Verbal Dyslexia
May 6, 2008 9:59 am Random ObservationsMy wife and I both suffer from time to time from what we call verbal dyslexia, and I’m wondering if anyone else suffers from this as well. I try to come up with a few examples, but it’s weird because when I try to think of times that it’s happened I can rarely come up with good examples. It’s just such a random thing.
So here’s the idea. You get talking, and you flip either words around or portions of words around. To you it might make perfect sense until you stop and think about it. But sometimes you don’t even notice it. Here’s an example. My wife and I were talking about movies, and she said something like, “Oh, the one with Jolia Ruberts.” So it was fine, but the “o” and “u” were said in the wrong place.
Sometimes it happens with just the first letters of two words become switched. I’m really trying to think of a good example of this, but it would be something like “sooster beat” instead of “booster seat.” Or, another example of verbal dyslexia is when you put the words in the wrong order, like instead of saying “cool car” you say “car cool.” I blame that one on knowing Spanish because sometimes you do that in Spanish.
Are we the only ones that suffer from this? I certainly hope not. Sometimes it’s pretty funny, but whenever it happens and we catch it we always say, “Wow, where did that come from?!”
Anyone else have this problem???
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tags: observations, random
Or you say or read a word so much it stops making sense. I was checking out lots of fashion articles today and the word ‘fashion’ just became a series of random letters!
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Sports News Reply:
August 18th, 2010 at 12:24 am
right said. this happens with me most of the time when i am continiously using the same word for a long period then a time comes that i forget saying that word correclty. my tongue stops moving in the correct directions and i end up saying something funny
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Sports Directory Reply:
October 21st, 2010 at 4:06 am
This sounds to be like an Expressive Language Disorder. It iwll cause problems similar to what you are having. Here are some of the symptoms:
# Frequently having trouble finding the right word
# Using the wrong words in sentences or confusing meaning in sentences
# Making grammatical mistakes and using poor sentence structure
# Relying on short, simple sentence construction
# Relying on stock standard phrases and limited content in speech
# Inability to ‘come to the point’ or talking in circles
# Problems with retelling a story or relaying information
# Inability to start or hold a conversation
# Misnaming items - this is called dysnomia
Regards,
Sophie
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Ronnie B. Reply:
November 2nd, 2011 at 5:49 am
Wow….I propose we start a society for the derbally vyslexic!!!
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Ha, yes I think its pretty common, I think the brain is ahead of your speech or something leaving things to come out wrong. Pretty funny or embarassing on some occasions.
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ROB Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I THOUGHT I MADE THIS “VERBAL DYSLEXIA” UP TOO.. I CONSTANLY MIX WORDS UP TOO.. MY FREIND LAUGH AS WELL AS I DO.. BUT SOMETIMES I THINK THERE MIGHT BE A LINK BETWEEN DYSELXIA AND THIS SO CALLED ” VERBAL DYSLEXIA” ..FUNNY
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I have the same exact thing! I thought I had invented Verbal dyslexia or something…wow, i didn’t know anyone else would call it that! I wonder if it really is a medical issue, or if we’re just not paying attention when we speak?
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I have verbal dyslexia. Most things that come out of my mouth is either backwards or garbbled even though it’s correctly structured in my brain first. An example would be, in saying that I need to put another log on the fire, what would come out of my mouth would be: I need to put another fire on the wood.
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My roommate has exactly this problem. Instead of saying ‘booyakasha’ like Ali G she says ‘bookashaya’
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Dan Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 6:03 am
i really think it happens to a lot of us, and sometimes it really turns out to be quite funny!
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Yes, I have verbal dyslexia too. I have been talking backwards and mispronouncing for many years. I’ve been told to think before I speak. A person needs to be calm while talking. Sometimes when a person talks, there are many things that come across a person’s mind while they are talking. When this happens it effect ones emotions and nerves, because the mind is thinking faster than the mouth is talking.
Today, my daughter caught me saying “I have to go take me to get the kids to the eye doctor”. She laughed. In other words I meant. “I have to go to pick the kids up from school and take them to the eye appointment. During time when I mentioned that comment, I was thinking about the children being picked up from school and being at the eye appointment 45 minutes early. However, I noticed that I was rushing and taking some motherely duties before leaving out the house. I can relate to many individual with verbal dyslexia. It was suggested for me to try the toastmasters organization. I going to give it try to see how it works.
