This word, ironically, is never on the tip of my tongue.

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon , sometimes called presque vu, is the failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent. The phenomenon's name comes from the saying, "It's on the tip of my tongue."

One of the quirky things about how my mind works is that, once a question has emerged for some mysterious reason, I want to find out the answer. This morning, although I did not have a "something on the tip of my tongue," the phrase came to mind and I wondered if there is a term for it.

And it seems there is. The name for it comes from the French and means "almost seen." Just as that "this has happened before" thing is déjà vu, "already seen."

And then there is jamais vu, "never seen", which involves a sense of eeriness and the impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that you have been in the situation before. Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognize a word, person, or place that they already know. Been there, done that!

I am reasonably sure I had never seen presque vu before, but if I did, that must mean that I am experiencing jamais vu.

And if my over-explaining feels like it has happened before, then, voila! Déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra may never had said.