What's the strangest thing you've ever forgotten?

I’ve forgotten my alphabet in the middle of the work day. But knocks to the dome coupled with high levels of stress can have that effect. It was hilarious but also scary – as I was trying to file something I couldn’t place it alphabetically because I didn’t know which letter came next.

When I was young I often forgot my things. I would leave it somewhere then walked away as if the things didn’t exist at all. I lost a lot of things because of that.

I can forget what I’m supposed to do. I have an idea what to do, go do it then stop at the middle asking myself: “What am I supposed ti do in the first place?”

I sometimes forget where I’m supposed to be going. I wander on the streets aimlessly with an empty mind, as if I was sleep-walking. Sometimes when I realize where I have to go I am too far away from the destination.

I forgot that someone showed me their 3D scan of their baby. I was pregnant at the time so I blame baby brain. I swore blind that I never saw it when another friend mentioned it. She then recounted the whole episode of us looking at it together with the other pregnant woman, then discussing afterwards how we both thought it was a bit creepy. Then it came back to me. We were both a little shocked that I hadn’t remembered. A few months later she was pregnant herself and did something similar but was ready for the baby brain to strike!

You know, it’s strange…I can’t remember.

My birthday, a couple of times. No one ever believes me when I say it’s not a big deal.

How my ex-girlfriend looked like.

Which prompted me to introduce myself to her. A bit awkward, given that she practically lived in my house for over a year. Silly enough, when she said “Don’t you recognize me?”, I replied “No, should I?”

@whitenoise this sounds like prosopagnosia or face blindness. I also have this. Didn’t recognise my Dad once.

How to spell words. Sometimes even the most obvious ones are gotten wrong. And English and writing are my subjects.

I think it’s very odd that I don’t remember the name of any of my college professors.

I’ve forgotten a lot of math, and math was something I loved and was good at.

When I visit where I grew up, I don’t remember how to get some places, or the names of some roads.

Some years I forget how old I am. For some reason this year it’s easy again.

@Stinley I always suspected there was a name for my issue. :-)

I’ve forgotten some tiny things, like someones birthday or anniversary, or an appointment made a few weeks prior, or to water my plants for two weeks. But never as you describe. I would be concerned. Are you on some sort of medication that would do that?

I’ve forgotten how old I am on occasions. Someone has asked me and I’ve been unsure of my age. And like @JLeslie, I’ve forgotten so manydetails from my youth. I was working with some interview data today and it occurred to me that I could never participate in such an interview because I have such poor memories.

I forgot how old I am.

@SmashTheState – I have to express amazement that you forgot you had a job. That seems so fundamental – what did you each day when you woke up?

And how were you able to buy food, beer, and pay rent?

And why was it that no one at the workplace – manager, payroll, whatever – never called you?

I don’t doubt that it happened, but I just cannot see how.

I bumped into my brother-in-law at the local coffee shop. He was standing next to a tall guy in a trench coat. I stared blankly at the tall guy for several long seconds before my brain re-engaged. He was the guy I had been married to for over 20 years and divorced from for several.

@elbanditoroso I have a tendency to see over-arching systems while missing what’s right in front of me, which is characteristic of INTPs. Where most people miss the forest for the trees, INTPs tend to bump into trees while studying forests. As people who’ve answered my questions here will testify, I spend my time thinking about things that don’t generally occur to others – but at the expense of tending to forget about things which seem to occupy most people’s time. Example: I live in Kanada where health care is freely available as long as you have an up-to-date health card. Despite the fact that I have serious, life-threatening medical conditions, when emergencies have occured in the past, I have almost inevitably discovered that my health card is months or even years out of date, and has nearly resulted in my death on at least two occasions when I couldn’t get medical care as a result.

I’m one of the roughly 20% of people with major depression who doesn’t respond to treatment of any kind. In the specific case you mention, I think what happened was a period of major depression during which I slept for 20–22 hours a day for several days in row, leaving me disoriented and foggy-headed. By the time the worst of it passed, my sleep schedule was completely disrupted and I just naturally fell back into the lifestyle I have during my depressive periods where I don’t work, stop bathing, and scrounge to get by on welfare. Time tends to pass in a sort of haze. I was working as an enumerator for the city directory at the time, so it wasn’t skilled labour and they had a high turnover. Apparently they did try to get ahold of me, but they didn’t know where I live and I don’t usually turn my phone on unless I’m expecting a specific call. They just assumed I’d fucked off.

During a security check I couldn’t remember my mother’s maiden name. Not a clue. Even with a kind hint, the info was gone.
That hole left me a little sad.

(I did remember later.)

My friend’s dad got shot and killed. A few years later, I asked him if he had plans for father’s day.

I forgot my son at home once. He was 4.

My locker combination. I used a sports bag from then on and took everything with me.

I forgot my dog on an island in the middle of the Mississippi once – she had run off exploring, and we were kinda drunk. Thank god she hates swimming enough to have not followed the boat. We heard her crying and went back and picked her up.

I have had a few embarrassing forgets in my life, but seeing what has been mentioned here already has me feeling better about myself.

I’m a female ENTP, half brilliant half completely scattered.
Our personality type is known as the “absent minded professor” and the “inventor.”
Add to this the disabling fate of also being a left handed, right brained blond and I am a recipe for disaster at times. The original “F* word for me is Focus! haha

I have left my wallet on top of my car and driven away. I have left candles burning all night and luckily never burned my house down. I lose keys all the time so I never lock my doors and if I take my keys out of my car I will never find them again. Keys are a real challenge.
I never forgot my daughter though, well, there was the one time I forgot to pick her up at the bus stop, but I remembered at the last minute only to pull up and see her 5 year old face plastered to the window as the school bus drove away.

My dad was an INTP also known as “The Architect” and he was an Architect in real life. I inherited his designing eye, have an uncanny ability to scratch out a building drawing, or design a room and have something built with virtually, only eyeballing, measurements and coming up within fractions of an inch, but don’t ask me where I laid down my pencil.
I think maybe I am an idiot savant. lol

@gailcalled Barbara Walters had the happen several years ago. She didn’t recognize one of her ex-husbands.

@Earthbound_Misfit I can remember all me elementary school teachers very vividly, and their names. I remember most of my Jr. High and High school teachers too. It’s my college years that I don’t remember the names of anyone. I also have retained an incredible amount of information from primary, and especially secondary school. I never took any science in college, unless you consider psychology a science. A significant amount of my science knowledge is from high school. Biology, anatomy, geology, all of it.

I’m shocked how much I know about government and history (I hated both topics) although I admit my knowledge is severely lacking, I know much more than I would have thought from those years.

My pants

Things like this have happened on a few occasions, like once I was 7 and I had my pencil in my hand and then I accused my classmate of stealing my pencil. I grabed their pecil and then realized I had it in my hand! Though I guess that’s no really my memory, more my unawareness. I do have a bad memory though, I guess it’s just so bad I can’t remember any things I’ve forgotten.

I once went to class without a shirt and wore a heavy coat all day… in the spring. I got all hot and sweaty.