# Living Inside My Brain There Is Another Brain That Is A Moron **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656 "2010-04-01T22:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/1 "2010-04-01T22:21:23Z")
Every once in a while I start becoming aware that I’m thinking stupid things. I don’t mean to brag, but I think it’s necessary to explain that I’m normally pretty intelligent. I like to have a rational grounding for my ideas and plans. However, sometimes, my hidden moron brain takes over. Moron brain once convinced me that I was going to be fined exorbitant amounts or possibly kicked out of student housing because I stepped onto and broke my radiator’s temperature control while I was standing on the radiator. It was clearly my fault and clearly egregious. This kept me up all night, even though the entire time I was aware on some level that it was irrational (and indeed, the next day maintenance came by and fixed it for me for the grand total of $0.00). I usually am. It’s not like moron brain makes regular brain disappear. A few years ago moron brain made me think that a fire alarm that went off in a movie theater was an air-raid siren and that the United States had been attacked by terrorists. I was clinging to my mother and sobbing that we were going to die. Moron brain made me think that my parents were hiding refugees of a secret war in the attic. On multiple occasions. Sometimes after I reached legal adulthood. I am unable to look under the beds at hotel rooms because I’ve seen a film where someone hid a dead prostitute under a bed (and read a Snopes column about occasions where this actually happened). That’s just a normal - if juvenile - reaction to a scary movie, right? No, here is why this specifically belongs to moron brain. I am not scared of dead bodies. I am scared of having to tell someone that there is a dead body. As if being the first person to find out would make it somehow my fault. Moron brain has never made me do anything harmful, it’s just made me not want to talk about things. I have a feeling that this is going to get me in trouble someday. I mean, what if I’m a victim of assault? Why is it that telling people about being assaulted scares me more than being assaulted? I’m not asking for psychatric help - I already have all the help I need. (And yes, I know moron brain is probably best known by the name of generalized anxiety.) But I did just want to share some tales of moron brain and invite anyone else to join in the fun and support one another if their brains are also housing secret moron brains inside them. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/2 "2010-04-02T00:45:24Z")
Moron brain tries to count to infinity in the middle of the night. It’s not really like starting at 1 and going on and on, but occasionally I’ll be half asleep (and desperately wanting to be fully asleep) and my brain will invent some nonsensical equation or system or something in which it’s trying to comprehend and/or deal with infinity, or at least really, really big numbers/large amounts of items. It kind of freaks me out sometimes. This is related to the slightly obsessive compulsive way my brain will latch onto a word or a phrase or a song lyric and repeat it over and over again, sometimes for days. It’s the mother of all earworms, and when I’m tired enough (which happens a lot; I’m an insomniac, if you hadn’t guessed!) it almost seems physically painful. It’s permanent background noise that just never moves on beyond that one point/phrase. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/3 "2010-04-02T01:12:06Z")
I like to call my moron brain the Bad Idea Bear, from Avenue Q. Recently, the Bad Idea Bear told me that if the leftover chocolate chips were too tempting, I should just eat them all at once to get rid of them. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/4 "2010-04-02T02:54:53Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > This is related to the slightly obsessive compulsive way my brain will latch onto a word or a phrase or a song lyric and repeat it over and over again, sometimes for days. It’s the mother of all earworms, and when I’m tired enough (which happens a lot; I’m an insomniac, if you hadn’t guessed!) it almost seems physically painful. It’s permanent background noise that just never moves on beyond that one point/phrase. My moron brain does this too! Unfortunately, at one point this word was ‘penis’. How uncomfortable. Our moron brains are such morons. ---
**Author:** ![Tess\_Trueheart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Tess\_Trueheart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess_Trueheart)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/5 "2010-04-02T07:39:05Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Recently, the Bad Idea Bear told me that if the leftover chocolate chips were too tempting, I should just eat them all at once to get rid of them. Mine told me that eating a whole pizza in one evening was, if not a good plan, at least okay - no greasy pizza box left on the counter, no leftovers crowding the fridge. I’m pretty small and felt full most of the next day and won’t do that again. Also: that I am being rude when I cross the street and that people in cars are annoyed with me. I look both ways, follow the walk/don’t walk lights, and walk quickly, but I still feel like people are impatient with me and that they ought to be. EDIT: mine fixates on songs that I don’t know very well. I might only know one line, or I know maybe half the words or less. It’s like my moron brain thinks if it restarts the song for me over and over it will finally reveal to me the super-secret words! Sometimes it’s even a song in a language that I don’t speak (part of an opera I only heard once, etc)… moron brain, do you really think my real brain is that magical? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/6 "2010-04-02T12:42:34Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Recently, the Bad Idea Bear told me that if the leftover chocolate chips were too tempting, I should just eat them all at once to get rid of them. I don’t see a problem with that at all. (says the chocoholic…) ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/7 "2010-04-02T13:18:14Z")
> [@Tess\_Trueheart](#): > > mine fixates on songs that I don’t know very well. I might only know one line, or I know maybe half the words or less. It’s like my moron brain thinks if it restarts the song for me over and over it will finally reveal to me the super-secret words! Sometimes it’s even a song in a language that I don’t speak (part of an opera I only heard once, etc)… moron brain, do you really think my real brain is that magical? Mine will do this too, but also intentionally [Mondegreen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen)the lyrics. Of course, when I hear the song again I hear it correctly. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/8 "2010-04-02T13:28:43Z")
My moron brain once thought I had died in an accident (that never happened, not even a near miss) and that I was a ghost who didn’t know it was dead. It made me feel anxious for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/9 "2010-04-02T13:30:28Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > I like to call my moron brain the Bad Idea Bear, from Avenue Q. > > Recently, the Bad Idea Bear told me that if the leftover chocolate chips were too tempting, I should just eat them all at once to get rid of them. Comedian Dana Gould once commented that he wished there was an opera singer who lived in his closet who could come out and sing, ‘‘Mistaaaaaaaaake!’’ right before he did something stupid. Wouldn’t that be nice? I could really benefit from Mistake Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/10 "2010-04-02T13:59:23Z")
I’d settle for a [Sassy Gay Friend](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM) My moron brain routinely screws up my medication, even though I’ve been taking the same meds for years and have the mother of all pill boxes. 1. Open box 2. Take pills How hard can this possibly be? Also, moron brain tells me it’s ok to sit down at the computer at bedtime, just to “check one or two things”. Moron. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/11 "2010-04-02T14:05:00Z")
My moron brain fixates on things that really do not matter at all. Ever. For instance, my fiance is diabetic. My brain will literally keep me up at night worrying what will happen in the event that we survive a nuclear war. Where will he find insulin? How can we keep him alive at that point? You know why this doesn’t matter? Because we live in New York City. In the event of a nuclear war we won’t even leave corpses behind as they will have been vaporized in the nuclear blast. Doesn’t stop my brain from worrying about it though. My moron brain is also completely afraid of being thought of as odd. The other day I was deeply engrossed in a book and thought I missed my subway stop so I got up and stood near the door. As we pulled up I realized I was about 10 stops early but instead of just sitting back down I actually got off the train and stood and waited for the next one so that no one would think I was weird for standing up and sitting back down. The subway is regularly ridden by people who haven’t bathed in a month or more, people trying to break dance, and people screaming about Jesus but I was really worried that my standing up would be seen as strange. As I stood on the platform I knew I was being silly but I figured I wasn’t in a hurry so I was okay with a little silly. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/12 "2010-04-02T14:47:42Z")
My moron brain doesn’t let go of things. It continually reminds me of a random selection of mistakes and errors that I have made, not necessarily recently even. And it doesn’t let me forget about women I’ve lost chances with, ever. In romantic comedies, that’s hopeful and you know there will be a reconciliation. In real life, it’s somewhere between pathetic and stalkerish, depending on how hard I try to reconnect. My moron brain also does stupid things like dropping drawings all over the floor in front of a client. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/13 "2010-04-02T14:56:33Z")
