Words that lose all meaning if you think too much about them

cleremy jarkson

I was looking at an advertisement for prize bonds earlier when I found myself staring at the word "prize". I read it a few times and considered all the letters and how unusual a word it is. When looked at out of context and not in a sentence, it seems strange. It then momentarily lost all meaning to me and became absurd.

Has anybody ever experienced this and if you did, what words has it happened with?

Brendog

Christianity....

bonerm

"free"

eg "free samsung phone for every reader" which I saw on the front page of the Irish Indo. The word has lost so much meaning that I didn't even bother to enquire further.

MIRMIR82

bonerm wrote: »

"free"

eg "free samsung phone for every reader" which I saw on the front page of the Irish Indo. The word has lost so much meaning that I didn't even bother to enquire further.

OH my god - that is so true!!

JJayoo

yup happens to me sometimes

Duggy747

"Budget Deficit"

This was all Cowen kept repeating yesterday during his announcement to the Dail. I thought to myself: "Jesus, if he says it one more time!..." and surely he blurted out "Budget Deficit" again.

So I finished up at work and walked home, 10 minutes into my journey I decide to pop into the shop which had the radio on.......










The first words I hear on the radio?














Budget Deficit

cleremy jarkson

bonerm wrote: »

"free"

eg "free samsung phone for every reader" which I saw on the front page of the Irish Indo. The word has lost so much meaning that I didn't even bother to enquire further.

Do you mean it has for some reason or another lost it's impact on you? If so, this isn't what I'm talking about.

It's hard to describe, but it feels like if you probe certain individual words too deeply you end up feeling like the word is meaningless or something.

Pyr0

Spar. The name makes no sense at all after saying it over and over.

AnonoBoy

Embiggen.

bonerm

If you feel that way about certain words then why not just about all words?

Danbo!

Tartlets.

Dean820

'the'

Dublin_Gunner

Hatchet


IMO the strangest word. Even in context it has very little meaning as you never hear the word mentioned these days.

Just keep saying it over and over to yourself, it makes very strange sounds!

bonerm

Pyr0 wrote: »

Spar. The name makes no sense at all after saying it over and over.

Spar is German. It roughly translates as "crappy overpriced convenience store"

cleremy jarkson

bonerm wrote: »

If you feel that way about certain words then why not just about all words?

I suppose if you thought about any word enough it would happen, but with some words it just happens more quickly. In fact quick is one of those words for me.

quick

say it few times to yourself and just consider how strange it is!

Max Power1

Hip

It kinda rolls off the tongue

Hip... Hip...


Meh.. the word has lost all meaning


/red forman

ascanbe

Happened me not so long ago with the word 'trailer', for whatever reason.
Found myself fixating on it and it was like it became unleashed from its moorings and became nothing more than a garbled sound; actually found myself temporarily wondering if it actually meant/represented anything.
Kind of a discomfiting feeling.
Think it's just happens if you fixate on something; words, in and of themselves, have no meaning beyond that we assign to the them, so if you think about one to much, the actual sound can temporarily supersede the assigned meaning.

mojesius

'Disappointment/ disappointed'. It never really made sense to me. You never hear, when people are content or satisfied with something, how 'appointed' they are.

Duggy747

Max Power1 wrote: »

Hip

It kinda rolls off the tongue

Hip... Hip...


Meh.. the word has lost all meaning


/red forman

Hoppin' down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on it's way!!

Whyner

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

I suppose if you thought about any word enough it would happen, but with some words it just happens more quickly. In fact quick is one of those words for me.

quick

say it few times to yourself and just consider how strange it is!

I know what you mean. I can't remember what words they were. It is a very strange feeling, you say it out loud once it makes no sense in your mind, then you are afraid to use it in text/conversation as you think the word doesn't exist

The more you say it the more convinced you are that it's doesn't exist.

Happens with any word if you're just in such a mood, I think

Rowley Birkin QC

Banana.

Banana.

Ba na na.

Ba.

Na.

Na.

wonderfulname

Whyner wrote: »

I know what you mean. I can't remember what words they were. It is a very strange feeling, you say it out loud once it makes no sense in your mind, then you are afraid to use it in text/conversation as you think the word doesn't exist

The more you say it the more convinced you are that it's doesn't exist.

ascanbe wrote: »

Happened me not so long ago with the word 'trailer', for whatever reason.
Found myself fixating on it and it was like it became unleashed from its moorings and became nothing more than a garbled sound; actually found myself temporarily wondering if it actually meant/represented anything.
Kind of a discomfiting feeling.
Think it's just happens if you fixate on something; words, in and of themselves, have no meaning beyond that we assign to the them, so if you think about one to much, the actual sound can temporarily supersede the assigned meaning.

