Why did I love to talk gibberish into a tape recorder?

Post Reply New Topic

As a child of pre-school age (maybe 4-5 years old) I would sometimes turn on our tape recorder and just talk into it, recording myself. (I was allowed to use it by myself after demonstrating that I fully understood how to operate it and what each button did, so usually the adults just left me to it.) The thing is, I wasn't speaking any real words, just gibberish I made up. They had no meaning to me, ie. it wasn't a "language" I made up, just combinations of syllables that sounded like words. I could go on like that for an hour at a time - or until the tape ran out. I think I only occasionally played it back and soon got bored of it even when I did, so the recording itself was the main focus.

I remember that I did this, but I don't remember why. I didn't think much of it before, assuming it was "just one of those random thing little kids do". It still might be, but I haven't heard of any other kid doing that, especially not regularly and for an extended time, so it might have been AS-related. Did anyone else do this? If you did, do you remember why? What purpose did it serve for you?

I don't necessarily recall ever speaking or focusing on "random gibberish," but I was fascinated by the notion of recording myself and/or friends for posterity, and on more than one occasion walked around large social events as a sort of wannabe Gonzo journalist, recording my caffeine-addled rants.

My older brother, who has AS as well, also did this sort of thing, too. We were actually just talking about this past weekend!

This is actually something I've wanted to start doing again, specifically with my older brother. We can have--I think--very funny conversations. I think these little back-and-forth's could be quite funny if we were able to edit them down (and perhaps illustrate/animate them).

Back to your topic, I'm sure I've made up and spoken more 'gibberish' than is "normal."

"Language is fun" + "Playing is fun" = "Playing with language is fun"

An interesting topic; regards and best wishes to all.

It sounds like a positive form of stimming, which for me I think often works like alpha wave meditation.

I have nasal speech, and in my thirties I took speech lessons and speech therapy. So, I would tape myself reading lists of words and longish passages from books, including journalistic comments on my part. And the fact that I was recording it kind of made it more real, if that makes sense.

I recorded a word, played it backwards, then tried to record me saying the backwards word, and then play that backward(so it would be the right way again) to hear if I said it right.

Could you hear yourself at all as you recorded? My wife (who isn't autistic at all, but may be an HSP) says she used to record radio shows she never listened to while close enough to her tape recorder to hear the immediate repeat of her words. Could it have been a stim of some sort like that?

Of course I could hear myself speaking, but if you mean any sort of "echo" from the tape recorder then no, not that I remember.

Yes, maybe it was just fun with language or maybe a kind of stim.

I used to record radio shows on my tape deck when I was a kid, and speak in a made-up language that had no meaning what so ever. I recall feeling as though I was actually speaking a foreign language. I'm not sure if it made me feel intelligent, but I used to speak gibberish quite a bit. Pretending I was speaking in a proper language that someone, somewhere might actually understand.

Before I got my tape deck, though, I used to record myself doing this with phone messages as well. I think it's just one of those things kids do.

I wanted to speak in a foreign language, but I didn't know any, so just made one up.

When I was a kid in the late 70s/early-to-mid-80s, I carried my portable tape recorder and microphone everywhere. I'd record relatives at get-togethers, and sometimes I'd "broadcast" baseball games.

I often pretended to be a radio announcer, and recorded all kinds of things with a tape recorder when I was a kid.

The idea is great but where can I get a tape recorder?

I'd try a microcassette recorder, as I believe they are more common than standards now. If you can't find one in person you could order one.

They normally have more speed/direction playback options, anyhow. And yes I am an audio recording expert - you know, the kind that gets extremely angry at 2/3 of all YouTube videos that have brickwalled audio due to crappy microphones.

Yep, I recorded weird sounds and meaningless phrases on my Fisher Price back in the day. However, after around age 10, I was all-of-the-sudden the only one of my peers who still found this amusing. Damn, another red flag missed..

A friend and I used to spend hours speaking gibberish to each other as though it were a real language - inflections and all. We would pool our little bit of money to share french fries and do this over a table. We were of clearly different ethnicity. I love to roll words in my mouth - gibberish or not. Mm-mm-mm!

I used to record my voice a lot and speed it up and slow it down. I pretended to my family that I had a boyfriend when I was 12 (slowed down voice) and they believed me. I also used to change all the the different system computer sounds to my voice, including the startup one. I used to use a microcassette recorder too. I loved it.

When I was little I'd spend hours trying to speak backwards, recording it on the computer and then playing it in reverse.

I have a digital recorder - they come in a wide price range and you can hold a lot of files. They are nice and small - I can keep mine in purse or pocket - in my purse, I have accidentally set it off. When I was little I got a cassette recorder - a clunky one that was a new thing then - I had a lot of fun with it. One day my brother took it apart and made a burglar alarm for my door and what ever else he did with it - without my permission.