kayaking on Loch Leven near Glencoe, Scotland, 2018

kayaking on Loch Leven near Glencoe, Scotland, 2018

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Seralinguisity

This is a bit of a different kind of post for me, but you know, it's a rainy day, so the Lake Arthur Regatta plan simply didn't work out. Instead I'm spending the afternoon reading O magazine. A couple months ago, I started receiving Oprah's glossy publication and I have no idea how they got my address. I had not subscribed. I don't read many magazines, but surprisingly, I'm enjoying this. Okay, I'm off-topic already.

Anyway, so I'm flipping through the pages, reading nearly every word because the writing is so beautiful, and I come across a short piece on simple summer cocktails, which piques my attention because I'm currently doing a series about summer cocktails from local upscale watering holes for our local Convention and Visitors Bureau website.

And I'm immediately struck by what I consider to be a curious phenomenon that happens to me in my life with some regularity. If it happens to me, I'm certain it happens to other people as well.

Have you ever stumbled across, experienced, discovered, came in contact with, etc. something, anything, for example a word, object, idea or concept, or even a person that you are absolutely certain you have never ever heard of or seen before in your life, and then within a few days or a week, there it is again! I get the biggest kick out of this. It makes me marvel and laugh. I consider it a phenomenon and I realized today, as far as I am aware, it has no name.

So I decided to give it a name. Seralinguisity.

Here's the seralinguisity I experienced today. Three days ago, I was at Ember Grille and Wine Bar at L'Auberge Casino in Lake Charles doing research for my current assignment, and the wonderful bartender there (Kelly Bistok -- she is amazing) made me one of her fabulous signature cocktails called White Linen. A key ingredient is a spirit called St-Germain elderflower liqueur. I had never heard of that. But it's very nice!

So today I see cocktail recipes in Oprah's magazine (pg 102 of the July issue) and there it is again! St-Germain elderflower liqueur! I laughed. It's seralinguisity!

Or is it just coincidence?

Readers, do you ever experience this amusing phenomenon? Tell me your story.

4 comments:

Rachel said...

I've noticed a similar situation where those not-so-uncommon things come in clusters. Several babies are born, weddings are celebrated, or illnesses are rushed to the ER. Is there a word for that? Great post, Angie, although I may need an audio icon option to say it correctly.

Angie Kay Dilmore said...

Rachel, it's a twist on the word serendipity.

Common Household Mom said...

I do like your word for this phenomenon!

I am not sure if I have noticed this about words. But when we are in need of a new car (which only happens every 6-10 years) and we have a model in mind, we tend to see that model everywhere. I think it might be a case of subliminal hyperattention on the thing we're thinking about.

The human mind is a fascinating thing.

Angie Kay Dilmore said...

Indeed it is, CHM.