# Blurting Out Nonsense, Can you relate?



## Ellethwyn (Nov 2, 2014)

Sometimes... most of the time, when I'm talking to someone & they ask me questions, especially a lot of them, i start to panic and i blurt out answers that are not right, even though I know what is right or I say opposite to what i mean. Later on, I will obsess over how i gave them wrong info... sometimes i will find ways to bring it up again, so i can correct what i said originally. It's been 7 months since I had my nephew ( who is in his 20's) over and i blurted out ridiculous answers to his questions, but never got a chance to correct myself. It's driving me nuts. I've almost sent him an email, but that would really be so awkward. especially since it's been such a long time. How do I let it go? I fear he thinks i am stupid. Can anyone relate to this?


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## Malek (Oct 4, 2012)

Yes I relate. The nervousness and anxious thoughts cloud my mind when put on the spot and I feel like quite the fool. Sometimes I'll attempt to correct myself yet it's usually all in vain. Don't be too hard on yourself.


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## pentaxx1 (Nov 6, 2014)

Wow, that pretty much describes most of my conversations. Nervous babbling or saying the absolutely wrong thing at the wrong time, then obsessing about it for days.


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## Nothing123 (Oct 3, 2014)

Yeah i definitely do this. I find it hard to balance between babbling like a lunatic, and being too quiet.


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## eveningbat (Jan 21, 2013)

I blurt out nonsense when I am worried, usually.


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## HenDoggy (Jul 26, 2014)

yes, i tend to blurt out nonsense alot of the times especially when someones asking me for directions


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## Ellethwyn (Nov 2, 2014)

It sucks. 

It helps to know there are other people who do it too. 

I tend to keep to myself a lot b/c of it, even though I really am a chatterbox.


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## slowlyimproving (Jan 2, 2014)

Ellethwyn said:


> Sometimes... most of the time, when I'm talking to someone & they ask me questions, especially a lot of them, i start to panic and i blurt out answers that are not right, even though I know what is right or I say opposite to what i mean. Later on, I will obsess over how i gave them wrong info... sometimes i will find ways to bring it up again, so i can correct what i said originally. It's been 7 months since I had my nephew ( who is in his 20's) over and i blurted out ridiculous answers to his questions, but never got a chance to correct myself. It's driving me nuts. I've almost sent him an email, but that would really be so awkward. especially since it's been such a long time. How do I let it go? I fear he thinks i am stupid. Can anyone relate to this?


Blurting out incorrect information. I may accidentally leave something out (giving a false impression) or exaggerate. I hate when I do this. I will also obsess...for months!

I guess sometimes you just have to let it go but I want my statements to be accurate.


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## Ellethwyn (Nov 2, 2014)

slowlyimproving said:


> Blurting out incorrect information. I may *accidentally leave something out (giving a false impression) or exaggerate*. I hate when I do this. I will also obsess...for months!
> 
> I guess sometimes you just have to let it go but I want my statements to be accurate.


Yes! That is what I do too. I feel very misunderstood.


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## Post_Punk_Proclivity (Oct 12, 2008)

Often I have given false or misleading information when pressed for answers pertaining to my personal life or when asked about the plans I have over the next week or so in advance.

It's bothersome when you see the person again and they say, 'I thought you said you were doing such and such', and it's just really awkward and tense because you had absolutely no intention of lying directly to the person, even though they know irrefutably that you did for some reason unbeknownst to them.


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## Robot the Human (Aug 20, 2010)

Yes, and stress natrually causes us to panic when we feel there is a deadline of any sorts. Most conversations for me, or at least when it's my turn to talk, is like trying to complete one of these.










My brain thinks that if I don't give an answer soon, something bad will happen.


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## Silere (Oct 19, 2014)

That's pretty much the problem here, deadline. This was a real problem for me but I have improved on it.

What I now do when I feel this (which isn't so often now) is make my own deadline. I won't give the answer until I know it's truthful, even if it's frustratingly slow for the person I'm talking to, it's still better to be truthful than give an answer out of sheer panic or desperation. It isn't a game show, you make the rules.

Slow things down to your pace when necessary, when you're feeling that panic. And in future you might find that the panic will disappear and you will be able to answer quicker and more naturally.


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## twisty (Oct 31, 2014)

Silere said:


> That's pretty much the problem here, deadline. This was a real problem for me but I have improved on it.
> 
> What I now do when I feel this (which isn't so often now) is make my own deadline. I won't give the answer until I know it's truthful, even if it's frustratingly slow for the person I'm talking to, it's still better to be truthful than give an answer out of sheer panic or desperation. It isn't a game show, you make the rules.
> 
> Slow things down to your pace when necessary, when you're feeling that panic. And in future you might find that the panic will disappear and you will be able to answer quicker and more naturally.


This is great advice, thank you


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## Silere (Oct 19, 2014)

twisty said:


> This is great advice, thank you


You're welcome


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## jongle (Jul 26, 2013)

I can relate to this, I think there's a couple of factors at play:

1. eagerness to impress: maybe subconsciously you feel the clock ticking and think you have to come up with a witty comment immediately. maybe you're worried that if you pause to think it will come off as awkward but that's usually not the case. Maybe in the past you've paused to think about a response but the conversation moved on, that's ok, just keep it in the back of your head in case the topic comes up again. Sometimes you know you have something to say before you can find the words to say it and it's frustrating, but with practice you will get better at conversation. No need to be hard on yourself if you don't find the words in time, another opportunity will come up. 

