blacksundae

This AskMe question, and the resulting thread, make me feel so much better about myself:

As far as I am aware, I am a mentally healthy, well-adjusted, and sane person with no disorders. But I have a strange, fairly innocuous quirk which seems beyond my control and I’m curious about it…

When I think of / remember something embarrassing from my life, I compulsively make some kind of noise. It seems to happen unconsciously, before my censor can catch it and stop myself (it even happens when I am in a quiet or inappropriate place).

It’s not especially loud, in fact it’s often under my breath. The sound is usually just a quiet grunt, or a word/syllable or two. If I remember an embarrassing conversation, I tend to blurt out a random word of the conversation (as in, I’m replaying the dialogue in my head but then all the sudden one of the words pops out of my mouth). If it happens while I’m reading, I tend to blurt out one or two of the words that happen to be under my eyes at the moment.

It usually only happens when I’m remembering something palpably embarrassing or humiliating from my life — not for mild everyday kind of stuff. (Again, I had a fairly happy childhood and have nothing particularly traumatic in my past — I don’t think my embarrassing memories are any worse than the average joe’s)

So what is this, do I have some kind of low-grade tourette’s syndrome? Is there a name for this phenomenon? Does it happen to others or is it unique to me?

I do this all the time, and I’m very self-conscious about it. Based on the responses in the thread, I’m not alone at all! Read it!

…if there really is a veil.

DRAMATIC CHORD

Today I posted a link to MetaFilter about JAXA’s new HD footage of the Moon. In the resulting comment thread, MeFite hattifattener linked to a startling, and illuminating, page regarding the true nature, or lack thereof, of our so-called “Moon.” Startling, startling stuff.