There could be a word for a man who talks to himself, a woman who talks to herself or even one who talks to oneself. Alternatively there could be a word for people who talk to themselves.
But if "one" talks to "them", it must be to somebody else.
I do not accept the modern practice, doubtless arising from spurious political correctness, of agreeing a singular noun or pronoun with a plural pronoun.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
I do not accept the modern practice, doubtless arising from spurious political correctness, of agreeing a singular noun or pronoun with a plural pronoun. ****************************************
I once worked in an area where the level of conversation was roughly that of your average Neanderthal, grunts, mono-syllabic semi-sentances etc. I was chastised for my annoying (to them, anyway) habit of talking to myself but, as I explained, it was my only outlet for intelligent conversation.
Morgan, I am pulling my hair out with this one because I know there is a word for it, but I can't find nor remember it! Grrrrr! I checked the Reverse Dictionary (which I have never found that helpful; does anyone know a good one?) to no avail. However, I did come across this word in the Grandiloquent Dictionary: "Autovoxiphillia" - Love of one's own voice I imagine that a person who talks to himself has "autovoxiphillia"!
Or similarly there is the fairly well-known Lily Tomlin line:
"Why is it that when we're talking to God we're devout but when He's talking to us we're schizophrenic?"
I also love the term "autovoxipillia" and assume, by extension, "autographiphillia" would be the love of one's own writing. I was in a poetry bar (Yes, "poetry bar"; we have them in St. Louis) once and a stranger asked me who my favorite writer was. Without missing a beat, I very honestly told him that I was. This wasn't meant to be as egotistic as it may sound since the creation of my own written words is far more enjoyable to me than the reading of someone else's.
Ever notice how it used to be that a person who wandered around talking to himself was assumed to be paranoid, whereas nowadays they're assumed to be using a cell phone?
quote:Originally posted by Kalleh: One thing we don't have to worry about with you, CJ, is lack of self confidence!
Tell me, are you an _autohagiographer_? I know you are _autolatric_
One of my favorite lines is "I have many faults but false modesty is not one of them." I, of course, wrote that line.
"Autohagiographer"? No, don't suppose so. With "hagiography" being a biographical Who's Who type collection of the lives of saints (and I didn't even have to look that one up!) I must admit that when I write about myself it is seldom in saintly terms. I'm not big into fiction.
But "autolatric"? Dictionary.com came up blank and so did I.
Wordnerd, isn't the word, "autodidact", meaning self-taught? Or, is yours yet another word?
I continue to pull my hair out on this one because I know that there is a word meaning talking to oneself. I have asked my psych contacts, to no avail. One colleague suggested "hallucinations" because the word means that a patient is responding to internal stimuli, in effect dreaming while awake, seeing and hearing things not in his environment. So a patient talking back to his voices is a special kind of talking to himself. Then of course there are the alcoholics with DTs (delerium tremors) who talk to "the bugs and worms on the walls". Yet, I know there is another, more specific, term for this! Grrrrrr!
Does anyone know what the Greeks call Demosthenes' overcoming his stammer by practicing his orations for extended periods? Perhaps that's a clue here?
PS to CJ: from the online Grandiloquent Dictionary, "autolatry" means worship of oneself, and I just made it into an adjective.
quote:Originally posted by Kalleh: PS to CJ: from the online Grandiloquent Dictionary, "autolatry" means worship of oneself, and I just made it into an adjective.
To be perfectly honest, I don't worship myself. It's just that I'm mildly miffed when others don't as well.
quote:Originally posted by Morgan: Is there a word for one who talks to themselves?
The AHD (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=soliloquize&r=3) defines soliloquize as "To utter a soliloquy; to talk to one's self." Hence soliloquist or soliloquizer would be a person who talks to himself (or herself). It gives monologuize as a synonym, but that's too much of a tongue-twister for me. I'll stick with soliloquist. Sounds like a ventriloquist without the dummy. Or is it a ventriloquist who's is his own dummy?
