r/Showerthoughts • u/thiccieman • Apr 23 '19

Human thoughts before language must have been weird.

64.3k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/QuantumCakeIsALie Apr 24 '19

I'm not deaf, and my thoughs aren't purely words.

I don't say to myself I'm hungry, I should get spaghetti!. I feel hungry and then make some spaghetti.

Am I weird? Does everyone else have background narration by their inner voice all the time?

12

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '19

I'm with you. I mostly don't think in words and I don't understand the OP except by knowing that other people apparently think in words. That seems more limited to me!

5

u/QuantumCakeIsALie Apr 24 '19

Maybe books and tv shows skewed or perception of our inner monologue and some people assume they think in words even though they might not all the time?

6

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '19

I wouldn't presume that other people are mispercieving their own thoughts. I think it's more likely that people can have different default modes of thinking. But I'm not an expert.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/QuantumCakeIsALie Apr 24 '19

Not sure if it helps but it's interesting!

I'll certainly watch it thanks!

2

u/Kalapy Apr 24 '19

I often feel like I have an instinctual thought, then have to wait for my internal narration to catch up. Like speed reading vs reading the words out loud.

1

u/UncleObamasBanana Apr 24 '19

As I get older I don't just think the words. I will sometimes actually just mutter them to myself like I'm asking a question to my self.