It's on the tip of my tongue!

Everybody knows the situation which is presented in the comics:

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

What is the tip-of-the tongue phenomenon?

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomen is characterized by being able to retrieve quite a lot of information about the target word without being able to retrieve the word itself.

You know the meaning of the word. You may know how many syllables the word has, or its initial sound or letter. But you can’t retrieve it all. This experience is coupled with a strong feeling (this is the frustrating part) that you know the word, and that it is somehow kept in your brains. When you eventually remember it, the experience is often as erratic and abrupt as the initial failure — typically it pops up later when you don not need it anymore!

Often a similar sounding word seems to block your the word which is on the tip of your tongue.

The tip-of-the tongue phenomenon probably occurs, because of a weaker connection between the meaning a word its phonetical realisation (the sound)

If you are interested in this phenomeno go on tip of the tongue: web extra have a look at the videos. Pedestrians are supposed to answer questions which at first sight seem to be easy, but these questions elicit the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. It's quite funny.

More over there is a questionaire with 25 various question. Go to the members of your family and try to do the experiment! Unfortunately you have to translate the questions into German, because the phenomenon would occur in a more intensified degree, if the speaker had to answer the questions in a L2.