MetaChat - This is not a deja vu

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26 November 2008

This is not a deja vu ... but what is the phenomenon called? →[More:] I often feel that I see an alternative thing happening than what is actually happening - always regarding pretty mundane things.

For example, my father-in-law was pushing the coffee-plunger down and I 'saw' how the whole pot went off-balance, tipped over, and splurged hot coffee all over the place. In reality he seemed to have the same thought, looked at me (who would have been hit by the coffee) and suddenly adjusted the way he pushed the plunger, holding the pot with two hands because he said that he worried that it might spill. The visual was as if I had remembered it happening, but I haven't had a coffee-plunger spill like that. Yet I know and knew then, exactly what that looks like, as if I have seen it.

It's similar to the flash-intutions I get, like when I parked the pram outside of a cafe to run in to use the bathroom and I got this flash visual of pram not being there when I came out. Which then actually happened.

post by: dabitch at: 06:32 | 23 comments

... and I do really mean mundane things. A recent one was when I went to fill in a form and "saw" how the way to sharp yellow lead pencil broke off like they do, making a bit of a mess and leaving me pencil-less. Except in reality I was using a blue ink pen and no breakage occurred.

posted by dabitch 26 November | 06:37

Katastropheneinbildung

:-)

posted by jouke 26 November | 07:56

dat is een echt woord?

posted by dabitch 26 November | 08:10

I don't care if it isn't, is IS now. Damn that's a great word.

posted by dabitch 26 November | 08:10

It was a bit of a joke. In German, like in Dutch, you can concatenate words at will. Which, as you probably know, is rather popular on ask.metafilter.
So I made it up on the spot.

Kudos for the Dutch btw. :-)

posted by jouke 26 November | 08:17

Good question. I don't have things like the last one you mentioned, but I sort of have visualizations related to things that might happen, like your coffee pot and pram stories, though I think not so strong... they seem less deja-vu-kind-of-spooky and more logic/caution-related. I see it as a sort of overlay or flash visual, but not to the degree that I'd have blink and wonder for a split-second which was the reality.

I'd love to know if there really is a word like this... but if not, I heartily endorse "Katastropheneinbildung"!

posted by taz 26 November | 08:20

Yeah the pram thing is a bit different, it's like intuition kicks me in the head. I usually feel those in my shoulders as well and really I should pay more attention to them, they're _always_ right.

Then mundane pen-breaking is like what is currently going on in an alternate universe.

posted by dabitch 26 November | 08:27

Counterfactualism?

posted by TheophileEscargot 26 November | 08:40

Störungshellsehen.
(= seeing-as-in-clairvoyant of malfunctions)

posted by jouke 26 November | 09:15

I have this same thing happen all the time, though sometimes for me it's not so mundane (major accidents and whatnot), and I am so very glad to hear I'm not the only one.

posted by middleclasstool 26 November | 09:28

'Jamais vu' has a nice ring, like 'virtuous circle.' And like 'virtuous circle' it's one of those pairs where you don't hear about the second one much. There's gotta be a name for that.

posted by box 26 November | 09:31

The Shining?

:)

posted by matteo 26 November | 09:52

I get this sort of weird shit all the time. But what's strange is that sometimes it's memories of mine, but tweaked in some odd way.

posted by sperose 26 November | 09:58

middleclasstool - Oh I get major accidents too, like when I'm about to cross a road I'll have to stop for a second because 'in the alternate universe' the green bus just skid on an ice-spot and tipped over crushing me, or something horrible like that.

In reality the bus is one block away and still picking up passengers at the last stop. They really spook me. I get the terribly mundane examples more often.

posted by dabitch 26 November | 10:04

It's a ghost image on the video tape from where they back it up to retake the spoiled scene.

posted by Ardiril 26 November | 10:22

In German, like in Dutch, you can concatenate words at will.

How the hell do they play Scrabble, then?

posted by StickyCarpet 26 November | 11:58

On a really big board.

posted by Ardiril 26 November | 12:07

This happens to me all the time! Major things like car accidents and small things like dropping my pen, too. On a lesser degree i have the premonitions you talk about, but its been a while. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

posted by rhapsodie 26 November | 14:05

Hahahaha.
also, I like the ghost image idea.

Glad to know I'm not the only one seeing alternative happenings though. Thought I might have damaged the deja-vu center in my brain for a moment there. ;)

posted by dabitch 26 November | 14:16

It's a glitch in the Matrix.

posted by deborah 26 November | 14:35

It's not an additional sense -- you're just experiencing the split between the trousers of time ... :-) [AKA Quantum Theory by way of Terry Pratchett].

posted by Susurration 26 November | 16:42

Whenworldscollidoscoping.

Quantum brain fart.

Falling out of the causality tree.

Or as my mom would say, "borrowing trouble."

posted by BitterOldPunk 26 November | 16:53

Tripping out.

posted by pompomtom 26 November | 20:10

← How do I get a graphic out of a flash object? || Shiloh, the fruit-sniffing beagle, retires. →

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