My moron brain just let me down again. I wrote a long, very descriptive email to a co-worker explaining what I thought was a complicated issue with one of our building leases and asking for some data that the co-worker was privy to, so I could figure out this extremely vexing problem. I was very descriptive in my email so that she would get it, without being so condescending that she thought I was talking down to her. Her response basically informed me that I had misunderstood which party in the building lease was the “landlord” and which was the “tenant”. Sometimes I wonder how I actually do this for a living, what with my moron brain, and all. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/14 "2010-04-02T15:23:54Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > My moron brain doesn’t let go of things. It continually reminds me of a random selection of mistakes and errors that I have made, not necessarily recently even. And it doesn’t let me forget about women I’ve lost chances with, ever. In romantic comedies, that’s hopeful and you know there will be a reconciliation. In real life, it’s somewhere between pathetic and stalkerish, depending on how hard I try to reconnect. > > My moron brain also does stupid things like dropping drawings all over the floor in front of a client. Mine does that too, especially stuff I did in the 80’s, then I widen out my focus and realize bad judgment was rampant in the 80’s and try to cut myself a break. I do the word repeating thing too, and I also find myself repeating a number, let’s say 8, for no discernible reason. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/15 "2010-04-02T15:42:04Z")
Discovering that a normal brain also houses a smaller, moron, brain, explains so much in my life. I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/16 "2010-04-02T17:28:13Z")
I could fill this thread with examples. Heck, I could probably fill the rest of my life with examples. I think my brain is the reverse - it’s _mostly_ moron brain, with a small bit of ‘manages okay’ brain tucked away deep in the middle. Example. I decide to go and do the weekly shopping. I leave the house with everthing I need, car keys, re-usable shopping bag (because they have stopped issuing free plastic bags) and so on. I get in the car. I put on some enjoyable music. I drive two miles to the big supermarket. Get out. Walk into supermarket. And that, my friends, is when I realise I haven’t brought my money, my wallet or _any means of payment whatsoever_. Imagine about five incidents like this _per day_, and you will begin to understand that my life is essentially once continuous battle to overcome the limitations of a brain that just doesn’t work very well. It’s a wonder I’m allowed out into the community. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/17 "2010-04-02T17:40:13Z")
I have a similar, but slightly different problem, in that I have a lazy brain instead of a moron brain. My normal brain will sit there and look at the bills sitting next to the computer, all of which i can pay online in 5 minutes, and have plenty of money to pay, and think I should definitely pay these. My lazy brain will preempt normal brain and think, eh… do it tomorrow. Repeatedly. Until tomorrow is the day they cut off the internet. Again. Or the disconnect notice comes for the power. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/18 "2010-04-02T18:11:51Z")
My stupid brain was convinced that using my wife’s expensive fabric scissors to remove the stripped out phillips screw in the kitchen sink fitting would be much easier than the long walk down to the basement to get a proper screwdriver, a tool is a tool right? Luckily smart brain caught that one before it hit the printing presses. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/19 "2010-04-02T18:36:42Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Comedian Dana Gould once commented that he wished there was an opera singer who lived in his closet who could come out and sing, ‘‘Mistaaaaaaaaake!’’ right before he did something stupid. > > Wouldn’t that be nice? I could really benefit from Mistake Guy. Some friends and I refer to this as our “mental goalies”. The imagery is that of a hockey goalie facing the back of one’s throat, crouching just under the uvula, whose job it is to block all the stupid from emerging from one’s mouth. It supplies a good way to (privately) slam each other, while remaining friendly; all it takes is a “_He shoots! He scores!_” to get the point across. Also, every once in awhile, one of us might pipe up, “_Whoa. Kick save! And a beauty!_” – sometimes, trying to guess what inanity we were just saved from hearing provides its own entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656/20 "2010-04-02T18:37:45Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > I do the word repeating thing too, and I also find myself repeating a number, let’s say 8, for no discernible reason. Eighteen. Or sixty-two. Those are the two numbers that I fixate on, for no reason that I can tell. I think I just like the way they sound, but it gets annoying after a while. I fix on names that I like the sound of, too. One of my favourite aspects of watching hockey, other than the game itself, is some of the players’ names; the Anaheim Ducks happen to have a roster that’s incredibly fun to say! Chipchura, Koivu, Selanne, Wisniewski, Bobby Ryan (must be said in full!)…I seriously watch hockey games and just repeat names at the TV. My husband finds this quite entertaining! I’m glad he’s a patient man, though I think he’s also glad that Ducks games don’t come on very often on the east coast! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-inside-my-brain-there-is-another-brain-that-is-a-moron/534656.md?page=2)