Uh Oh It's Magic

It cracks me up when this happens. Sometimes, when I am leaving a message with someone on the phone, I will start off by telling them my name and where I am calling from. For example, "Hello, this is Henning calling from Rub Wrongways Records." Then I go on and tell them all the reasons I cam calling, you know, the detailed part of the message. Then I tell them my phone number. After all of that info, of course, they have forgotten my name and they have to ask again.

But sometimes, just once and a while, this little bit of magic happens, like a rainbow popping up...they call me Doug.

And it's pretty clear where they get that name. Their brain hears "Henning" at the beginning of the message. Then, while it is busy with all the other information, it files away the word "Henning" in some little cavern where a memory of the word lives. Deep down in the brain somewhere is the name "Doug Henning", sitting in the dark, doing tricks, and the brain makes an association. That way, when the person tries to recall the beginning of our phone conversation, the old name pops up and they call me "Doug".

Magic.