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[Fi] Why do I say stupid things?

xNFJiminy

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Oct 6, 2007
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108
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xNFJ
Examples:

I: (While learning to cook) How do you get the filling in a pie? Some kind of pump through a hole?
Mum: You put it in the base before putting the lid on. Everyone knows that!
I: Pies have two halves? Seems so obvious now I know.

Stranger: (Looking around, having tried to open a door, and announced that it's locked) How does he usually open it?
I: (Chirpily) With a key!
Stranger: Um... I know, I mean where does he get it from?

I: (When there's a power cut and pitch blackness shortly before a stunt show's due to start) I hope they don't do it now; it would be too dangerous in the dark.
Father: Of course they wouldn't - no one could see it!

It seems to get worse.

Is this simple inexperience? Do I just need to put the books away and get out more?! I'm thinking, probably a combination of that and something else. I suspect it's related to my type. Or rather I hope it is and I'm not just unrectifiably stupid. I've got a few theories but I want to know what people here think. Is there a particular function or combination I'm not engaging at the right time, or a function that doesn't belong getting in there? Are my thoughts going slower than other people's? My movements do; it'd be consistent. Am I jumping from the inner world to the outer world so quickly my mind doesn't adjust in time? I'm not sure what to do about it or if there's anything I can do. Keep my head down and mouth shut whenever good impressions matter? :D

Does anyone else do this?
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
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Sometimes I do it on purpose.
 

Athenian200

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Just listen to this conversation I once had with someone.

Teenager: What's up, fool?

Me: The opposite of down. That way. *pointing to the ceiling* And how do you have the gall to call me a fool when you're the one who doesn't even know what "up" is?!?
 

Kyrielle

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Or this one:

Me: (waving my brother over) "Come into the water."
Brother: "Did you just say 'come into the water?'"
Me: "What? What water? What are you talking about? I said 'Come into the light!'"

Or:

Me: (staring blankly at a copier) "So where does the paper come from?"

Of course I knew the answer to that one, it just hadn't occurred to me yet.

I think these moments of saying stupid stuff come from a case of serious lag on the brain's servers.
 

Kiddo

Furry Critter with Claws
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Sep 25, 2007
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OMNi
Because we are too busy thinking about things that don't actually exist.

Isn't that like...the definition of imagination?


I've had some weird ones. :blush: Usually it happens to me when I've been doing some repetitive task for a prolonged period of time and am then required to shift gears to talk to someone.

Trucker: You know what I'm here for? *has a towel over his shoulder*
Me: To buy a Popsicle?
Trucker: No, to take a shower! Are you being a smartass?

Talking about water, this one is a classic...and I still get teased for it.

Jock Buddy: You need to drink more water dude.
Me: You realize that a lot of people die from drinking too much water.
Jock Buddy: Oh? How many people?
Me: Thousands of people every year!
Jock Buddy: Thousands of people die every year from drinking to much water?
Me: Huh? No, thousands of athletes die every year from drinking too much.
Jock Buddy: What? You said thousands of people die from drinking too much water.
Me: Athletes are people.
 

INTJMom

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...Talking about water, this one is a classic...and I still get teased for it.

Jock Buddy: You need to drink more water dude.
Me: You realize that a lot of people die from drinking too much water.
Jock Buddy: Oh? How many people?
Me: Thousands of people every year!
Jock Buddy: Thousands of people die every year from drinking to much water?
Me: Huh? No, thousands of athletes die every year from drinking too much.
Jock Buddy: What? You said thousands of people die from drinking too much water.
Me: Athletes are people.
I don't see anything wrong with this conversation.:blush:
 

Metamorphosis

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Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
3,474
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INTJ
It annoys me greatly when someone can't recall what they were talking about less than a minute ago. This is even worse when a conversation stops for like 30 seconds, and then I'll pick it up where we left off. If the other person is totally clueless to what I'm talking about...I get frustrated.
 

xNFJiminy

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Oct 6, 2007
Messages
108
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I typed up a response before running out of time yesterday, and saved it in my sister's user area... which I now can't access. :doh: Can't remember what I wrote but I'll try to get it back and posted soon. :)
 

INTJMom

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Examples:

I: (While learning to cook) How do you get the filling in a pie? Some kind of pump through a hole?
Mum: You put it in the base before putting the lid on. Everyone knows that!
I: Pies have two halves? Seems so obvious now I know.

Stranger: (Looking around, having tried to open a door, and announced that it's locked) How does he usually open it?
I: (Chirpily) With a key!
Stranger: Um... I know, I mean where does he get it from?

I: (When there's a power cut and pitch blackness shortly before a stunt show's due to start) I hope they don't do it now; it would be too dangerous in the dark.
Father: Of course they wouldn't - no one could see it!

It seems to get worse.

Is this simple inexperience? Do I just need to put the books away and get out more?! I'm thinking, probably a combination of that and something else. I suspect it's related to my type. Or rather I hope it is and I'm not just unrectifiably stupid. I've got a few theories but I want to know what people here think. Is there a particular function or combination I'm not engaging at the right time, or a function that doesn't belong getting in there? Are my thoughts going slower than other people's? My movements do; it'd be consistent. Am I jumping from the inner world to the outer world so quickly my mind doesn't adjust in time? I'm not sure what to do about it or if there's anything I can do. Keep my head down and mouth shut whenever good impressions matter? :D

Does anyone else do this?
You're not stupid; you're highly intelligent.
You're just not "S".

