*Are You Addicted to Language?*

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Do you crave language?

Do you find yourself reading anything within range, ( including cornflakes packets ), looking for something to read when eating, or at a loose end, or find yourself reading advertisments in trains and public toilets, trivial news bulletins/analysis on the internet, etc, or feel as desperate as if you were a smoker who had run out of tobacco if you don't have a book to read, ( other than ones you have already read at least a dozen times ) and/or there doesn't seem to be anything to read/post online/on forums?

Do you read very fast, gulping text down? Do you linger over reading, savouring every word?

Do you feel "odd"/different if for some reason you read/write/post/say little or nothing for several days in a row?

Do you write reams of journal/"diary", pms, letters, waffle and etc because you find the flow of language soothing/tranquilising?

Are you a language junkie?

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Yes I am, I actually write far far more than I talk.

I read for hours every day and I read whatever I see in my environment too, though not so on purpose, it just happens. But it's weird; I read a short piece of fiction, non-fiction, anything and I can tell you exactly what it was about, but I can hardly/cannot at all repeat the actual words that were used.

Last edited by Sora on 02 May 2009, 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I read as much as I can every day, its mostly news, but I also read classic literature and other books on occasion.

Mostly reading, I don't write or talk much.

sometimes, i like hearing it more than speaking it i guess

Yes. Speaking just isn't the same as reading. Speaking is choppy and in-between; however, reading and writing is smooth and continuous. It calms down my mind and helps to bring inner balance.
I used to be a very heavy reader, but now it seems that I learn better if I just add in a little interaction with my teachers/peers. I may sound neurotypical, but it somehow helps to spark my mind. After long reading periods my mind feels somewhat woozy, like after one has had more sleep than they should have.
Writing, also being a more active process, helps to get out of that clouded state of mind. Everything's good in moderation.

Thanks for voting and posting. Did anyone ever think that maybe language is a bit like the ring in "The Lord of the Rings"? ... ... to be thrown away.
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Last edited by ouinon on 02 May 2009, 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One of my interests is etymology - the study of word origins - so when I read I'm not only
interested in the subject matter but I'm also thinking about the words themselves and all the
connections.

Yeah, I love language for its own sake too. I love both reading and writing.

I think I may have a different definition of language to most people. To me, language is not just words. My language is visual and textural too. I think language is a system for ordering the input of our senses. I order input visually, and I can think visually. I also order physically and texturally, and my physical and textural thoughts have an order. I think they are a language, too. Granted, they are not ones that all that many people can understand (except maybe people who look at art/physical theatre/fabrics a lot), and I can't always express those thoughts directly. These are private languages. I know, I know, Wittgenstein says you can't have a private language. Apparently it's a logical impossibility. This may be the case, but I'm not entirely sure that language is supposed to be a logical thing in the first place. I know this isn't exactly what you meant by 'language', but I felt like talking about it anyway.

I am obsessed by ordering and by systematizing. I am also, to some extent, obsessed with communicating, albeit in an idiosyncratic way.

I love reading, so in this way I am obsessed by language. When I am going through a verbal phase I can't get enough of text. But there are times when I am more visual or physical, and I find it hard to understand words beyond the most basic and everyday conversations.

So.... I fit into more than one category. Sometimes I'm a language maniac; other times, I simply retreat from words.

I enjoy listening to language, studying it, reading it, and occasionally writing it. Speaking it, however, is far from an addiction of mine.

I never really thought about it. I do spend a great deal of time reading or writing, but only because my speech is poor.

I'm the SAME way. And 90% of what I learn is based on patterns, logic, actions, and associations. That means some detail, like names and the method to convey the info, is lost. Of course, it seems like it DOES stay there, sometimes for a LONG time. If I want to access THAT, it can take a while. It is ODD though. I may not remember the theme to a particular series, and yet, in the next room, hear 2 notes, or even ONE, and think "WOW, is this...." and it IS! It may be a tune I haven't heard for 30 years, and it STILL happens.

Anyone who thinks is a Heavy User of language. Language and thinking go completely together.

ruveyn