Forgettery

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A place or receptacle where forgotten things or memories are stored or left behind
2. An area or container used to hold items or thoughts that have been forgotten or abandoned
3. A location designated for the storage of neglected or overlooked objects or recollections

Etymology: "Forgettery" is a blend of "forget" and "memory," two English words that were joined to name a place where things are put away and left behind. The blend works by merging the start of one word with the end of the other: "forg-" from "forget" fuses with "-ettery," a sound borrowed from "-ery" endings that name places, as in "bakery" or "nunnery," so the result reads as a storehouse of forgetting. The coinage is playful rather than technical. Its meaning covers both physical neglect, such as the drawer of misplaced objects, and mental neglect, such as the corners of the mind where old memories settle. Because the word is a deliberate blend rather than an inherited term, its pieces are easy to see, and the joke lies in the combination: a place built for memory that is also a place for letting things go.