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I was thinking to myself, how an English native speaker might act when goes blank about something that was about to say?

Take this conversation as an example:

Eric: Did you notice what happened when you came to the class?

Tim: Nah, I have no idea.

Eric: uh...er... it just slipped my mind... er ...[here's the action, when he's trying to remember but nothing comes up]

Obviously it's a hypothetical situation, but I want to know what kind of actions might be taken by Eric and what additional things he might say when he keeps trying to remember but he still doesn't?

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  • I can't remember or I forgot what I was going to say.
    – Alan Carmack
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 13:59

1 Answer 1

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These expressions are used regularly:

My mind's gone blank

Just a minute, it's on the tip of my tongue

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    Or maybe it's slipped my mind.
    – stangdon
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 12:08
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    "on the tip of my tongue" is commonly understood to mean you had not been able to recall something in the first place, but feel that recall should be possible and may happen soon. "My mind's gone blank" means you knew it then suddenly forgot, whether or not you'll be able to recall it. Personally I would go with a variation of the comment above: "Hold on, I forgot what I was going to say...uhh" then stall in the hopes that I'll remember before the other person speaks again.
    – Darren Ringer
    Commented Jun 14, 2017 at 20:24

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