mtbc | Unbidden lyrics and random tunes

When people pause in uttering a sentence, my mind is often eagerly prompt in filling the space. For example, on the train there is an announcement about the carriage, I forget what, but there's a pause where I want to fill it in with, … may be larger than it appears or somesuch, which I suppose my brain concocts from some combination of Doctor Who and car side-mirrors. There is also an announcement instructing to tell them if one sees something strange (a headless horseman or a two-headed goat or whatever) which also includes a brief pause, ripe for completion with, … then throw something at it.

More striking, though, is that my brain wants to put words to music. I notice when existing mundane sentences fit a line of music from some song or jingle, could be from any time or genre, ranging from Henry Mancini to South Park. And, with little tunes like fancier alarm tones, my brain wants to add lyrics to them. They range from nonsensical to unprintable but there you are. Sometimes it will just substitute part of a sentence: for instance, from this commercial from my childhood, I notice various other unlikely things that might be, … just enough to give your kids a treat.

For me, the most striking part is that, although I am neither musical nor lyrical in any competent sense, my brain clearly notices when an existing verbal phrase fits an existing line of music or vice versa. This suggests that I am indexing somewhat by syllable patterns, perhaps emphasis too; that would explain why, when I am trying to remember a word, I will typically have a good idea how many syllables it has. There's some cognitive architecture lesson here about how brains handle language, at least mine.