“To jog your memory”

Do you go jogging? These two people in the photo make it look so easy… running at a steady pace (“correndo a un ritmo costante”) next to a lake on a beautiful summer’s day! I think my jogging is more like fast walking!

• The words“ go jogging” are also used with the same meaning in Italian, right? “Fare jogging”

Jogging in English however has another meaning – to nudge (“dare una gomitata”) or knock something (“battere qualcosa”). This meaning is used in this week’s idiom. If we or someone else jogs our memory it is as though our memory receives a nudge or a knock and we remember something we had forgotten!

Here are some examples which as always are true experiences, or realistic situations in which we might use this idiom in our everyday lives.

• Hearing a particular piece of music always jogs my memory to when we were on a train travelling through Thailand and I was listening to my iPod.
• I couldn’t remember the name of the actor who was in that quirky film “Non ci restachepiangere” with Roberto Benigni, then the students jogged my memory and I remembered it was Massimo Troisi.
• “I don’t remember what he said, can you just jog my memory?”
• Looking at old photos always jogs my memory to what was happening in my life at that time.

Can you think of examples when someone or something has jogged your memory?

Have a great week!

The English Tree team