Stop It.
Baader-Meinhof Strikes Again.
Ever have that feeling that you learned some new word and then you hear it on the radio, on TV, in an article in the newspaper? It’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. and the term was coined in the 90s. (I believe by this time we can all agree we don’t need to put the 19 in front of every 20th century date.)
The phenomenon is more formally called “frequency illusion” but that doesn’t sound nearly as cool. And, it has nothing to do with the left-wing radical German group named that. Some guy posting on the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press online community had seen the name of that group twice in 24 hours and decided to call it the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.1
When I was a kid, I thought I knew the actual reason for this sense of repetition. I felt that God was helping me remember new words by showing them to me in various contexts. But, I was like 9 years old and my brain still worked like it should.
Anyway, it had not happened to me in quite a while, and then I saw this clip on YouTube:
Then I ran across this tidbit
You can read the whole thing by following the link. I don’t feel right about just cutting and pasting it here.
But in summary, a person goes to see some sage. The sage notices the person is not well and asks what’s up? The reply is basically the world sucks and people are mean to each other.
Here’s the spoiler:
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THAT, IF IT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
"But nobody wants it! Everybody hates it."
OH. WELL, THEN STOP.
Just Stop It.
Kind of genius, eh?
Do you find yourself seeing cigars everywhere and wondering if it means something?
There is a nice explanation of the phenomenon over on How Stuff Works.
But, I prefer to think God is pointing things out to me.