Strange thoughts/ creative thoughts, who can tell the difference?

 I currently in long term care, doing enrichment activities. In addition to tasks obviously related to recreation, I also assist at meals. Some residents in our LTC home need help eating.

One resident who didn't need help was at his own table and asked for gravy with his lunch. The nurse, who was closest to the resident let him know this lunch didn't come with gravy.

I asked if we could "just add food colouring to ..." and I struggled a moment to think of something thick enough to replace the texture of gravy, before completing my thought with "milk of magnesia".

The nurse noted what a strange mind I have and how out of left field that combination was. He was surprised by it enough that I thought more about it. Here are some of those thoughts.

I don't use or administer milk of magnesia. I think it is either a laxative or at least some aid for people with constipation. I will look that up to confirmation before posting this.

I have a degree in science, with a minor in chemistry. I am quite aware of what magnesium is. Again, I will check to if milk of magnesia actually has any magnesium in it. But i mostly think of magnesium as firstly a metal that burns very hot and secondly as a mineral humans need. The medical uses for milk of magnesia are a distant third in my consciousness - well, until I look them up. Okay, enough stalling:

Milk of magnesia

List of Uses of Milk of Magnesia

Magnesium is an important element that acts as a catalyst in many life processes. In addition to photosynthesis, it is also required for the oxidation in animal cells that produce energy and for the production of healthy red blood cells. Humans cannot live without magnesium which we acquire mainly from various foods.

Milk of magnesia is like a creamy colloid form of magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2. It is used as an antacid to neutralise excess stomach acid. Magnesium can also be used in the form of Epsom salts as a treatment for rashes and as a laxative. A more important commercial use of Epsom salts is in the tanning of leather as well as in the dyeing of fabrics.

The important points here are that I knew the words milk of magnesia but I didn't have a strong association with it and laxatives.

And so because I didn't know much about it, only a little about it's texture as somewhat thicker than milk and perhaps similar to gravy, when I wanted a fluid with gravy-like textures it came to mind in ways it would not have to the nurse who attached more importance to its medical uses.

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One definition of creativity is the combining of two separate concepts in a new way. And my combining of two things normally not combined was possibly mostly due to my lack of knowledge about one of them.

I have a vague memory of a TV news clip or documentary show that featured an entrepreneur describing some of their work. He noted that he needed to do some new things and put money and effort into it even though he didn't know much about it. By the end of this project, which was successful but had many challenges, he said he now knew enough about the subject that he would never have proposed it in the first place if he knew then what knew now.

I don't know if this relates to the Dunning Kruger effect, not being aware of how much you are unaware of in a specific subject, but maybe. It may be that the Dunning Kruger effect is necessary for creative work, or at least helpful.