This may seem weird, but something I heard on an episode on The Ricky Gervais Show made my brain wheels turn. Karl Pilkington talks about realizing that he thinks in his accent, and Ricky, as usual, chides him for thinking out words in his head. Now, while I find Karl interesting and entertaining, I am offstandish about having my intellectual capacity compared with his, which I inevitably do because most of time I spend thinking, I do think in actual speech.

Right now as I'm typing, I'm saying most, if not all, of it out in my head (but it could be exacerbated by the fact that I'm thinking and typing about it). I do the same when reading pretty much anything that's not a short blurb or something that is imperative to read quickly (like a question on an NES Jeopardy game).

I would imagine (and kind of hope) that others do this as well in some variation or another. I figured most people did, but after that jibe from Gervais, who was supported by Stephen Merchant, I wonder.

Oh yea... what got me going on this in the first place was realizing earlier tonight that when I read SoldierHawk's posts, I hear it as Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob.

username wrote:

i actually never thought of that hehe. i only hear a voice when i actually pay attention to my thoughts. i hardly ever hear a voice when im reading unless i really am into the character, then i try to picture not only what they would sound like, but what they would also look like.

I have a difficult time visualizing characters as they are described most of the time.

If it's a familiar name, I'll think of someone who looks at least similar to that person. I need to focus more on visualizing by is written instead of superimposing my will on top, subconsciously or otherwise; I feel that's disrespectful to the work as well as potentially misleading (in case a description holds some value or clue and ends up being ignored or forgotten).

It's even worse with outdoor/indoor scenery. Sometimes I'll picture unmentioned holes in the floor or cannons or who knows what. I feel like I should just write down what I picture and compare it later with what I'm reading. I think I could find something out about myself... and hopefully it's not scary.