It's the first of January 2026. You wear your t-shirt with the VHS cover art for 1992's 'Passenger 57' on it. You bump into an old friend you haven't seen in 10 years, let's call him Sebastian McGillicuddy. You chit chat, he compliments your objectively awesome t-shirt, then you part ways, expecting to never see him again.

It's the third of February 2026. You decide that it's time to break out the Passenger 57 shirt again, because you haven't worn it since the first of January. You somehow bump into Sebastian McGillicuddy again. You now think "dammit, Sebastian McGillicuddy must think I have one fuckin' shirt and that I wear it every day like a fuckin' madman".

What's the word for that? How do you refer to it without having to type out paragraphs of text like I did above? "Oh yeah, bumped into Sebastian McGillicuddy the other day, had a moment of [word] with him lol, hate when that happens".

P.S. FUCK Sebastian McGillicuddy.

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[–] 36 points 9 months ago (1 child)

Zufallsbegegnung, chance encounter, is as close as we can get to it, I think. Germans don't dress to impress. Look at us. I mean, look at us. Norm core to the max. If you are caught wearing the same shirt twice on different days, people tend to think you are merely handling limited resources responsibly.

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    That sucks the first time.
    But you get over it.

    I have 15 identical black t-shirts.
    When somone asks, "Do you only have one shirt?"
    I reply "Yah! It's so comfortable I got 15 of them!"

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    This is me too. All the same t-shirts, pants, shoes (four pairs go to the cobbler for repair while one remains in use), socks, underwear. Getting dressed in the morning is zero-thought and always comfortable. My daily kit always fits on my person and I never have to fumble for anything. Pants repairs are consistent since they all wear out exactly the same way. The cobbler loves my repairs because it's the same patterns for four left and four right shoes (just one pattern flipped).

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago

    The word is "coincidence."

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    I don't have a word for this, but:

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I can make up a compound word in Swedish for you. Osannolikhetsförlägenhet. Osannolik means improbable. Förlägenhet here means an embarrassing situation. So the word would mean something along improbability-embarrassment-situation.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    I hate that. So much so, that when I do get a chance to see my friends I haven't seen in a while, I always try to remember what I wore last time and avoid it.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    Does the word need to convey "Passenger 57" and "MacGillicuddy" too?

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    I didn't find a word that on its own echos this exact situation. However if you leave out the details, you won't need a lot of words either, e.g.:

    Oh yeah, awkward coincidence the other day — I ran into Sebastian McGillicuddy wearing the same T-shirt as last time lol. Hate when that happens.

    But it's certainly a more interesting and vivid story with the details you gave us. Much like Michael McGillicuddy's infamous 'Genesis of McGillicutty' promo :)

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Also not what you're looking for, but it may scratch some of the itch: déjà vu

    That is, (you think) you're inducing a sense of déjà vu and disgust within Sebastian.

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