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Dan Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I’m sure that doing things like public speaking really can help with this kind of thing. It’s funny when it happens, but other times it just gets annoying
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When I am in hurry, I occasionally switch the first one or two letters of consecutive words. That doesn’t bother me too much, as it’s sometimes good for a chuckle in the classroom. (I teach high school math.) While I rarely make the mistake of saying “right” when I mean “left” in the classroom, I seem to do it more and more often outside of school, especially when giving driving directions. Even when I really think about which word I want to say, the wrong word comes out. My husband is concerned that this may be the start of more serious mental decline. (I am 58. His late father suffered from dementia; my father suffers from it now.) Do I have something to worry about? What can I do to minimize this type of problem?
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Dan Reply:
November 12th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Honestly I am not the person to ask for that!
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A few signs of dyslexia are problems with reading,writing and math. Telling a story and
following instructions may also indicate a problem.
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I’m wondering if you have any websites that could help me with verbal dyslexia. My fiancee is very concerened with this issue. Even if I tell him the word correctly, he can’t repeat properly. Words like “breakfast”, “Massachussets”, “architectural”… Are ones that come to mind immediately seeing as we tried to work on them yesterday. He just doesn’t seem to recognize them. He’s a day trader by choice because he was afraid of tackling the work force and making a very serious stupid verbal mistake… I can understand a verbal mishap once in a while as we all suffer from it, but he’s really seeming to be verbally dyslexic in the very literal sense of it.
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It makes me feel so much better to knowI’m not the only one out there with ‘verbal dyslexia’. My reading skills are fantastic but my writing sucks. AND I was developmentally delayed at a young age with language skills. I used my own sign language even though my hearing was and still is fine
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yeah that happen to me but i also blameit on knowing spanish.. i think its beacuase english and spanish are totaly opposite a sentence in if you want to translate something from englidh to spanish you have to flip it all around and sometimes that gets yuo confused!!
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I notice everyone is joking about this, but have you ever been diagnosed for Asperger’s Syndrome? While jumbling words can happen to anyone, if this is consistent you may want to delve deeper.
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I just went through a spell of this over the weekend. I asked my son if he wanted to go rike biding, the funny thing is.. he knew exactly what I meant. He said yes he wanted to go bike riding! I think many of us suffer from this!
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Wikipedia has an article for such mixups: they’re called “spoonerisms.” I make them a lot, too, and while I’m not dyslexic, I am dyscalculic (I have problems with numbers, not words). I wonder if there is a connection?
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I have accused my husband of this over and over. In fact I was just writing a post about verbal dyslexia (a term I thought I invented)and thought I would Google before making the claim.
My favorite is when we were discussing salad dressings, my husband said, “Everything tastes better with balls on it.” I howled. I mean, yes, lots of things taste better with balsamic vinegar, but do I even want to know about what anything would taste like with balls on it? What balls would those be? Still makes me laugh.
Most of his aren’t turning around the letters or mixing up the sounds, it is like he gets a word in his head, something similar, and simply cannot say the correct word. Getting directions from him can be…um…interesting.
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Okay so, I too, thought I had made up this term “verbal dyslexia”. I just recently decided to Google it and well…I found this site.
I have had many times where I mix up words in a sentence or switch the beginning letters of words. An example would be “fot hies”. I said that once when I bit into a hot fry. Just this morning I was in my scuplture class and asked my friend “how call is tody?” when I meant to say “how tall is Cody?”. It was rather funny.
With me its never been and embarressing moment….so far. It just adds a touch of humor and makes people laugh. :} Good to know I’m not really the only one who has this “problem” if it is one.
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My daughter and I have had visual, verbal and spacial dyslexia all of our lives. While it can be frustrating, usually it is very humorous. My best verbal dyslexia for this week (so far!): “Is Rubby rusting off on you?” Meant to say, “Is Rusty rubbing off on you?” My co-workers and I laughed hysterically for over 10 minutes!
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My writing is great, however when I am put under pressure I can not talk properly even though I know exactly what I should be saying. I even start making words up - just to fill the space. This is a problem as I work in PR.
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It’s rather awesome,I have been searching materials relate to these stuffs for my paper.and it really helps me.
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,I have been searching materials relate to these stuffs for my paper.and it really helps me.
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Usually people who have difficulty with dyslexia, whether verbal or written, are really talented in other areas, such a with numbers, science, cooking, handiwork, etc. Do you and your wife find the same?
