Yma Sumac.
Nee:  Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo

What's a three letter word for Singer Sumac?  

Down in Nashville, sis Deb and I shared the childhood memory of having an Yma Sumac album in our family record collection --and if memory serves, it was this one >>

 It came up in reference to how frequently her one of a kind name pops up in crossword puzzles. Curious about the most oft used clues/words in crosswords I went searching and sure enough…there’s the Peruvian diva with the four and a half octave range making her mark at #17 on the top twenty list.  To toot my own horn, I had guessed that “Jai ____” would be among top 5.

The First published Crossword Puzzle.
December 21, 1913

Here's the top twenty:

1. Jai ___

2. “Dies ___”

3. Architect Saarinen

4. ___ Lingus

5. ___-Magnon

6. Mauna ___

7.___ Lanka

8. Alley ___

9. From ___ Z

10 ___ avis

11. Inter ___

12. Pro ___

13. Coach Parseghian

14. ___ Na Na

15. Otherwise

16."... ___ saw Elba"

17. Singer Sumac

18. Part of Q.E.D.

19. Actress Thurman

20. Rap's Dr. ___

And what's the word for 

"...Uh, um, damn, it's on the tip of my tongue" ? 

Aphasia you say?  Apparently no.  Aphasia is an impairment of the language function caused by brain damage, and what we're talking about here is the more common and universal experience of a momentary  word retrieval malfunction. 

Anomia you say?  Well, maybe, but strictly speaking Anomia is "a deficit in finding words and is the most conspicuous feature of aphasia" --so actually, no.

Dysnomia you say?  Nope. That's just another term for anomic aphasia which is also a sub-set type of aphasia related to word recollection.

Lethologica you say?  According to what I've found, this is a psychological disorder far more serious and debilitating than the occasional lapse that " on the tip of my tongue" is intended to indicate. 

Presque vu you say?  Close, but no cigar despite what Wikipedia says.  This term refers to being (or the feeling of being) on the brink of an epiphany or revelation...which seems a somewhat different matter than the simple inability to recall a single word. 

So what is it?  The envelope please...
and the winner is: 

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon.  Or TOT for short.

As Casey Stengel said..." you can look it up."  Which raises yet another issue--that of the misattributed quote.  Or as Yogi Berra said, " I really didn't say everything I said."
 But I'll save that for another day. 

A Grand Central Stationary Update

I'm so excited cause things are looking up...or down, as the case often is with escalators.  There are men at work, or so it appears if you happen to walk by during the two or three hours a day you might be lucky enough to see them.  And there's lots of shiny new pieces of steel lying about in various states of disconnectedness. But hope springs eternal and there's even a brand new sign announcing the new completion date rounded off to the nearest month (October).  Who knows?  Come the first big blizzard, we may be ascending from our morning commute in all the comfort and ease made possible by  industrial age technology circa 1920 at its best-- thus leaving behind memories of nearly a year of enforced morning stair master classes beneath Madison Ave.   I'll keep you posted as the thrilling saga approaches its compelling conclusion.