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

I was looking at an advertisement for prize bonds earlier when I found myself staring at the word "prize". I read it a few times and considered all the letters and how unusual a word it is. When looked at out of context and not in a sentence, it seems strange. It then momentarily lost all meaning to me and became absurd.

Has anybody ever experienced this and if you did, what words has it happened with?

I know the answer, too much spliff.

df1985

happens to me with brandnames or the names of stores.

Apple......they dont sell apples, not even remotely close.
Boots....nope, no boots for sale!
brown thomas.....bit racist on poor thomas??
woodies
tesco
gap etc etc......could go on and on.

beefjerky

Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork, Fork.

cleremy jarkson

wonderfulname wrote: »

I know the answer, too much spliff.

Don't take any drugs apart from imbibing the odd alcoholic beverage.

Irish Guitarist

"Dog" sounds kind of weird when you think about it (or at least when I think about it). A lot of names for bodily parts sound weird too, for instance "ear".

Seloth

Supervalue!

I only recently thought about this,Its like wtf?Theres nothing of good value,its an expensive shop!

Donkey Oaty

Seloth wrote: »

Supervalue!

I only recently thought about this,Its like wtf?Theres nothing of good value,its an expensive shop!

It's actually "Supervalu", which is very strang.

IamtheWalrus

Random - only used nowadays for ordered situations.

Sykk

Pyr0 wrote: »

Spar. The name makes no sense at all after saying it over and over.

Spar translates to Spunky pineapple arse rape..

Everyone knows that

Getting there

This happened me yesterday withthe word subtle. Even now, its losing meaning rapidly...

AnonoBoy

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Embiggen.

Obligatory: Its a perfectly cromulent word

Brussels Sprout

"Conscience"

Con-Science-How can it be pronounced Conshunce!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

This happened to Will on the Inbetweeners when he was deprived of sleep.

Rowley Birkin QC

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Banana.

Banana.

Ba na na.

Ba.

Na.

Na.

Na.

Na.

Na.

Na.

Na.

Hey.

Eyyyyyy.

Goodbye.

:pac::pac:

Orando Broom

Crayon. Crrrraaaaaayooooonnn.

Craaaaaaaaaaayyoooooon....

Thats just the weirdness of the English language.......sure wrap your mind around this...

though
through
lough
cough
rough
bough (when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall)
ought

Snakeblood

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

Do you mean it has for some reason or another lost it's impact on you? If so, this isn't what I'm talking about.

It's hard to describe, but it feels like if you probe certain individual words too deeply you end up feeling like the word is meaningless or something.

I got that with Pyjamas. Couldn't figure out why they were called that. IT seems so arbitrary.

revz

Chunk.
wtf like

lucylu

Nag

scotchy

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Hatchet


IMO the strangest word. Even in context it has very little meaning as you never hear the word mentioned these days.

Just keep saying it over and over to yourself, it makes very strange sounds!

Strange. That’s the very word I was going to add.

.

thankswhore

After a day on boards all words start to lose meaning

billy the squid

Work

The more you sit around thinking about it, the less of it you actually do.

karma_

There is actually a name for this phenomenon, it's called semantic satiation.

WindSock

Rhythm

WindSock

WindSock wrote: »

Rhythm

IS A DANCER











sorry

Little Acorn

Nose.

It just sounds more like a sound some type of machinery would make, instead of an actual word with meaning.

I actually find all the facial feature words weird.
Lip
Eye
Chin
Cheek

But nose sounds the strangest.

cleremy jarkson

karma_ wrote: »

There is actually a name for this phenomenon, it's called semantic satiation.

You just blew my mind!

Little Acorn wrote: »

Nose.

This is a perfect example of one of these words. If you say "nose" lots of times in your mind and scrutinise and disect the word "nose" you will become convinced, if only for a second or two, that its either the wrong word for what we know it to describe or that it is just a made up word which doesn't mean anything.

Saila

yeah noticed this with ALL words years ago, makes you realise language is just a collection of sounds which we learn to recognise over time