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i think i have this too but i dont mix words around like that i juss mix up like this: she was licking bowl out of the milk (she was licking milk out of a bowl) or she has a lady like the mouth next store (she has a mouth like the lady next store)
it makes my dad laugh but is there somethin wrong with me?? lol
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one of the things that my best friend always makes fun of me for is whenever i clean the house i never say i did the right things to the right spaces… like “yes mom, i swept the carpet and vacuumed the kitchen tile” i dont do it on purpose but i say it all the time. Along with never calling my boyfriends brother my boyfriends brother but rather my brothers boyfriend… just simple mix ups. My friends think i do it on purpose to get a laugh, but it really bothers me that i do this all the time…
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Crazy.. I was looking to see if this was something that only I had…… A relief to see but…. Its been happening to me a lot more recently, so I was getting nervous that I was going Insane. I get a lot of weird looks and giggles when words flip around, Usually im the only one that didnt notice unless I catch the look and think about it…. I have been red faced too many times… Good luck all
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My question is why would a person all of a sudden, within a span of about a month, have several (3-4) situations where two words are reversed in a sentence? My last one was instead of saying “with a stroke of a brush” I said “with a brush of a stroke” I’m starting to worry that it has to do with getting older or dementia–does anyone know if this happens more as a person gets older? I can’t find any info on it being related to age, but it worries me. I’m 58.
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Great list, thanks for sharing with us
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Personal examples from my husband and myself:
“dell boor” = “door bell”
“yucks coked” = “yokes cooked”
….And my personal favorite:
“DESKTON ICOPS” = “desktop icons”!!
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“verbal” dyslexia is not caused by your brain thinking faster than you can speak. It is a sign of dyslexia- I wasn’t diagonosed until I was working on my MS thesis. I have all the signs and related conditions ( dyscalulate, dyspraxia, cluttering etc) but I can read just fine and have always done so above grade level. My friends have just decided I speak my own language and have learned to decipher it.
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Dyslexia can make like pretty tough. Anyone suffering from this has my deepest sympothies
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thanks for sharing
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I’m a police & fire dispatcher. I do this all the time! Drives me crazy when we’re busy & I flip-flop my comments on the radio. Saying “Darking Bog” instead of barking dog, always gets a laugh.
Thanks for sharing your story, now I know I’m not the only one.
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I have always been great at reading and writting, but when it comes to reading out loud i always switch words around, skip a word, often pause. For the past couple months i’ve really noticed how much I mix up my words when having a conversation. It happens at least 3 times a day. I also tend to tell a story and then forget the point i was trying to get across so my stories end poorly. I have a great vocabulary but often forget the word im trying to say mid-conversation. I dont know what to do about it. Suggestions?
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This was an interesting post about verbal dyslexia… I don’t recall suffering from it in a verbal fashion while talking, but I have did some of these things while writing. It is like your brain encounters a temporary glitch and scrambles the letters or something. Ha-ha!
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It’s definitely not only you, it happens to me all the time. In fact the last time was when we ate some chocolate pancakes at Saturday morning, I nearly choked with it happened.
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An example would be, in saying that I need to put another log on the fire, what would come out of my mouth would be: I need to put another fire on the wood.
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Yes my grandma does every 2 secounds
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First time I ever get the chance to hear about verbal dyslexia, and the concept you’ve described above is quite interesting. It doesn’t sound strange though, if you’ll eat a lot of honey, bee pollen or other foods you may choke up a bit - but it doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you, at least it’s my opinion.
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This post is very good an useful.
Thanks for sharing.
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This post is a vary beauty full. Thanks for sharing.
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How is this even possible eh?
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No I would say that Molles Pizza is a great place to start.
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I do this all the time. It happens every now and then with words or the first letters of words, but mostly I do it with numbers, to the point that when I repeat a number to myself I know not to pay attention to what I’m saying but to what I remember seeing because what I’m saying will be wrong. My reading and writing (even out loud) is very good (in two languages) and I’m a mathematician by trade.
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yes, and it seems to have gotten worse every year ive been out of school
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oh yes, i just did this and had to look it up if it was true. i said “meck nuscles” instead of “neck muscles”, and it’s not the first time i have done something like this.
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So this has happened to me on many occasions. I’ve said random words and talk in runabout sentences but when you read things that I write they make perfect and grammatical sense, but when I talk I sound like I’m five.
I was talking to my friend Laura about a friend Scott.
“I want to give Scug a hut first.” … Scott. A hug. I stopped and was like. What the hell did I just say?
And today. I said “Stare at me with her!!”
Stopped. Wait… WHAT? No, stare at HER with ME.
I swear I made this verbal dyslexia up as well, but I guess I didn’t! I’m so glad I didn’t though because it’s getting progressively worse.
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