People who talk to themselves (???)
edith head
5,106 Posts
what is this? i once in a while talk to myself alone but it's usually one or two words like "GODDAMNIT!!" but i hear people at my work always talking to themselves under their breath. my cube neighbor is always whispering things to herself while working and it makes me nervous like she is gonna snap. she is always so stressed out and whispering to herself. i used to have a roommate a long time ago that had whole conversations with himself when he thought noone was home.what the hell is this? help me understand 
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But now with this Blue Tooth phone in the ear bullshit it's hard to figure out who's a nut and who's just on the phone!!!
a self-talker. Some pick it up in childhood - "only
children" who spend hours at play with imaginary friends can
maintain the habit later in life ... one of the most common
causes of self-talking is from child-rearing. Moms will spend
entire days "talking to" their infants who can not respond or,
even if they are able to speak, have no idea what their Mom
is talking about. For example, most Mothers will talk away
to their child about what tasks need to be done that day -
"oh, goodness, I need to go grocery shopping and take the
cat to the vet - where will we find the time, Junior?"
By the time Junior is grown and off in school and Mom is
spending her days alone, she is far too accustomed to talking
without expecting a response to give it up now...
Sometimes your the only one that can really listen to yourself.
We have a male administrative assistant who talks to himself incessantly. He's good at what he does (copying test, documents, and such), but he sort of creeps me out. He sounds annoyed in his self-rants. Mistakenly, I called him "Jimbo" once to which he replied, "Don't call me that. I don't like it when people call me Jimbo." Oops, I sure don't want to annoy dude cause he comes across as potentially "postal". He reminds me of that herb-ish dude in "Office Space."
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
ok actually i do this too and it is embarassing. sometimes i clap my hands in front of the tv like i am at an actual game.
what soulonice posted makes a lot of sense to me. i just can't tell with my co-worker cause she always seems like she's gonna explode when she's having some technical problem. the whispering i hear when she is in the ladies room too it makes me want to get the hell out of there fast. i do find it odd and it makes me nervous cause i can't actually hear what she's saying. it's just whispering. i just can't tell what is "normal" self-talking and what might be considered early stages of schizophrenia
I do this sometimes when I'm alone. I don't really hold a conversation with myself or anything (though if I did, it would be because talking to myself is the only way to have an intelligent conversation--ha cha!)...it's more like I think out loud. Or I actually start speaking my internal monologue. Something like that.
said it was good for building his vocabulary. Given that he's a really good rapper
(and an only child), I'm all for it.
Man, that sounds really weird, doesn't it?
i also worked with a woman who talked to herself in the ladies room. she was the big boss and a bit hyper and totally overworked. i think one of the ways she kept on tops of things was to talk herself through it...out loud...on the toilet...
My brother turned around and said, "What?"
They guy looked at him and said, "I wasn't talking to you."
then as he walked away, my brother heard him say, "I wasn't even talking to him."
one time my brother must have hit some buttons by accident on his phone when he was driving and he called me by accident. I picked up and heard him having a long conversation with himself. He's always talked to himself, but I don't think he's crazy. Talking to yourself can be a more constructive way of thinking becuase it forces your thoughts to be linear.
so what was she saying?
maybe she was talking to her poops.
it wasn't that audible and you know, i didn't put my ear to the stall door or anything lol, but it did sound like she was going through her schedule, that kind of thing.
it was probably the only time she had to herself - she was one of those super-mom/super-execs that came up in the 80's.
edit - i didn't mean out loud like top volume, but as in not in her head...
I sometimes talk to myself but usually only a phrase or two, and I find that I usually do it to make a thought more real and in some sense to get it out of my head because it was looping around in my mind for some time.
I would be willing to bet that some people (like your co-worker) might talk to themselves if they feel small, or shy, or powerless much of the time and talking to themselves is the only way to release some of the energy and emotions and thoughts that they constantly have building inside them because they often do not vocalize their thoughts to others.
"Next stop, Washington. Doors open to the left."
"WE HEARD IT ALREADY! WHY YA GOTTA SAY IT! WE'LL FIND OUT WHEN WE GET THERE!"
Bad enough once, but he did this for EVERY SINGLE STOP.
The only thing that topped him was the 'roided out bodybuilder across from me who was wearing a t-shirt that said "WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW."