Internally 'labeling' people with their names

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mitharatowen
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17 Sep 2009, 3:32 pm

Just kind of a random musing... I've noticed that when I see someone at work, I automatically say their full name silently in my head and invisibly pin it like a label on them... mentally speaking.

I'm pondering it now and wondering if it's because of my association with computers that I just expect everyone to have a name above their heads? Or does it have more to do with how I rarely pay attention to people's physical looks and am more comfortable dealing with a word to recognize them? Or am I simply reassuring myself that I know their name/practicing my memory?

Just kind of a weird thing that I noticed I do. Anyone else?



CelticGoddess
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17 Sep 2009, 4:44 pm

I do something similar except when I see someone I know, I say their first/last name in my head and then random facts that I know about them. I've always sort of wondered if it's my own internal processing device to prep me in case I have to make dreaded small talk?

It used to amaze my ex because if we were out and we saw someone we knew from a distance I would instantly say it all outloud and some of it was stuff from way back. Seeing someone in my 30's and telling him direct conversations I had with them in the 5th grade.

It drives my anxiety up though if I can't remember something. I can't get on with my day properly until I have it figured out.