I need an ultrasonic wave for my soup : why words don't stick

[outcast]

So in Chinese I have no problems remembering 超声波, but for the life of me never remember 匙（子）. I know 勺子 is also used. You all can guess which is which from the title.

That's not the point, why do I remember such a useless word (well no word is useless and nothing personal, Professor Ultrasonic wave, but my life can be saved more times by Mr. Spoon), and can't remember such a basic one? This has happened in all the languages I have learned, and to me it's a mystery why.

I will assume this happens to others, if not, great! I know I need to go see a shrink. But tongue and cheek aside, why does this happen? Has there ever been any expert or study that has even tried to tackle this part of word acquisition? Is it even possible to study or measure? But anyway, I wanted to see if anyone here had (unscientific) opinions about this phenomenon.

[tarvos]

You seem to not see the words in their normal context enough. Probably you have more contexts in which you needed to use the word "ultrasonic" than "spoon". Eat out with Chinese people more.

[solocricket]

Maybe it's because ultrasonic is a super cool word and spoon is terribly boring

[Serpent]

Yeah, this. We tend to remember fun facts more easily than historical events too (unless we can get some fun stories related to them). I used to hate this kind of concrete vocab until I discovered the game Criminal case.