Memory

It’s interesting how the brain works — and sometimes doesn’t work.

Recently, I was explaining how to do something and I needed to use the term duct tape (a.k.a duck tape). But despite the fact that I’ve bought and used duct tape many times, and have a roll of duct tape in my toolbox, the words would not come. To save my life, I could not think of the name of that often used tape.

But a while ago I was thinking about the hot and cold water pipes under my kitchen sink, and I was thinking of the fact that they make their way into the house through rather large holes in the kitchen floor and in the base of the sink cabinet. I thought it might be possible for vermin, like insects and perhaps even mice, to crawl up the water lines and enter the house through those holes. I decided I needed two (one for hot, one for cold) of those round metal things that go around pipes and are installed especially to cover the holes where pipes come through the floor. Specifically, I needed two that were hinged so I could open them and snap them in place around the two pipes. But what were those round things called? I knew the term was lodged in some corner of my memory, but it was a term I had seen maybe once in my life. The odds that I would be able to recall it seemed slim.

However, seconds later the word escutcheon popped into my head. And then, pipe escutcheon, because escutcheons are made not just for pipes but for locks, and keyholes, and doorknobs.

I couldn’t remember duct tape, a product I’ve bought and used for most of my life, but I recalled the term pipe escutcheon — a term I’ve used probably never — after just a few seconds of pondering. It’s only a minor puzzle, but it’s still a puzzle. Memory is truly an enigma.