The first time I came across the term “mentionitis” was through my idle reading of a chapter in Helen Fielding’s famous confessional novel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Have you ever had that feeling upon encountering a newly-coined word where your first thought was, “What the heck is ‘…’?”, then after hearing its definition, the coinage of the word became perfectly clear and eminently reasonable to you?
Here are a few illustrations:
Mentionitis is sort of like name dropping, except that the name being dropped doesn’t have to be famous. I know someone with a serious case of name dropping. She’s always talking about her Nordstrom heir girlfriend or wealthy Blistex... or was it Chapstick? heir date (she prefers guys with fortunes, not just means). Believe it or not, Blistex guy actually gave her lip balm samples as gifts, and she accepted them! But whereas names being dropped can, and do, vary, the same name tends to come up with increasing and annoying frequency in mentionitis, which is most indicative of this affliction.
Mentionitis is frequently a form of flattery (to the person whose name is mentioned) and at the same time can be an unfavorable comparison or subtle put-down (to the person who hears the name being mentioned). For example, you notice your boyfriend finding every occasion and excuse to make overly complimentary remarks about another woman, which makes you wonder why he’s with you and not her in the first place. Not surprisingly, you later find out he’s always had a thing for her, and they’ve been together behind your back. This happened to Dean McDermott’s ex, when he left her for Tori Spelling. Read the full story here:
from The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal, featuring essays by Jane Smiley, Susan Cheever and others
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/805967.The_Other_Woman
Most love-struck people are guilty of mentionitis, especially in the beginning stage of their crush. When a person’s name (usually of the opposite sex) repeatedly comes up in conversations accompanied by admiration without basis, it’s definitely mentionitis! Mentionitis of this form can be self-cured, once the crush plays itself out and the sufferer falls back to reality.
All of us have contracted mentionitis at various times in our lives, and also experienced it second-hand watching our loved ones stumble through this affliction. It really is pretty harmless… you just have to realize that the only true medicine is to keep your enthusiasm under wraps and yourself in check as much as possible while the disease runs its course. :)
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