The Composite Human

I am not a linguist. But if given the chance to form my thoughts and converse with one (say, an attentive John McWhorter, for instance) I’d ask: why do I find myself using words I’ve recently just heard?

Here’s what I mean: in between the daily ramblings of my inner voice, I often find myself using a word or phrase I heard from a commercial or a conversation earlier in the day. I don’t consciously choose to say this word or phrase. It just seems to come up. Like my brain decided to hold onto it as a shortcut, so it wouldn’t have to make an original phrase during communication later in the day.

Why did I randomly say the word “metastatic” in my brain today, when I don’t even know what it means? Because I heard it in a medical commercial yesterday. The word seemed to pop out of nowhere in my head during an otherwise normal monologue of my day.

Why might I say “obliterate” the competition instead of the more common “destroy the competition?” Because I saw a YouTube video earlier today that used the word “obliterate” in its title.

Paying attention to the words I reuse, I begin to see the tug-of-war that transpires daily between the conscious and subconscious.