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Suppose, you and your friends are hanging out. One of your friends brings up a topic. Suddenly, a funny thing that has happened in the past, comes to your mind. what do you say? Do you say:

"I just remembered a funny thing...."

That sounds odd to me. That is why I'm asking the question. Which verb would you use?

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  • "It just came to me" // "I just remembered a funny thing...." isn't really wrong, but "funny thing" has the implication of either (1) being humorous, or (2) being an odd fact that diverges from the context. So "I just remembered that ... " is fine. – MaxW Oct 28 '15 at 2:30
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    As a native US English speaker, I think "I just remembered" sounds perfectly fine and unremarkable. It is probably what I would say myself. I don't think we have a single word specifically for "suddenly remembered". – stangdon Oct 28 '15 at 17:17
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    "It struck me just now that..." is an alternative. – Phylyp Mar 16 '17 at 19:37
  • We might also say, "I just remembered something funny (from the other day, etc.)." – Teacher KSHuang Mar 30 '17 at 11:16
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In American English it's common to start that kind of response with "It's funny, [...]". For example, if someone told you they found a hundred dollars on the street last week, you might say, "It's funny, me too!" A few other ways of opening stories are "This one time, ..." or "I remember this once, ..." These are all very colloquial examples but seem appropriate for the situation you described.

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