Tracing Trains of Thought

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While I'm working my mind will wander. I'll start by thinking about how good someone's cup of coffee smells, and then the next thing I know, I'm remembering the green velvet skirt and jacket I used to have when I was little, with no idea how I managed to get there from smelling a cup of coffee.

But what happened was I smelled the coffee, it was French vanilla, which sometimes smells like maple syrup to me,
and I got reminded of the Curious George episode where he made maple syrup,
which reminded me of Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder,
which reminded me of the costume my mom made me when I was 9 with the sunbonnet and everything,
which reminded me of the other clothes my mom sewed for me, including the green velvet outfit that I wore when I was pretending Railway Children.

Anybody else like to trace back their thought trains?

I don't particularly enjoy tracking my thoughts. I do experience a similar thinking pattern to what you described. The last example I can think of is when me and my mom were cutting the fat off chicken backs and putting the meat in plastic bags so we'd have food for the dog.

I looked at the bag which was open and in an upright position. It looked like a cave. The resemblance to a cave reminded of a dream I had many years ago in which there was a cave with a dinosaur inside and it was a tourist attraction. That reminded me of another dream that I think I might have had during that same night which took place in an ancient booby trapped temple. Either that or the dinosaur was ancient so it reminded me of other old things. The temple was old so it would have been connected to the dinosaur.

It was shorter than yours. Plastic bag -> dinosaur cave -> ancient temple. Something might remind me of something else in a very loose and abstract way but I usually don't have a train of associations with more than 4 items. I don't think I've every had one with more than 5 items.

There aren't always that many items in the train but the link between them can be quite loose sometimes.

It doesn't show up in my speech because I think faster than I can talk. I can't verbally narrate my train of thought as it comes to me because it comes to me too quickly. If I could narrate my thought process I would be talking in fast-motion. Instead I have to slow down my train of thought as I speak (or my thinking slows automatically as I speak I'm not sure which one it is). When my thinking slows down the associations aren't formed as much and even the ones I do make don't get verbalized.

I used to change the subject and say things that seemed random when I was younger. Now it only happens in my head and I don't think it happens as often even if it still happens. It does still happen just not as often as it did when I was 10.

had the TV going while in kitchen trying to cook dinner.

Heard a contestant on Jeorpardy being asked "he who laughs blank laughs best".

Snorted to myself "everyone knows THAT. He who laugh LAST laughs best".

Then thought back to the year 1968 when the Batman TV series was on. The joker left batman a message that "remember: he who laughs last laughs good."

Both batman and the boy wonder were baffled. And batman was stumped as to why he said "laughs GOOD, and not laughs BEST."

Then Batman's butler said "May I intrude? One does NOT laugh GOOD. One laughs WELL."

Instantly Batman said "Laughwell"- the joker is going to kidnap the head of Laughwell Industries!".

That got me wondering about whether or not there are people named "Laughwell" in the real world. Maybe I should google it.

Or maybe I could waste time other places on the net, like wrongplanet, or ...maybe I could report this whole train of thought on that on Wrongplanet about trains of thought.

Yes and I struggle with this every moment of my life. It's worse when im talking and it comes out into my speech then I realize I'm talking about something completely off topic, I try to loop back around to the original then feel like an idiot...

Yes, I do this kind of thing all the time. I don't tend to trace it back myself because to me it's natural that this is how my brain works.

As sixteenornumber says, I get into trouble verbally, when someone says something and I respond, but I am already about 8 random connections away from what they had said, so people have no idea how I had 'changed the subject' quite so radically.

I very rarely try to explain the thought train to anyone else, even when I have explained it to my husband I get this face :

Nice to see I am not the only one who does this

I am infamous among my friends for doing this.

It shows up most clearly in my group of 4 close college friends when we go on our annual camping trip:

What my friends know happened:
J. asks, "is this cigar really from Cuba?"
I jokingly say out loud, impulsively, "these weren't wrapped by witch doctors, were they?"
Everybody stares at me. M. starts laughing, which makes J. and P. start laughing too. Everybody basically starts asking me WTH.

What I know happened:
J. asks, "is this cigar really from Cuba?"
I immediately thinks of the trade embargo
Which makes me think of blockade running ships
Which makes me think of old-timey frigates and schooners with tall masts
Which makes me think of Maine and New England with its strong maritime traditions
Which makes me think of the story "The Monkey's Paw"
Which makes me think of voodoo
Which makes me think of shrunken heads
Which have "papery" skin like a dried tobacco leaf
Which is like a cigar.
I jokingly say out loud, impulsively, "these weren't wrapped by witch doctors, were they?"
Everybody stares at me...

I do that alot; I think it's due to ADD