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My keys

I smeared over my keys.
I lost grip of my keys.
My keys fell away.


My keys stayed behind.
I unminded my keys.
I unremembered my keys.

Those are either two really cool haikus or some of the ways we can say I forgot my keys in some European languages:

  • French oublier and Spanish olvidar from Latin oblitus, ob (“over”) + limus (“mud”, “smear”)
  • English forget from Proto-Germanic fragetaną, *fra- (“off”) + *getaną (“grasp”)
  • Galician and Portuguese esquecer from Latin excadescereex (“away”) + cadere (“fall”)
  • Serbo-Croatian zaboraviti from za (“behind”) + boraviti (“stay”)
  • Italian dimenticare from Latin dementicarede (“un-”) + mens (“mind”)
  • Welsh anghofio from an (“un-”) + cofio (“remember”), from cof “memory”

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]


Originally published in The blind mouse.