The frequent description of tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states as subthreshold memory traces is challenged by data showing that TOT genesis and TOT recovery are distinct processes. While encoding strategy is a strong predictor of TOT activity in paired-associate forgetting as compared to several estimates of response strength, neither factor influences the order in which hints cue retrieval. It is concluded that TOTs represent a failure of decoding processes in mediated retrieval. (18pp.)