My ability to recall old conversations

Post Reply New Topic

I am phenomenal at recalling conversations with people, no matter how recent or long ago it happened.

Now this can upset people, oddly.

It turns out that people don't like it when I repeat back to them exactly what they told me at an earlier time. A month, year, decade or twenty years, it doesn't matter, I remember them all.

Some people seem amazed when I do it and others get angry, one girl ( who claimed to be a medium ) was absolutely horrified by it.

Others try to deny their earlier comments to me, if those comments no-longer suit their new identity/view or whatever.

But still, it's a very handy string to one's bow, sometimes. It catches out liars like nobody's business as they nearly always forget what they've said in the past.

So I can remember who said what and when and where.

I bet I'm not the only one on here who can do this.

I have a certain tendency to do that- floor folks that I remember what someone said years ago.



Nothing good has ever resulted from the ability though. Just makes folks think you're strange.

The opposite sometimes happens as well though- someone remembers something I said weeks (or even years) before that I dont remember actually saying even though it may feel in-character to me for I to have said it( I dont remember saying out loud that Joe Blow is pathetic, but I mighta said that Joe Blow is pathetic cause thats what I think about him).

Well, you're right, nothing good has ever come of it.

Not yet anyway.

I live in hope.

You're not the only one, I can recall conversations too. People do tend to get a bit annoyed when I repeat back to them exactly what they said, word for word, contrary to what they may be saying now.

I have that tendency to remember everything too. Sometimes it is really an annoyance, and I don't want to remember that much detail.

I knew that there would be more people that could do this.

Well, on Wrongplanet at least.

I think I do this, too.
People seem to find it strange.

Yes, I have the same "problem" in that I remember clothes, conversations, etc even years later. I'm sure I can come across as a creep or a stalker because of it especially to women my own age.

I would love to have that gift of memory, but alas I can only do this when I am on super-high alert.

Let me give an example of the exact opposite of what you are speaking of: I spent two whole weeks with a friend after a very rough semester, with him and his parents in their house. I have no recollection of any of it.

My sister can do that. I can't. But it is annoying because people change. We are not constant. We will not have the same opinion today that we did in the past because circumstances change, we learn more, we grow as people. Our ideas do not stay constant. They fluctuate.

So when someone says, "but you said this last month, or 5 years ago and it contradicts what you say now," that is annoying because we've changed and they are not taking who we are now, what we have become, into consideration and it feels like the person recounting the memory is not listing to us or taking us seriously.

It can be incredibly useful in case someone tries to shift blame on you for some reason and you can recollect details that would put them in their place, though.

I have this, it annoys my mum to no end.

It was for this ability that my local police force asked me to partake in group meetings between themselves & ex-offenders.
Notes were not allowed to be taken during the meetings themselves, but a report had to be written up afterwards based on recall.

I was found to be the best at this job.

It's bizarre how people can reinterpret their own words and swear on their lives they said something completely different than what they actually said in the moment.

They will often get angry and refuse to admit to having said what I know for a fact they said, because I can not only quote the words, I can recreate the original inflection - I don't just remember WHAT they said, but also HOW they said it. They hate that.

I think for me, people are more surprised at the fact that I remembered conversations from long ago at all.

I don't always remember what I say, but I often do remember in detail what others said. Of course, only if I was paying attention at the time, though.