Wrong Words


Today I went to lunch with a few people from work. One of the guys was talking about some topic but using the wrong words to describe what he was talking about. We were joking about it when he said he thinks this has something to do with his dyslexia. Then I realized, I do it too! I do it all the time! I’m talking knowing perfectly well what I mean and what I’m saying but I’m using the wrong word so everyone around me who doesn’t know me thinks I’m out of my mind. This discussion is a little abstract so let me try to give an example.

“I just love the flame-broiled hamburgers from McDonald’s.” Everybody would think I lost my mind McDonald’s doesn’t make Flame-broiled hamburgers Burger King does. The funniest thing is I thought I was talking about Burger King the whole time. I never realized I said McDonald’s. I never even thought about McDonald’s. McDonald’s was just the word my brain grabbed to say when I was thinking about Burger King.

Now I owe the above example to my friend because he used it to explain what he thought but as I said this happens to me all the time. I suspect that the reason for the mix-up has to do with how our brains associate meanings to words and how we categorize the words in our brain’s filing system. Anyway, it’s always neat to learn something about yourself.


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