Deja vu, coming from the French expression meaning "already seen," is used to describe the moment when an eery sensation of familiarity comes over you. It's a light-bulb moment when you feel that you're experiencing something that you've already gone through. How is this stimulated? Is it the actual physical environment? Is it dependent upon the language used by the people you are with? I personally think it's a little bit of both.
Just today, as we were getting ready to leave the AP Biology room, Mrs. Ericson made sure to wish us a "safe and happy holiday." Suddenly, I was overcome with the same sense of deja vu. The phrase "happy holidays" holds a certain connotation in my mind. It does not relate to Spring weather or to the month of April at all. Rather, the phrase, when spoken, gives me a sense of the holiday season celebrated in December through January. It reminds me of Christmas ornaments and dreidels and hot chocolate and snow! (We musn't forget the snow.) So for a split second, I had to come back to reality and realize that the winter season is gone. I guess connotations are pretty powerful and rather strongly attached to language. What other phrases can you think of that, to you, strongly represent one thing but may also represent another?
(Samantha Maliha)
3 comments:
I don't really think that it depends on the words as much as it does the situation. When you have deja vu, it doesn't necessarily have to involve words at all. For example, you can just get deja vu just by passing a black cat like you did before.
I guess there are times where the language a person uses may be the trigger to the deja vu. For example, if someone says the same exact words in the exact same tone, such as Sam's example with Mrs. Ericson, then you could also experience that deja vu. However, I really think that it depends on a string of events that occur in the physical environment really triggers deja vu.
Deja vu, some scientists believe, is actually due to a misfiring of the brain. We all have the ability to recognize patterns and act accordingly, saving us time and brainpower. However, sometimes circuits in the brain misfire, and the part of our brain that distinguishes patterns from the past and present sometimes confuses the two, leading us to believe that we have actually experienced a specific situation before. We see situations as identical instead of merely similar.
Certainly, it can be primed by a specific word association or cue that draws back earlier memories. However, in your example regarding the "Happy Holidays" phrase, you're probably experiencing nostalgia more than deja vu.
Interestingly, there's also jamais vu: you know that you've gone through a particular situation before, but it feels as if it were your first time.
-Eric W
Interestingly, Sam, I also noted the slight peculiarity of using the phrase "happy holidays" in the spring that day at the end of Biology, as you did! Isn't it amusing how there are a myriad of possible thoughts that one can make, yet at one moment two people standing next to each other could be thinking the same exact thing? Yet this is clearly why deja vu of hearing words previously spoken even occurs. Indeed, great minds DO think alike! (Of course I'm humoring myself by naming ourselves bearers of "great minds.")
However, I do agree with Eric's suggestion that perhaps the phrase "happy holidays" struck more of a sense of nostalgia in us rather than actual deja vu. Deja vu would be more fitting to describe an experience in which Mrs. Ericson did the same but that had included a previous teacher that had already said "have a happy holiday" earlier. Nonetheless, the power of connotations and the extent to which we categorize or judge words/phrases are clearly evident.
(Janet Lee)
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