I have a habit of beginning nearly any other thing with ‘So’.

  • Christian@lemmy.mlEnglish
    13·
    2 months ago

    I have a bunch of habits I don’t like with how I respond to things said to me verbally.

    For the longest time I thought I had bad hearing, always asking people to repeat things. At some point in the past few years I actuality started introspecting and realized that most of the time I have answers prepared by the time they’re done repeating themselves. My hearing is fine, but I have abnormally poor language processing.

    Often I react to things by intentionally misinterpreting in an innocuous way, things like that. I never really liked it but pretended it wasn’t a thing. It’s a subconsciously developed strategy for buying time. Also why I handle talking one-on-one much better than groups, once two people start talking to each other I get too far behind the conversation and keep thinking of the things I would have liked to have chimed in with thirty seconds ago.

    • Bob@feddit.nl
      5·
      2 months ago

      I did that a lot as a kid, as well as having to scratch e.g. my left arm if I’d just scratched my right arm. I had to put my first step on a new surface with my left foot and the last with my right, and I had a system of sort of aping something I’d just heard by grinding my teeth, which I still sort of do sometimes but only in my head because my teeth have grown in such a way that I can’t really do it any more.

    • 1hitsong@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 months ago

      I used to do something similar. If I touched something with my index finger, I had to touch it with my thumb.

      The most noticeable example was adjusting my car stereo. I’d press next several times, or volume up several times, then I’d press it one more time with my thumb.

    • MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca
      5·
      2 months ago

      I know a couple people who do this and their texts always seem far more dramatic and loaded than they mean.

      "Hey, thanks for doing x” - me

      " You’re welcome…" - them

      Uh oh - me internally.

    • Nytefyre@kbin.melroy.orgOP
      3·
      2 months ago

      Oh my god, yes.

      I’ve even talked with people who’re like;

      This…is an example sentence…just to tell you…something.

      Usually you see that with older people not used to texting or someone who’s first language is not english. But you see so many of that, it makes you wonder. I think they’re trying to make it look like they’re processing their thoughts as they’re typing?

      I don’t expect people to be Charles Dickens here, but jesus, I’d rather someone take their time getting a thought out than for me to see a poorly written draft of it.

    • Crotaro@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 months ago

      Oh hey, can you try to explain why you want to do that? I’m always confused by it because unless you mean to end on a dramatic pause, these are just regular sentences and those usually end on a period (or nothing/smiley, if you’re an internet person

      • Andrew@piefed.social
        3·
        2 months ago

        I think it’s just a desire to indicate some uncertainty about something (like - I’m not an expert, my opinion on whatever could change with time or new information). A full stop seems arrogant somehow.

        I realise it’s not a good impulse and mostly resist. Mostly …

        (that last one’s nothing to do with the above reasoning, it’s just a line from Aliens that’s stuck in my head).

        • Crotaro@beehaw.org
          2·
          2 months ago

          Thanks for the input, I know my reply is plenty late x.x

          I totally get the "a full stop seems arrogant, which is why, unless I write formal mails for work or such, just skip the full stop in short one-sentence-answers or if a linebreak makes for better reading because my two or three sentences pertain to different topics.

  • Lad@reddthat.com
    8·
    2 months ago

    Coughing when i don’t need to. It feels like a habit I developed as a means of giving me a second longer to think before I speak.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    4·
    2 months ago

    I tended to start things with oh. especially when asked a quesition. what time is it? oh its about 1pm. thing is im irish and a redhed and then people would ask my last name that does not begin with an O but sounds like it could.

  • saigot@lemmy.ca
    3·
    2 months ago

    Shaving my beard genuinely impacted my ability to think. Stroking it and running my hands through it really helps organize my thoughts

    • bruhSoulz@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      I find myself doing this often even tho my beard is a mockery of actual facial hair 😂 need more 😤

  • Alice@beehaw.org
    3·
    2 months ago

    I have a bad habit of ending sentences with “so”, mainly because I get that far before realizing the thong I’m about to explain is redundant.

    Maybe I’m your evil twin?

    • 667@lemmy.radioEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Join Toastmasters and they will (quite kindly) help you rid yourself of this in a few weeks.