can't speak, but can type

Post Reply New Topic

I was just talking about this to a girl online (big surprise), but anyway I really do a good job and am very eloquent when typing, ppose, articles, everything just flows from my fingers to the screen, but in real life I generally can't get anything across from my mind to my mouth unless it is something irrelevant or irreverent.
My ex girlfriend and I were having an argument and I was trying to say something, couldn't just looked at the floor, wall, elsewhere, tried to spit out words, nothing she finally just told me to "go to the damn computer and put it into an email then" which I did in the form of a two page diatribe that was likely typed faster than it could have been said by anyone (I type fast). After that she understood my point of view and since the stress was off we were able to figure out the final points with a minimal amount of speaking, more just question and short form answer type stuff.

Does this ring a bell with anyone else?

Yup. Ive had plenty of online girlfriends too, and when we met in real life it ended soon after.

Absolutely. I have quite a bit of trouble with oral speech, but am fine in typed text. My typing speed is somewhere around 85wmp when I'm on a roll.

Yeah I was on a roll recently and spit out a screenplay overview (28 pages in screenplay format) in a couple of hours...

yeah. ive been guilty of just walking away midfight.... cause i can never seem to say anything helpful or constructively expressive.

I think it is the same for me, except I can be slower than normal typing. I am not really a fluent typer. It can take me a while to think up what to type.

I don't know how I would be able to communicate in a RL relationship though. I'll probably be mute, I'm afraid. I think with the right person (hypothetically) I might be able to get over that, I've learned in other arenas, like my job. Being speechless in an emotionally heavy moment.

It is actually kinda similar to my job. The job I have now as really trained me into becoming stronger when communicating. I am a foreman of a landscape crew, the most important part of 'bossing' people around is to have a firm voice and don't let emotions show when they get lippy or telling them to do something they will dislike. It can get intimidating at times. Any sign of anxiety from me is a sign of weakness and it will diminish my 'authority', losing their respect and my job will become even harder and more frustrating.

People seem to like what I write.
People seem to have a hard time following my conversations.
When I argue in person, my mouth can't keep up with my brain
Sorta like the old "I Love Lucy" show where Lucy is working on a chocolate conveyor line.
It starts out slow, she grabs the chocolates of one-by-one, and puts them away (forgot what it was she was doing), but then the conveyor belt speeds up a little. She can still keep up.
Faster yet... now she's missing a chocolate every now-and-then
Really fast (this is my mind's speed), and she's dropping chocolates on the floor, missing tons of them, getting way behind and generally failing to keep up... that's my mouth

When my wife and I were together, I actually was able to think of writing to her instead of verbally arguing about something. Usually though, we just argued and I would lose my train of thought fairly quickly.

Uh, what was the question again?

Okay, just read your op again.

Writing does get the message across much better for me usually.

yep. in fact I jsut sent this to my bf's dad the other day to explain why I was crying and not telling him why when he asked me and not elaborating more than saying "I'm just messed up myself" even after he responded to my "nothing" with 'people don't cry over nothing." If had been anyone else, with the exception of my boyfriend. I probably would have been reluctant to even say the "Nothing" and I most certainly would not have said i was messed up. My bf and I have an agreement that If I ever get mad at him again he'll hand me a pen/paper (his computer is broken at the moment)

(I realize this is a bit jumbled, but hey i was writing it at 3 am)

The odd thing with me is that I type very pianisticly. I think of everything in terms of 1-2-3-4-5 and have even found myself phrasing at a QWERTY keyboard and using really weird fingerings, such as alternating fingers for repeated letters in order to maintain their staccato articulation.

Speech and Debate has forced me to become eloquent in spoken language. However, my communication medium of choice is music.

That's a very powerful message TT.
I hope the message comes across alright with him.
Sounds like they mean a lot to you.

if i get into an argument with my bf i often just grow quiet and cry. and i can't talk to him and he's so very understanding about it, so he gives me time to 'recover', and we usually wind up discussing whatever's made me so upset over MSN or text messages on our cellphones when i am ready to.

i am usually rather articulate, but only with my bf because he's very patient with me and is used to my 'eccentricities'. with everyone else i'm always halting and searching for words, and ultimately give up and grow silent because the 'moment' has passed.

i prefer typing to speech as it gives me more time to sort out the gabillion and one thoughts i have running simultaneously on a subject matter.

the lucille ball reference made me grin as it is a pretty unique way of illustrating how awful and overwhelming it is for me when communicating face-to-face with people. totally applicable!