📘 Part 3: Losing things

This episode's vocabulary

Initially (adverb) - at the beginning.

To retrace (verb) - to go back over something, for example a path or a series of past actions.

Temperament (noun) - the part of your character that affects your moods and the way you behave.

To be prone to sth/do sth - likely to show a particular characteristic, usually a negative one, or to be affected by something bad, such as damage or an illness.

To have sth. on your plate (idiom) - to have something, usually a large amount of important work, to deal with.

To divert (verb) - to cause something or someone to change direction.

Inevitable (adj.) - certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented.

Rack (noun) - a frame or shelf, often formed of bars, that is used to hold things.

To incentivise (verb) - to make someone want to do something.

Inadvertently (adverb) - in a way that is not intentional.

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Questions and Answers

M: What do people often do when they lose things?

R: Well, try to find them? In most cases, it's not as initially hopeless as the one I described in my part two answer there. They retrace their steps, either mentally or physically, look for clues under various items of furniture, and they can ask for help. I mean, two sites of eyes is always better than one. Sometimes there's a place where people leave things. I went through a phase a few years ago of leaving my food in the fridge by accident, and I would find it there no worse for wear, but it was just a really unusual place to keep leaving something.

M: Why do some people worry more than others when they lose things?

R: Well, people can have varying temperaments and can be more sensitive or prone to worrying than others. They can also invest more emotional value in objects, and losing them can feel like losing part of themselves. They can have some sensitive information or, well, they could keep some sensitive information on whatever they lost as well.

M: What kinds of things do people usually lose?

R: Oh, keys always seem to be a big one for people, as do phones. It's ironic because we spend so much time with them in our hands or close to our person that it seems really unlikely that you would lose them. And yet people do.

M: What kinds of people may lose things often?

R: Well, ones that don't pay attention to what they're doing or where they're putting things, I suppose. If you have a lot on your plate, it's going to be more difficult to remember where everything is. So busy people can have difficulties in this respect too, I suppose.

M: Why is it easy to lose things?

R: There's so much going on that people need to pay attention to and they can so easily have their attention diverted by different things, that pretty much becomes inevitable that someone is going to lose something at some point.

M: How can people avoid losing things?

R: Well, lots of people have a set place for everything in their home, whether it's a key rack or a bowl for keys or other small things that you might need. Usually located close to the door so you can find it easily. Sometimes having a mental checklist or routine to go through every morning can also be handy because if something isn't where you need it in the routine, then you would notice it not being there very easily.

M: Is it an effective way to use rewards to find lost things?

R: Well, having never done it, I honestly wouldn't know. I imagine it would incentivise other people to care about what people had lost. But I'm not an expert in lost and found statistics, so I couldn't comment on how effective it is.

M: What can parents do to help children not lose things?

R: Setting a good example helps, at least initially. So the children can see their parents take measures to avoid losing things and then they can copy them. Similarly, parents can also help their children set up their own systems to avoid losing things. They already do inadvertently when they make them tidy their rooms.

M: What should people do to find what they lost?

R: Other than the things I've already mentioned? I'm not sure. The steps that they currently take already seem to be pretty effective. And if they weren't, then we would know because people would be losing things and the world would be much more unpleasant.

M: And what do people usually do when they find something valuable on the street?

R: That will depend on where you are and the kind of culture that you have. In most of the places where I've lived, most people take it to a police station or try to find the person. Usually they're nearby looking for it. So it's easy to find them.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your lovely answers!

R: No problem. Hopefully, no one got lost along the way!

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