Habits

For anyone who caught the previous post early on, I really do know how to spell shepherd. I fell victim to the habit of typing "Shepard" so much in my family history endeavors, as it is the middle name of my great-great grandfather.

In my early years as a legal secretary for a law firm that dealt exclusively with matters pertaining to property, I typed the following phrase a few thousand times: "being that property more particularly described as". As a result, I can almost never correctly type the word "proper" the first time. It always ends up "property" and I have to go back and delete the "ty". Same with "particular". I always end up having to delete the "ly". Likewise, any word that begins with "wil" ends up being typed as my last name on the first pass.

I have a friend who cannot carry on a conversation without ending every other sentence with "and stuff". Drives me crazy and I want to reach out and pinch her when I hear it emerging from her lips. Amazing that you fail to hear in your own speech things that drive you crazy in others'.

I have had some success with breaking verbal patterns, but it is always a very difficult process and requires a lot of concentration. Usually I concentrate so hard in replacing the old verbal pattern with a new verbal pattern that I ultimately realize I've created a new bad habit and have to repeat the process to wipe out the new verbal pattern.

I have another acquaintance who has some kind of nasal problem and habitually makes a raucous sound in an effort to clear her head. Think Felix Unger and you will know what I mean. She's not even aware she's doing it but everyone around her has developed a nervous twitch in response.

Old habits. Annoying things and extremely hard to correct.

Shepherd. Shepherd. Shepherd.
Proper. Proper. Proper.
Particular. Particular. Particular.

And stuff.

{Honk}

LSW