This Twitter thread of people who forgot words will make your day

We love the term 'shiny crumbs.'
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 

No matter how intelligent you are, there's always a chance a word will escape your brain right when you need it the most.

A recent Twitter thread, started by Paul Coxon — a physicist in materials science at the University of Cambridge — proved that not even scholars with impressive degrees are immune to forgetting words.

On Monday, Coxon tweeted to his thousands of followers to explain that even though he has a PhD in physics, he had a brain freeze and "forgot the word for photon." Instead of remembering on the spot, he was forced to describe "photon" as "a shiny crumb" in front of his colleagues. Embarrassing!

But if it makes Coxon feel any better, his mortifying moment inspired a thread of a whole bunch of hilariously similar confessions. Apparently, people forget words all the, uh... hours and minutes that make up life.

Some people forget the word "soup" and have to say "wet salad" to order their ideal meal, while others forget the word for that yellow fruit that comes in its own case. You know the one.

And some people get really crafty and combine two words to create an entirely new word that doesn't exist. Kind of like the time Cady from Mean Girls said "cool" and "great" at the same time and it came out as "grool."

The forgetfulness happens to children, too. Though their words tend to be far more delightful, like "horse puppy."

But luckily for Coxon, he definitely isn't the only scholar who's found himself in this sort of pickle before.

Words are hard. We get it. So if you ever need a reminder, turn to the full thread for some cheering up.

We'd tell you to listen to Coxon's thunderstorm, but sadly he doesn't have one.

Instead, you can all ponder this thought-provoking crumb question.

Topics X/Twitter

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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