Old what's his face...

My dad had a great memory for tidbits of information... with the exception of someone's name. Two seconds after they introduced themselves, he'd forget.
It didn't stop there. When he was making reference to an actor or comedian and their name didn't come to mind, it was always 'what's his face' ad everyone around him would have to guess.

Shhh... family trait.

In business, when customers come to the showroom I work at, I have to write names on a pad and take notes. By the second meeting, I will have all the details. No problem.

Today, I was in the warehouse getting something from the hardware cage and the manager was playing some rock music. I didn't recognize the song, but I recognized the distinct voice of the singer. Not wanting to do a 'what's his face' I said, is that the guy who played with VanHalen for a while?

Yeah, he replied... Sammy Hagar!
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Comments (9)

I'm bad at names too. blushing
It's extra odd, because I tend to remember everything else they've said,
except their names. That latter part seems not to matter as much to women I meet on first dates. laugh
My grandparents use to say "What's his name?" or sometimes they say "What does his mother calls him?"

I have that same problem, I can't remember names. banana
I can remember back when I was in first grade and we were doing a school play. My dad volunteered to coordinate the event and we were all to make a single file line. One girl with long blond hair wasn't listening... my dad said "Hey Rapunzel... you need to get in line with the other kids!"

Rapunzel... laugh
Context dependent memory.

I can remember stuff in context to the point where I remember conversations verbatim because of the colour clothes someone was wearing.

I think in colour and shape more than words.

I learn well experientially.

Names have little context, however. Learning the meaning of names helps to create context.

It's a bit autistic spectrum.

I have become a little more used to having to ask people their name. Sometimes I make excuses, like calling them by their friend's, or daughter's name and then saying, "Oh, that's not right!" by which time they've corrected me.

It implies I haven't forgotten all about them, just that I'm being a bit dippy. laugh
I've got a context related memory thing:

I spend most of the day driving, and I have radio 4 tuned in, which is all speech. Many of the programmes are repeated later in the week. If I happen to hear a repeat of a programme I've already listened to, I can usually remember exactly where I was at any given point in the programme when I heard it for the first time. I often wish there were a way to make some use of this ability.
confused
@ Chat~ - wave .... The reason that we forget people's names soon after the introduction is that instead of giving your brain time to process the information for a few seconds we are desperately waiting to hear our own name being spoken by the person we are being introduced to. It must be a mini ego thing us humans do.
When you do a business course you are taught to break that cycle, thereby making it easier to remember their name. Swapping business cards was another method but that is limited to business and not casual encounters.

Sorry, what was your name?.... uh oh grin


..... grin cheers
Yes, repeat the persons name.
One thing, that has helped me remember names of people,
who I know I will see again, is creating little memorable phrases to help me.
I use the name in a short phrase that I would remember.
It contains some aspect of the person, that I would remember.
It can be as common as "Dan, (the man)" or "Sue (the lawyer)" or "Sally (Ride, I'd like to ride her)".
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created Feb 2020
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