A brain fart is a moment of forgetfulness or lack of mental focus that can happen to anyone. It can be embarrassing or hurtful, but it’s a natural occurrence that most people experience at some point. The term may have originated from the bodily function of flatulence or from the medical term for a heart attack.
For those people who have experienced a momentary lack of reason or a moment of forgetfulness at the tip of their tongue, there’s a very accurate, if inelegant, term: a brain fart. This may be an ill-advised moment in which a person temporarily forgets their circumstances before speaking, or it could be a so-called “senior moment” in which a familiar thought or piece of common knowledge cannot be instantly remembered. A driver may have one on a highway, for example, and drive right past a familiar off-ramp.
Many people experience this type of mistake whenever they temporarily lose mental focus or concentration on the matter at hand. In that fuzzy moment, an employee might forget that he’s talking to his boss, or a seasoned technician might forget the name of a basic part or tool. Sometimes, a person may get over the event and continue with the task at hand, but other times, they may have to deal with the aftermath before life can return to normal.
The term brain fart is relatively new in the popular vernacular, but the sudden release of bodily gases known as a fart is not. Some sources believe the descriptive but somewhat scatological term to be the mental equivalent of a bout of intestinal flatulence. In the same way that the body occasionally lets off an unwelcome explosion of gas, the brain can create an unfortunately programmed bubble of forgetfulness or unfiltered thought. This uncontrollable thought bubble may be temporarily hurtful or embarrassing, but it should dissipate as soon as it is formed.
Others suggest the term is a crude corruption of the medical term heart attack, referring to a sudden bursting of blood vessels that can lead to stroke or other serious damage. Suffering from an actual brain infarction could trigger the same short-term memory loss or inappropriate outbursts.
Whether it’s a brain fart, a moment of seniority, or the even more dubious “CRS disease,” a temporary short-term memory loss or the occasional sudden outburst is perfectly natural and understandable. Very few people make it through the day without experiencing at least one moment of forgetfulness, so it’s generally acceptable in a casual setting to apologize profusely and move on.
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