Megan Again: What’s in A Word?

Megan Again: What’s in A Word?
By Megan Wirts

Have you ever tried to think of a word for something, but you can’t think of it so you call it something else that’s kind of ridiculous? 

For example, I often times can’t think of the word fork, so I call it a “food pokey thingy” and a spoon is a “mouth shovel”. I know that this can be a normal thing (Dr. Google told me it’s sometimes called Word Finding Difficulty and sometimes it just means you’re getting old, which I am 100% in denial about.) and it’s not something to be alarmed about it most of the time. However, after having two brain surgeries...

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...and having a neurological disorder, it makes me and my family pay closer attention to things that seem “off”.

It can be incredibly frustrating when you know what you want to say, but the words you want to use aren’t coming to you as quickly as you would like. So, when I say things to my husband like, “Can you bring me that body warmer?”, instead of “Can you bring me a blanket?”, it leads to some miscommunication and concern about “what body and where am I hiding it and why do I want to keep it warm?”.

So, I decided to keep track of all the times I can’t think of the words I want and write down my absurd new names for things. These were some of my favorites:

Ice: Slippery Hard Water
Socks: Foot Gloves
Milk: Cow Udder Juice
Feather: Bird Hair
Television: Story Box
Car: Metal Person Mover
Sponge: Dead Sea Creature Scrubber
Scissors: Hand Cutters
Vacuum: Dirt Sucker Upper
Peanut Butter: Mashed Nut Spread
Tissues: Booger Catcher
Rain: Sky Water
Shower: Water Spraying Body Washer
Teeth: Mouth Bones
Bike: Foot Pedaling Kid Rider
Eyeball: Personal Picture Seer
Chapstick: Lip Lotion
Coffee: Caffeinated Bean Water

I definitely get some strange looks. Especially when I tell my friends that I sent my husband out in the metal person mover to pick me up some caffeinated bean water, cow udder juice and mashed nut spread.

So, when you find yourself saying, “What’s that word?”, know that you are not alone.

Now, where is my lip lotion?
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“Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way.”- Steve Martin