Dictionary Denial

Have you ever noticed that when you learn a new word – a word you had no idea even existed before – it suddenly appears in every text you read, every billboard you drive past, every sweet wrapper, novel, manuscript, movie, – everywhere! It’s uncanny.
Even the most far flung, way-out words, you would NEVER normally have used in your lifetime, suddenly appear in a commercial after you have learned its meaning.

I think the reason we don’t notice these enigmatic words is largely because we exhibit a certain level of Dictionary Denial. Things we don’t understand, we largely ignore. So when we come across some big adverb, we just gloss over it glibly and pretend it just never happened – at least subconsciously.  You feel you have grasped the gist of the sentence, with the help of the surrounding words of course, and carry on without a care in the world.
This works as long as some little upstart doesn’t ask you what the word means, in which case I find it quite effective to suddenly feign death.  Once you learn the meaning of the word, you no longer have to subconsciously pretend its not there (or pretend you just had a major coronary), because if some twit asks you for an explanation, you are adequately equipped to enlighten them, and so free another minion from his or her blinkered existence.

The reason I am even bringing up the subject of Dictionary Denial, is because this is what has occurred with Possum Woman. Those of you who have followed the Saga of the Spoon, will know that Possum Woman is the human equivalent of the She Devil. (But I digress).

The thing is, before she robbed me, I never even knew she existed. Now however, she turns up everywhere – like a bad penny. A very bad penny. Like a half-cent. Or monopoly money.
For example, we seem to arrive at work at the same time – this has happened on more than one occasion. Or we will end up being next to each other in the queue to leave the building after work. Everywhere I look, I see possum.
My dictionary denial has been obliterated because I now know what and who she is, so I can no longer linger in the ignorant bliss I was so accustomed to. So, I am now exercising the only option I have left – lifting the blinkers from your eyes, so you too can recognize a possum when you see one:
I found this description on the net:

POSSUM (Pos-im) noun: America’s only marsupial, like a large rat but almost white fur, almost blind, generally disliked, and heard scuffling around outside in the wee hours.

How apt. Now you know.

Know any possums? Tell me about your close encounters. . .