Yes, actually someone suggested both those words to me, but somehow they don't work for me; they seem too planned. I think there is a word for that incessant talking to oneself that you see with psych patients (and once in awhile Kalleh!). Perhaps I am wrong, though, because I have looked everywhere and asked all my psych colleagues, coming up with nada.
quote:Originally posted by Morgan: Is there a word for one who talks to themselves?
The AHD (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=soliloquize&r=3) defines soliloquize as "To utter a soliloquy; to talk to one's self." Hence soliloquist or soliloquizer would be a person who talks to himself (or herself). It gives monologuize as a synonym, but that's too much of a tongue-twister for me. I'll stick with soliloquist. It sounds like a ventriloquist without the dummy. Or is it a ventriloquist who is his own dummy?
Well, Tinman, I am still convinced that there is another term for this. And--I lay low, but I continue searching (hence, my recent "sparks" post)!
I found a marvelous word site where the person who runs it asks people to email him questions about words, so I posed this one to him. I also subtly invited him to this forum.
PS I am confused about your double post? Or did I miss something?
PS I am confused about your double post? *************************************** One often puts up two posts so one can put a gate in between. Does that help?
quote: PS I am confused about your double post? *************************************** One often puts up two posts so one can put a gate in between. Does that help?
Oh, thank you so very much, Asa! That really clears things up for us!
Posts: 1412 | Location: Buffalo, NY, United States
That really clears things up for us! **************************************** This does not imply that we want to fence Tinman in; rather, we wish to grant him free range.
BTW, Tinman, just how does Puget sound? And what well-known wordsmith was born in the little town of Oysterville (sounds like a Yiddish speaking community!) Washington?
quote:Originally posted by Kalleh: And--I lay low, but I continue searching...
Shouldn't that be "I lie low"? PS I am confused about your double post? Or did I miss something? [/QUOTE] I didn't intend to double-post. I screwed up. Sorry.
quote:Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy: That really clears things up for us! **************************************** This does not imply that we want to fence Tinman in; rather, we wish to grant him free range.
BTW, Tinman, just how does Puget sound? And what well-known wordsmith was born in the little town of Oysterville (sounds like a Yiddish speaking community!) Washington?
Tinman, you are grammatically correct. However, I was basing my post on a favorite folk tale of mine--Tar-Baby. "Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nothin', en Brer Fox, he lay low..." I do expect everyone here to read my mind, of course!
Well, here is the answer I got from that German site for talking to oneself: "Talking to oneself" in German means "Selbstgespräche führen" ("to lead self-converstions"). Now, on the one hand, I wouldn't want to use that term in daily conversations. Yet, I do love the idea of self conversations. Now, that is just what we were talking about.
As long as I was asking questions, I asked whether "torschusslpanik" could be used for that last-minute Christmas shopping frenzy. The person replying said that she would get right on it!
Kalleh, your "Tar Baby" link says that the author was "Chandler Harris". That's a mistake -- it was Joel Chandler Harris, from his collection "Legends of the Old Plantation" (1881).
The Tar Baby story ends with Brer Rabbit in dreadful peril, but another Harris site includes the next story, showing how he used his wits to escape. The link I gave is a general and interesting Harris site, showing the original illustrations. To find several of the "Old Plantation" stories, including the one's I've talked about here, click the site's "Songs and Sayings" link.
Some years ago I was reading Lysistrata, in translation of course. The translator, to portray the Spartans as uncultured rubes as in the original, had them speak in crude dialect -- and being a British translator, he chose Scottish dialect.
To me, the Scottish dialect was almost incomprehensible. And yet once I have little difficulty following the dialect from the old US south, in the Joel Chandler Harris stories, once I pick up the rhythm. Perhaps this is just an inate "semi-familiarity", from growing up in this country.
Question: Is that Harris dialect difficult for Brits to follow?
