Student Stan: “What does ‘medley’ mean?”
Me: “It means a mixture, a combination, like when you hear an orchestra perform you hear a medley of sounds.”
Student Stan: “Oh.”
A few minutes later.
“What does ‘medley’ mean?”
Hmm.
What do you think?
I already told Stan the meaning of ‘medley.’
Why did he forget?
Is Stan stupid?
Has he smoke one too many marijuana cigarettes?
Not at all.
He’s normal.
Very normal.
In fact, Stan is a lawyer and has an incredible memory.
But he’s also a human, which means he’s very good at forgetting new words.
According to research, humans need to see a new word nine times before it goes into our long-term memory. *
The metaphor I like is “The Hammer.”
Just like a nail doesn’t go into a piece of wood the first time you hit it with a hammer…
A new word doesn’t go into your memory the first time you see it or hear it.
You’ve got to keep hammering and hammering…
So the next time you forget a word, don’t feel stupid, relax, because it’s Hammer Time.
