# When (and if) you talk to yourself, do you refer to yourself by name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-if-you-talk-to-yourself-do-you-refer-to-yourself-by-name/607475>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 27, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-if-you-talk-to-yourself-do-you-refer-to-yourself-by-name/607475 "2011-12-27T01:25:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-if-you-talk-to-yourself-do-you-refer-to-yourself-by-name/607475/41 "2011-12-31T00:45:05Z")

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I use my name when I’m chastising myself. Otherwise I call myself “honey” or “mija”.

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**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-if-you-talk-to-yourself-do-you-refer-to-yourself-by-name/607475/42 "2011-12-31T04:05:58Z")

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Wow, I very rarely call myself by name or think about myself in the second person at all. I always think in the first person. “I’m such an idiot!” “Why me?” “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!”

Occasionally, I’ll adress an imaginary listener, as in “You see? This is why I can’t have nice stuff! Can you believe how clumsy I am?”

On rare occasions I’ve tried addressing myself by name, but it feels weird and artificial.

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