Have you ever been asked a question and all of a sudden your like "Ummm, hmmmm yeah ummmm, ummmm, ummmmm. I don't know I am drawing a blank?" Well I am going to try and discover the reason why we all become what feels like the clown in the room at that time of stress.
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| Einstein's Actual Brain |
So I figured the first thing I would do is lets find out what the dictionary says?
So I used:
The Free Dictionary by Farlex
and here is what we came up with:
draw a blank
1. . Fig. to get no response; to find nothing.
2. Fig. to fail to remember something.
Well we kind of knew that already. That was not real news for us to learn anything from. So I guess I am still drawing a blank off drawing a blank hahahaha.
So I figured next would be "Where did it originate?" So back to Google I go. I type in the phrase and here is what I came up with. Of course it surprises me that its of English Origin because I always thought English people of being more proper. But it is not what you may think. These little rascals were gambling. Yep it came from lotteries hahahaha. Here is the section from Know Your Phrase. I will list all links at the bottom so that others can go look up the origins of everything I find. So here is the origin of "Why do people draw blanks?":
This idiom may come from lotteries that were played in the 16th century. Wikipedia states:
"The first recorded official lottery was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the year 1566, and was drawn in 1569. This lottery was designed to raise money for the 'reparation of the havens and strengthof the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes.'"
Some of the lotteries back then worked like so: There were two pots. One pot contained individual notes with the names of participants on them, while the other pot had notes with the prizes. A name would be drawn from the first pot, followed by a prize. However, there was a possibility for a blank note to be drawn from the prize pot, which meant the person won nothing!
To go along with this, there is a book titled A History of English Lotteries, from 1834. The writer mentions that there is an authentic record in existence which confirms the lottery that took place in Queen Elizabeth's time. This old manuscript, according to him, described the lottery, saying:
"A verie rich Lotterie Generall, without any blancks."
Kind of interesting that this phrase has been around over 400 years. Not only that but it made its way over on the Mayflower as well and from there all the way up to Deer Park, Washington where we are trying to figure out this silly phrase.
Ok it looks like I found it. I went to Google once again and typed in
"Drawing Mental Blanks" Neurology and I only came up with 7 or so different websites. But I will post what one of them had written and it makes sense. It also makes sense that we exercise our brains as much as possible to keep ourselves mentally sharp and physically sharp. But did you realize out of all the organs the brain needs both mental and physical exercise to keep it sharp as a tack? Yep it sure does. So here is the rundown from that other website. The website is called PrivInfo-Improve Memory:
"If you've ever felt like you're losing your mind because you're drawing mental blanks more often it's time to examine your cause for memory loss. Sometimes there is more than one change to be made for a person to get back to normal with their ability to remember.
Are you stressing yourself too much by taking on too many projects at once? This will cause you to become preoccupied, and you may feel as though you can't afford to take the time to relax and recharge your brain. But to do the best job no matter what the job, one must take care of oneself. Besides the physical damage of overworking, over-thinking will lead to mental meltdown. Your short-term memory will begin to suffer, causing you to forget even the simplest of words.
So, first consider if there is anything you can do to ease your burden, like learning to say no when you already have too much on your agenda. Let someone else take over when possible, delegate responsibilities, learn to stop giving so much of yourself that you begin to suffer because of it. It's easy to do too much for your loved ones, especially. Mothers (or fathers) decide that something may be done faster or done in a more satisfactory way, so they neglect to allow their children to handle things they are really quite capable of doing. Hence, an overworked and harried mother, who begins to lose her keys or wallet, forgets to put gas in the car, neglects to put the school gym clothes in the wash, can't remember a neighbor's name that they have seen and spoken to often, or calls his or her child by their other child's name. Maybe the children won't do the chore exactly as you do or as quickly as you or as well as you, but the child can't learn how to perfect their efforts unless they perform trial and error. Give them the benefit of the doubt and accept their imperfect achievements whenever possible. Gentle guidance and praise are the keys here.
There are health reasons that can cause our words to escape us. Short-term memory loss is one of the drawbacks to having diabetes. If you struggle with your blood sugar levels, you are sure to have memory challenges from time to time. Motivation, the proper diet and medication, along with strict self-discipline will get the situation back under control and the memory should return to normal.
There is an old phrase that goes 'Use it or lose it'. Sometimes we can retain our sanity and our memory loss just by making the effort to exercise our brains. Besides the benefits of physical exercise, mental exercise is also essential to overall health. Take up a new activity, something to make you think, some way to present a challenge to your mind. Of course, you want to avoid having to try too hard or you'll just become discouraged. Take baby steps if necessary, keeping up with each accomplishment and making each new challenge a bit harder. Besides improving your ability to recall words, this will boost your self-esteem."
So the next time you "Draw a Blank" remember its time to start using flash cards and running 5 miles with 500 push-ups a day cause your slipping hahahaha just kidding.
Thank you to these fine websites that gave us the info needed because of our drawing blanks LOL:
:
The Free Dictionary by Farlex
Know Your Phrase
PrivInfo
