Posts tagged ‘semantic satiation’

Form Forum?

Dictionary.com defines a form as:

a document with blank spaces to be filled in with particulars before it is executed: a tax form.  — source

and a forum as:

an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the discussion of questions of public interest. — source

Ok well I cherry picked the definitions that best suited my purposes, but anyway, I have been using both of these words is a lot of code lately and I admit the words have lost all meaning to me. In speech this is called semantic satiation, where intense repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener. So what is this called when you code? Dose it happen to anyone else? I know that for me the words “form” and “forum” have lost all meaning and look completely spelt wrong now. I think its even worse that the words are so similar prompting me to write this post, however this happens to me even with one word if I use it to much in code.

Thoughts?