hurricane amnesia
n.— «I recently received a call from a columnist who had attended a trade show and Gov. Crist’s hurricane conference. He felt industry was using scare tactics to promote their products. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This is what I call “hurricane amnesia”—a condition where people forget the risks when time passes between storms.» —“Preparation is only cure for ‘hurricane amnesia’” by Dave Olmstead Palm Beach Post (Florida) July 1, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mona from Riverview, Florida, grew up understanding that the word schmooze, which comes from Yiddish, meant simply “to mingle and chat” at parties, but when she fondly referred to her friend as a schmoozer, the friend was insulted, assuming that a...
Katie in Tallahassee, Florida, saw a friend cooking with what she called a Scottish spurtle, a kitchen utensil that looks like a wooden dowel with a knob on the end, used to stir hot cereals and rice. Soon after, her husband saw an infomercial on...
having “hurricane amnesia” is a term I heard for the first time after Hurricane Ivan and became more and more pervasive between Ivan, the storms in between, and Hurrican Katrina. In fact, in many of the videos I have Produced, this term is referenced.