m sure<br \/>\nSomething to fetch or find<br \/>\nOh what did I come in here for?<\/p>\n<p>What did I come in here for?<br \/>\nI forgot as I came through the door<br \/>\nI cannot remember, I cannot recall<br \/>\nOh what did I come in here for?<\/p>\n<p>What did I come in here for?<br \/>\nThis has happened at times before<br \/>\nI need a clue to get out of this stew<br \/>\nOh what did I come in here for?<\/p>\n<p>What did I come in here for?<br \/>\nWhat did I come in here for?<br \/>\nJust let me think and I&#8217;ll get it<br \/>\nAh, that&#8217;s what I came in here for<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1364052154&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\" title=\"Simon Ager\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Simon Ager<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/simon-ager\/what-did-i-come-in-here-for\" title=\"What Did I Come In Here For?\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">What Did I Come In Here For?<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you&#8217;re there? Or have you ever opened the fridge or a cupboard and couldn&#8217;t remember what you were looking for? This is a common phenomenon known as the Doorway Effect or location updating effect and can occur when you&#8217;re thinking about or trying to remember [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,10,25,29,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-language","category-memory","category-music","category-songs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23649,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23647\/revisions\/23649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}