So, lately, at 41, I notice I will insert a word into a normal conversation that is not even close to the word that fits. Like instead of boat the other day I said sandwich. I told my kids to put on their tennis shoes and sneakers (rather than socks). That one is not quite as bad, obviously. I type words like “with” instead of “wish”. Not through typos, just not getting the right word down. There are multiple other examples, but I cannot recall them at the moment.
I guess it is that my brain is still thinking relatively fast, but its signals to my mouth are growing more faint or slow. After I do this, I look at my kids or co-workers and say, “What the heck (hell, depending on the audience) was that”. At which point, everyone gets a hearty laugh out of it. I laugh with them and will until I start saying “shit” instead of “ice cream”.
You’re probably having mini-strokes. Go see a doctor. Simply being old doesn’t make you say sandwich instead of boat (unless of course your brain is thinking of subs).
My wife does this as well. Not sure what it is. She’ll just randomly call things the wrong word entirely. She knows what she means and in her head, at the time, it makes perfect sense. It’s odd. I think she’s going to be an interesting old lady. :)
I’ve done that my whole life Tyjenks. For me it’s a nervous/stress thing. I’ll start talking faster while furiously trying to think ahead or of something else at the same time and suddenly nonsense will start interjecting itself into my sentences. I’ll either drop words or add inappropriate ones. When I was younger I’d get deeply embarrassed about it but nowadays I just smile and take a deep breath and recover gracefully.
Interesting. Glad you have grown accustomed to it, though.
I think some of it is just weariness and being overwhelmed by stuff at times. Often I am doing 3 things at once when it happens and also thinking about work or an attractive woman at work (kidding, of course).
I do this too, mainly when I’m tired or pre-occupied. It’s a concentration issue I suppose, where my mind starts to wander before I finish my sentance.
You’re not old @ 41. You’d have to wrest that title away from me, and I know people would take it away from me.
You’re welcome to explore this with your GP, a neurologist or someone who might have some valid input, but, I don’t know that, based on what you shared, it’s really something to worry about. If you start having other lapses that have serious consequences (oh, I don’t know, like, you drive your kids somewhere and then find out they aren’t even in the car with you), then I’d be more concerned. We all have a tendency to get self obsessive about our behaviors and changes therein (which is fine to a degree, but needless worry isn’t helpful, our lives are consumed with worrying and angst as it is).
Have some fun with it. Just last week I came to work and forgot to put my belt on, which isn’t really the look you are going for in a business professional environment. Big deal. It happens, maybe once a year. I doubt I am experiencing early onset Alzheimers, because I play a lot of games to combat that! Reminds me of the time I took the train home, went to where I park my car and said “Who stole my frikkin’ car!?!” About ten seconds later I remembered I had driven downtown that day and left my car in the garage downtown. I love it when I turn out to be an idiot, or a villain, irl. I love that story (and I have only done that one other time in 25 years of commuting downtown).
Kids say the darndest things. Roll with it, youngster!
I’m with Nixxter - not anything to worry about unless it involves something serious. Stress, lack of good sleep, increased distractions, and various other issues can cause what you’re experiencing and are far more likely than any neurological problems. And from your age and mentioning you have kids makes me think you’ve got teens - that’s a major enough life event as it is.
Well, It’s notta Toomah. I am not too worried. I do have a GP appointment so I’ll run it by him.
I waited and had kids. So mine are 10 and 5. However, I am pre-worrying about when they start dating as they are both girls and I have watched too much Friday Night Lights.
I really do not feel old except that I am now in a job where people are working under me and they are all in their late mid 20’s through early 30’s. When you are used to being the youngest (which I was in my last job) it is a weird adjustment. My sense of humor has not appropriately matured so I am more treated as one of the group. So that part is good…and bad if I get myself into trouble.
I say the meaning of things backwards and it drives me up a wall. Drop a “not”, say right instead of left, or hate instead of like, ect. Only seems to happen when i let my mind slip and not deliberately think about speaking/writing though.
I’m 38 and I’ve been doing this, word switching when talking, for years. Figured it was thinking faster than I was able to talk. In the back of my mind I sort of attributed it to the 5-6 year blackout period known as college and post adolesence.
However short term memory is and shall ever be a bitch.
But recently I’m forgetting names of things I used to be able to pop right out. Actors names when I can cleary see thier face and roles and name the movies they have been in, just can not be recall the name no matter how much I struggle.
Crosswords are a little more difficult these days even though I am in the pop culture sweet spot for most of them, but I think that may just be a case of eroding skill than memory problems. Maybe I should go back to daily crosswords to see if I can still pull it together on the weekends.
Dude, don’t even get me started. I work in a small office and (in my 40s) I’m the youngin. There are guys in their 50s and 60s and I can’t get a word in edgewise when it comes to complaints.
If I ever open my mouth about experiencing a physical or mental ‘senior moment’ of my own I am subjected to one tale after another which basically boil down to “you ain’t seen nuthin yet, sonny”.
Yes. This too. I used to be great with this sort of thing. About all I can do now is if my wife thinks it is someone, gives me the name, I can say “no, it’s not that guy”. The actual name…no go. Band names, all sorts off things drop right out.
I think we are called on to keep up with more and more stuff, our brains get full and some of it just gets overwritten.
