Not knowing the names of 'everyday things'? How cover up?

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Do you often do not know the name name of things like kitchenware, other domestic appliances, flowers, tools and other things that many people consider basic everyday things?

I still find that I do not know the names of things that otherpeople just seem to memorise right away. I know what they look like, I usually know what to do with them, but their names... I can't remember that.

For example, I knew what the dynamo did, what it looked like, how it worked and how to make it work long before I could remember it's name. It drives my family that I say 'that thingy' all the time instead saying something's name.

Anyone like that as well? How to cover up when you can't remember the name of 'a thingy' but don't want to admit?

Lately, whenever I draw a blank on a name, instead of trying to remember the name I'll just give the first description that comes to my head. AKA a spatula can come out as "eggs flipper overer" or an alarm clock can be a "thing that tells time and yells at you." As long as it makes sense such that the listener can figure out what I'm saying, it is more an amusing habit then anything else, and its half poetic at that.

I often forget names. I mean, i usually say the same as you a lot, "the thingy". Not because i dont know what its called really, but it just seems to slip my mind when im supposed to say it out loud sometimes. Sadly though, ive never been able to cover it up. So i just go with the thingy, and i cant say it bothers me all too much. I usually start flapping my hands sometimes when i cant remember tho. But people dont seem to care that much. Atleast not the ones im around.

I don't know if this is the same thing you are describing but I do often forget the names of things or even use the wrong word when I am talking. I don't know how to cover it up, mostly people I work with, just know this about me and laugh about it. It doesn't really bother me unless I have to explain something specific and then I just describe the "object" the best I can,(I do this with peoples names,a bit embarrassing when it's someone I've known for years).


I think this happens more when I am stressed but I am usually stressed, so that's relative. Before learning about AS, I did wonder if I was brain damaged or had really early onset of alzheimer's. I would still love to get a MRI,(I just had to ask my bf what these initials are,lol)even though it is a word I have used before and should know well. I use him as my "extra brain" because he never forgets anything..and he has MS...go figure.

Is "that thingamajig" not an appropriate name for just about everything out there?

I do that too. A lot! I usually know the name of items, but when I go to say it, I can't think of it. Thankfully my husband understands cuz he's AS too and does the same thing. We have some very interesting conversations around our house with replacement names thrown in or descriptions instead of names.

I have the same thing. I also forget vocabulary words all the time when speaking, I know the meaning of the word I want but I forget the word itself. It's annoying. And people's names I can't remember worth crap.

My mom does it a LOT...I don't do it as much. What I do is I accidentally call things by the wrong name. Like I'll mix up "wrench" and "pliers" a lot

I don't know if it's because I don't want to be like my mom, but I never call something "thing" if I really can't think of it...I'll just draw a blank for a minute and usually my friends will fill me in before I get there.

I do this with feelings more than I do with nouns.

Last edited by SabbraCadabra on 13 May 2008, 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have also noticed that I seem to store words, like on "note cards" in my head-file" and when I go to pull one out, I may accidentally pull out a close but not the right word, one....

easier to explain with examples.

I used to use ...dishwasher, washing machine and garbage, interchangeable...I never knew which one was going to come out of my mouth.

Just yesterday at work...I was writing down the name of a dog and wrote Summer...(the dogs name was actually Autumn)

Yeah, exactly =)

Forgetting the name and drawing a blank suddenly is something I know too.

I think not knowing it in the first place may be because... I never paid attention to learn it?

But other people my age don't seem to need to pay attention. They seem to learn it 'naturally' without effort. They've heard once - and know it forever!

But drawing a blanks about familiar stuff - I do that often too! I also mix up names and end up talking about a 'dog' when I meant a cat.

I then usually point or also describe what it looks like then.

I know that for me, this is the same as being unable to say anything at all though. It's just more stress needed to make me mute altogether than to make me forget words that I know. It goes like, 100% of language is left, 90%, 50& to 10% of language is left with a rising stress level.

Sometimes it happens without a reason that I can recognise. It's embarrassing when someone comes to talk to you and you find yourself unable to say anything out of sudden.

Agreed. Sounds pretty much like I talk most of the time. "Hey, can you get me the paint can opener upper thingy?" or "Do you know where I can find the thingy you use to pinch together broken necklace clasps?" It works, and you can get points for creativity! lol

Those things have names?

Sometimes it amazes me how much I do that other Aspies do. I try not to blame too much on my AS but man, there is just so much about me that points toward it. So yes, I too have trouble with this and it's just another thing that make others look at me like "what's your problem?" *sigh*

There are things I don't know the names of.

I didn't even know what a DJ was even though I had seen them before. And my mother acted like I was stupid or something because I didn't know what a DJ was so i got all defensive. Then she said she was sorry and she thought I knew what a DJ was after I told her I had seen them before but I didn't know they were called DJs.


You know in public restrooms how the toilets have these walls around them and a door in front, I didn't even know they were called stalls till I was in high school.

And the thing speakers stand behind, I didn't even know it was called a podium till I was maybe 17.

Heck the thing in your car you put the key in, I didn't even know they were called ignitions until I saw the word in thriller books.


It funny how we are still learning the names of things.

The Missus does this quite a bit. She says the food thing, instead of spatula. I usually make up a facetious name on the spot, and sometimes that what we call it from then on.

I would love to see some research about this topic. It just seems so odd to me that I can often write fairly well and yet have so many speaking difficulties. I also am, and have always been, an avid reader. When I can't recall a word, it is never because I have not heard or read the word at some point. I would really like to understand how my brain stores information because I can recall somethings so clearly and yet words continue to elude me when I need them most.

Does anyone else have issue with being able to pronounce words. I have often read words that I have never or seldom heard spoken and I don't know how to say them even when I know what they mean and that it is the correct word...that also makes me feel like a moron.