2. eagerness to be right: I can relate to feeling guilty about giving wrong answers to questions. But it happens, in the heat of the moment, you can end up giving a wrong answer. If no one corrects you, then it doesn't matter. If it mattered someone would correct you, no need to correct yourself. Especially if the conversation has moved on, just let it go. Make a mental note not to make that mistake again. I too have agonized over this, it's helpful to remember that "facts" can usually be interpreted many ways, as can words. Maybe they interpreted your words to mean something entirely different to what you meant? This has happened to me a lot, and sometimes the interpretation they take is better for the conversation flow than the intended meaning I had, so I just adjust to it on the fly and no one needs to know we were ever talking about different things. Sometimes if you try to correct yourself, it actually leads to more confusion, not less. If they wanted you to clarify what you meant, they would say so.


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## Caledon (Nov 11, 2014)

Bunnymoo7 said:


> Yeah i definitely do this. I find it hard to balance between babbling like a lunatic, and being too quiet.


I am so guilty of this. People think I am attention seeking by doing either but I honestly can't get a nice balance, I start babbling to fill the silence then I realise what a fool I sound like so then I shut up entirely.


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## vastlimitless (Jun 25, 2014)

I can definitely relate - I get excited when people talk to me first and ask me questions that I think I know the answer to, but then I realize, 'oh god, someone is waiting for me to say something' and I either say the wrong thing or someone else cuts in and pushes me out of the conversation. I don't mind silence, but sometimes I want to talk to people and I don't know how, so I say the first thing that comes to mind. Usually it's a really stupid, random question (literally like 'what's your favorite color?'), or a terrible joke. I've learned not a lot of people appreciate my awkward sense of humor.


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## ade164 (Nov 21, 2014)

Wow, I am so happy that I am not alone. I try to explain how I'm feeling to my husband and he doesn't understand because he is a smooth talker. He is so smart. When I talk to someone I get nervous and can't think of an answer off the top of my head and I say something stupid. I am really intelligent. But my mind gets clouded easily when I'm stressed or anxious. And I'm frequently nervous.


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## Relz (Oct 31, 2011)

Yup. I babble & rant uselessly when I'm nervous. I even stumble when people ask me for my _name_. :no


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## DenpaOnna (Nov 22, 2014)

I have trouble putting sentences together and/or sometimes just say really dumb stuff that doesn't even make sense. I think it's gotten worse over the years too since I've been more isolated and not used to actually talking to other people in person anymore. I really prefer typing now, it gives me plenty of time to think about what I want to say and how it comes across.


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## Satoni (Aug 20, 2014)

jongle said:


> I can relate to this, I think there's a couple of factors at play:
> 
> 1. eagerness to impress: maybe subconsciously you feel the clock ticking and think you have to come up with a witty comment immediately. maybe you're worried that if you pause to think it will come off as awkward but that's usually not the case. Maybe in the past you've paused to think about a response but the conversation moved on, that's ok, just keep it in the back of your head in case the topic comes up again. Sometimes you know you have something to say before you can find the words to say it and it's frustrating, but with practice you will get better at conversation. No need to be hard on yourself if you don't find the words in time, another opportunity will come up.
> 
> 2. eagerness to be right: I can relate to feeling guilty about giving wrong answers to questions. But it happens, in the heat of the moment, you can end up giving a wrong answer. If no one corrects you, then it doesn't matter. If it mattered someone would correct you, no need to correct yourself. Especially if the conversation has moved on, just let it go. Make a mental note not to make that mistake again. I too have agonized over this, it's helpful to remember that "facts" can usually be interpreted many ways, as can words. Maybe they interpreted your words to mean something entirely different to what you meant? This has happened to me a lot, and sometimes the interpretation they take is better for the conversation flow than the intended meaning I had, so I just adjust to it on the fly and no one needs to know we were ever talking about different things. Sometimes if you try to correct yourself, it actually leads to more confusion, not less. If they wanted you to clarify what you meant, they would say so.


I can definitely relate to this, especially your no.1: I always feel the need to make a fast, witty comeback to something in a conversation so that I can make people laugh or impressed. But normally my brain isn't ready to put my words into order, so instead, I end up getting tongue-tied or people miss the joke...


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## SuperSaiyanGod (Jan 21, 2014)

When I too comfortable around someone, I sometimes blurt out asinine comments that make me sound like a tool. And yes, I sometimes have problems putting sentences together. I'm not used to having alot of social interaction, at it sometimes shows when I talk to people.


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## peachypeach (Oct 9, 2014)

i blurt out nonsense, mainly because i usually feel like i already have answers to all the other bs in life. so when some idiot comes to me complaining about their bf smoking dope, i feel like ***** slapping them for it.

So, I like to joke around a lot. Mainly because... of a lot of other shiz no one gets about me to begin with. I'm complicated is all I can say.


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## NG77 (Dec 4, 2014)

I. too, can relate to this, although it doesn't happen to me all the time. It depends who I'm talking to and what situation I'm in, but usually if someone I don't know very well asks me something in an environment where I'm supposed to be "on" like at work or an important social event, I get flustered and wrong words come out of my mouth.

The worst is when talking to a guy I'm attracted to though. Then this effect is multiplied by a thousand, and I stumble over my words. Either I clam up and pretty much say nothing, or I blabber on way longer than I should about something weird, and I can tell they are getting confused or don't know how to respond because I'm not portraying my ideas correctly. It's embarrassing


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## AnnieMay (Jun 14, 2011)

I had a little giggle to myself reading some of these because I thought I was alone in this and almost everything everyone has said I can identify with. Especially falsifying information and exaggerating because of the time pressure. I didn't even think this was SA related just my strange personality!


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