difference

Hi,

A friend of mine (Japanese) says you use (a) when you are thinking aloud whereas in (b) it's all silent. Is it necessarily true?? Is it really a matter of vocalization? Well, your friend is not far from the truth. It's not as clearcut as he suggests.And perhaps there are some other considerations.

(a) I talked to myself.

Good. Thank you, Clive.

And one more question. Are they both equally natural in English? It's not like one is more common than the other?

"I talked to myself" is rather unusual in that no one would admit to being such a nut case. (It's the use of the first person that makes it strange.) Talking to oneself is the sort of thing you would mention of someone else, not admit of yourself!

The "nut-case" interpretation:
Did you see that guy on the corner as we walked by? Did you notice he was talking to himself? H

Maybe this is obvious, but if you use "said" you need to specify what was said. "I said to myself" is very common; as Jim said, it usually means "I thought." (For instance: The first time I saw her I said to myself, "Someday I'm going to marry that girl!")

"I talked to myself" is certainly less common, especially in the simple past. I could imagine scenarios like "Doctor, I think I nee

Your examples of the one with a psychological problem is typical for 'I talked to myself', I think. But isn't it also possible for healthy people to use it when involved in, say, self-discussion? I think we sometimes have 'an angel and a devil' on our mind talking something completely opposite to each other, when we don't know which decision is better. When we are 'possesed' by them,

Hi Taka,

CJ wrote: "I said to myself" is pretty much equivalent to "I thought". That pretty well sums it up. We use these words in this way reasonably often. Instead of 'I talked to myself', meaning a silent debate, we'd almost always use another debate-oriented verb, like 'wondered', 'considered', 'asked myself'.

Clive

Clive, what about my self-discussion example above? Is it really specific to 'nut-cases'? Your initial reply doesn't seem to say it is.

Hi,

Well, are you thinking of 'talking to yourself' aloud or internally?

Talking to your self aloud definitely a hint of potential 'nuttiness'. (Or perhaps they just have a very small cell-phone)

Talking to yourself 'inside your head' As I said earlier, I think we tend to use verbs oth

There's also the cliché "I might as well be talking to myself" (= "my interlocutor isn't listening to/taking any notice of what I'm saying").

I don't think there's anything particularly crazed about talking to yourself, e.g. when driving, or puzzling something out, or looking for an object/person. ("Now, where did I put that axe...")

MrP

MrPedanticI don't think there's anything particularly crazed about talking to yourself, e.g. when driving, or puzzling something out, or looking for an object/person. ("Now, where did I put that axe...")

MrP

Yes! That's what I'm talking about.

Let's suppose you are about to go on a hot date. You are now very excited but also