For the unfamiliar, the frequency illusion is the phenomenon where you notice or learn something for the first time, and then feel like you're seeing or hearing it everywhere. The "Baader-Meinhof" name comes not from the person who discovered it, but rather from one of the first people to comment on it; back in 1994, someone named Terry Mullen wrote to his local paper, Twin Cities, and coined the phrase after learning of a German terrorist group (called Baader-Meinhof, obviously), then hearing it mentioned again within a day of his first learning it.

The recency illusion is closely related. In this instance, you learn a new term and assume that because you have not heard it before, it only came into general use recently, when this, more often than not, is not actually the case.

Thing is, Internet meme culture and Brands being desperate to latch on to every bit of silly vernacular the world likes to use when speaking casually (viz. McDonalds and McVities describing wraps and variants of chocolate Digestives respectively as "the (flavour) one", M&S proudly promising "picky bits" instead of having a delicatessen) means that these days it's actually  very difficult to judge if you are actually experiencing frequency or recency bias, or if you're just encountering the latest "viral" (ugh) trend to be monetised out the wazoo.

I have two recent (natch) examples: "hot honey" as a flavour, and the phrase "life-changing".

I first noticed hot honey on a recent trip to Aldi. Andie and I had just had a trip to Ikea (fun!) and on the way back we had stopped to grab some groceries. I didn't pick up the hot honey, but I made a mental note that it might be nice to try — particularly in an Asian-inspired sticky beef recipe that I like to make semi-regularly. ("Hot honey", if it wasn't already apparent, is not honey that has been heated, but rather honey with a kick of chilli in it.)

Imagine my surprise, then, when stopping by Sainsbury's to pick up some new suitcases to replace the one Oliver the cat did a wee in and on (don't ask), there was a prominent advertisement outside for a new flavour of Jaffa Cakes. That flavour? German terrorism. No, I jest, of course it was hot honey.

This naturally made me wonder if hot honey is really a recent trend (and if it originated on TikTok I am going to be very upset) or if I had just happened to notice it recently.

As for "life-changing", this obviously isn't a new phrase or one I learned recently, but I do feel like it's come up a lot of late. I did the lottery the other day, and it promised the opportunity to win a "life-changing" amount of money. Not unreasonable or inaccurate. Then when I watched Destination X the other day, the £100,000 prize was described as "life-changing" (call me greedy if you want, but I feel like £100K isn't as "life-changing" as it used to be). The radio station Absolute Radio has a weekly competition called Make Me A Winner where the "life-changing" amount of prize money appears to go up a bit each week. And, stepping away from the fiscal side of things for a moment, a warning sign I noticed on the London Underground today warned that the electrified rails could cause "life-changing" injuries.

Now, I know what you're thinking: all of those would seem to be perfectly valid uses of "life-changing". And I agree! I just found it odd that I noticed so many of them so frequently, so recently, and I honestly can't determine if the phrase is actually being used more right now, or if it's just a big coincidence.

The London Underground one also struck me as a bit weird. As a phrase, "life-changing" tends to have positive connotations in my experience — often relating to money, as seen above. But I don't feel like the injuries you would sustain from licking the live rail at Cockfosters would be akin to a Lottery win. Assuming you survive the experience, perhaps the compensation would be. I don't know.

Anyway, that was your pointless I'm In A Hotel thought for the month. I will now bid you good night to play some NeoGeo, read some Jane Eyre and maybe even get some sleep. Adieu!

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The post #oneaday Day 424: Baader-Meinhof's life-changing hot honey appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.