You could think of something ahead of time to say - instead of blurting - that would make you appear smart until they said something first.

Like you could say, "Hmmm."
Then they would say something else, which would hone down the playing field, and then your brain would have less possibilities to choose from.
 

Kyrielle

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It annoys me greatly when someone can't recall what they were talking about less than a minute ago. This is even worse when a conversation stops for like 30 seconds, and then I'll pick it up where we left off. If the other person is totally clueless to what I'm talking about...I get frustrated.

Oh you would hate me then. ;) That happens to me all the time and my friends just sort of chuckle at my sudden mental train derailment. I have no idea how it happens. I just know that suddenly, without warning, whatever thought I was trying to express disappears utterly. It's so incredibly embarrassing, because I need a lot of reminding of what we were talking about before I can find my train of thought again. However, I won't be lost if you continue the conversation. I'll just be frustrated because I was in the middle of making a point and my brain rudely interrupted itself.
 

xNFJiminy

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Meh. I'll not bother finding it now. Think I'll cover what I was going to say anyway.

You're not stupid; you're highly intelligent.
You're just not "S".

You could think of something ahead of time to say - instead of blurting - that would make you appear smart until they said something first.

Like you could say, "Hmmm."
Then they would say something else, which would hone down the playing field, and then your brain would have less possibilities to choose from.

Thanks INTJMom,

Blurting things out is part of it. Especially when I'm called on to help with something. I need to think 'quality over quickness' or something snappier that can be my mantra. :) ‘Think before you speak, think before you speak…’

Interesting that you think the problem is redundant possibilities. It seems I don't call on experience (Si) when appropriate. I don't automatically approach the world in terms of what is known for sure. Everything is open when it should closed for debate. I do know perfectly well that keys are almost invariably the preferred tool for opening locked doors, but my mind doesn't always make that kind of factual association immediately, so things that are obvious to others, for a moment aren't so obvious to me. Again, if I gave myself just a few more seconds to think instead of saying the first thing that came to mind, it'd be better. I could assess what the person is actually likely to already know and be asking - at least better than I do otherwise.

People often have to be very specific with me before I'm confident I know what they mean anyway. Although I understand and recognise emotions well, I'm quite lost when judging someone's task-oriented intentions. I've even considered that I also have some kind of theory of mind deficit, because it's not just sensors and sensorially astute Ns who find it unusual or funny; everyone cracks up. That would explain some of this and other communication problems, but it is supposed to include a weak anticipation and recognition of others' emotions, which I don't have in most contexts. Maybe it is all just trouble using tangible reality to draw conclusions.

Now, how to change your mind's default reactions? It's not automatic for me to always hesitate before answering a question, or to draw on relatively concrete experience first. Bad combination...
 

INTJMom

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...Now, how to change your mind's default reactions? It's not automatic for me to always hesitate before answering a question, or to draw on relatively concrete experience first. Bad combination...
I know what you mean.
I once had a friend who I apparently irritated to no end by being silent after she would ask me something. I was silently thinking of an answer. I did this all the time with everyone.

Well, she railed into me something fierce. So from that day on, I attempted to make a sound immediately after someone asks me a question - to indicate to any person who had just asked me a question that I indeed was thinking, and would shortly come up with a response.

Who knows what people would think when they would ask me something and I would stand there staring...
Did she hear me?
Is she going to answer?
Does she understand what I asked?
Is she an idiot?

So now I use a quiet prolonged Uhh.. to let them know the wheels are turning.
Or sometimes I will announce, "I'm thinking..."
Sometimes I will even give them a play by play on what I'm thinking. :)

Point being - you can learn something new.
 

INTJMom

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Just for the record, I blurt out "stupid" questions, too, but I don't think I care what people think about my stupid questions. I know I'm intelligent.
 

Kiddo

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I don't see anything wrong with this conversation.:blush:

Well thousands of athletes don't die every year from drinking too much water. What I was thinking of was an article in the paper that said college athletes are prone to drinking too much (alcohol) and it is estimated that thousands needlessly die every year as a result of drunk driving and alcohol poisoning. Somehow I got that story mixed up in my head with a discussion we had in my biology class about hyponatremia and that was the resulting conversation. For a year and a half I never heard the end about how I thought that thousands of athletes die ever year from water toxicity :blush:
 

INTJMom

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Well thousands of athletes don't die every year from drinking too much water. What I was thinking of was an article in the paper that said college athletes are prone to drinking too much (alcohol) and it is estimated that thousands needlessly die every year as a result of drunk driving and alcohol poisoning. Somehow I got that story mixed up in my head with a discussion we had in my biology class about hyponatremia and that was the resulting conversation. For a year and a half I never heard the end about how I thought that thousands of athletes die ever year from water toxicity :blush:
Oh. :blush:
That is a major discrepancy.
I've done that before, too.
How embarrassing. :blush:
 
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