los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might have forgotten completely if someone hadn’t happened to mention them again – friends of friends, people you once shared classes with, people you heard stories about, who you didn’t know well but who still made up the fabric of your intense little community – making you wonder who else might be out there somewhere, only just remembering that you exist.

I have a lot of los vivados in my life. I’m old (late 50s), so high school and college were a long time ago. This is one thing I love about Facebook and Instagram is that I’ll get a memory, a glimpse of the past, of someone I knew, but not well. A post by someone closer leads me to the los vivados of my life.

I had this recently at a Redgate event. Someone came up to me and the face was familiar, but I didn’t recognize them or their name. However, they reminded me we’d met years ago at an event and had a chat.

I might be more memorable since I speak often, but I’m sure there are people how there who barely remember me, or remember something I’ve said/written, but don’t know the name.

I think los vivados exist for all of us, mostly because of the faulty human memory.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows