P.C. Shannon

I'm amazed at how the brain works. For instance, there's a word that I've been trying to remember for the better part of a year. I'll want to use it in a conversation, because it perfectly captures what I want to say, but I can't, because I can never remember it. This word means “that which is directly observed” and is frequently used in high school discussions of the scientific method (which makes this problem all the more embarassing). I've actually come across it once or twice in this quest, but I can't seem to hang on to it. I keep thinking it is or is similar to “epistemological” because the first sound is the same and they both have to do with knowledge.

How can I know that? How can I know what a word means and what it sounds like but not know the word itself? It's really quite amazing.

I looked the word up before I started writing this, but now I've forgotten it again. Which leads me to my real conclusion: I'm just getting old.

That word, by the way, is “empirical.”