It’s Not Even a Real Word Anymore
You’ve heard of déjà vu. You know it’s when you experience the sensation of having done something already or, as Doctor Who calls it, remembering in the wrong direction.
Did you know there’s a word for the opposite? The experience of feeling like you’ve never done something you’ve done a bunch of times? It’s called jamais vu.
Where does jamais vu come from, you may ask? It’s simple, really. Where déjà vu means twice seen in French, jamais vu means never seen in French.
It can be something small, like when I’ve been in a marathon Sims 4 session, and ‘fertilize’ stops seeming like a real word.
It can also be something big like if you take the same path to the grocery every day, and suddenly forget if you’re supposed to keep going straight or make a left.
It can also be when you’ve changed a million diapers and suddenly you can’t remember how to make it the right amount of tight.
Word Genius likens it to
a glitch in the system…
and goes on to say, a few sentences later,
If you experience this sensation on a few rare occasions, don’t worry — it’s completely normal.
So, remember, when you’ve done something so many times, you feel as if it isn’t real, or as if you’ve never done it before, there’s a word for that and it’s normal.
