It's when a bit of music or song gets into your head and runs on repeat for, sometimes, hours on end.
The name is a literal translation from he German 'Ohrwurm' and came into use in the 1980's.
According to research by James Kellaris, 98% of individuals experience earworms.
Women and men experience the phenomenon equally often, but earworms tend to last longer for women and irritate them more.
According to this article women, musicians and people who are neurotic, tired or stressed are most prone to earworm attacks. This suggests that the easiest way to get rid of your earworm is relax and get enough sleep, stop making music or - probably the most difficult - stop being female.
An hilarious treatise on these beasties :~))
1 comment:
Beware the Mondegreen-Ohrwurm, an affliction third only to malaria and autoeroticism for inflicting life-long suffering. One of my family members was stricken with "Your'e hurting my armpits, your'e hurting my armpits" from some now long-forgotten New Wave song. Several people, to whom the contagion spread at the time, report recurrent bouts even now, decades later, at the mere mention of the name of the disease.
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