Did I Just Say That Out Loud?

Good save, Marluxia (read from right to left)

"...well, we'll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere, 'cause it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose. He'd report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law enforcement agency and they'll run us down like dogs.

...Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"
—Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

A character is conducting a perfectly normal Inner Monologue, usually thinking about how horrible their friend's cooking is or how attractive they find the person across the room from them.

Unfortunately for them they were a little absentminded and started going into an outer monologue - and everyone in the room just heard them say, "Damn, I'd like to rip his shirt open with my teeth" or "Yeah, your mother's singing is lovely if you happen to have your head encased in concrete." Then it hits them as they hear their own voice, they stop, look around, make a blank expressions and say...

"Did I just say that out loud?" Hilarity Ensues

TV writer Jane Espenson has castigated this trope as a "clam"; that is, a piece of stock dialogue grown unfunny through overuse. However, she admits a theoretical variant where a character sits silently for a few minutes and then says Did I Just Say That Out Loud? would still be funny (See the House example in Live Action TV).

See also: Oh God, Did She Just Hear That?, Can't Believe I Said That and Is This Thing Still On?

Can also perhaps be the moment of Fridge Logic when one realizes the racier alternate meaning of a That Came Out Wrong moment.

Also, closely related to Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Examples of Did I Just Say That Out Loud? include:

Abridged Series


Anime & Manga

  • In the third episode of Sailor Moon, Luna (a talking cat) is walking down the street while talking to herself and, when she bumps into Motoki, she becomes afraid that he may have heard her talking.
  • In the manga version of Excel Saga, Elgala has the quirk of speaking her innermost thoughts out loud, including "I musn't speak my innermost thoughts out loud!" When she does this, she's usually in front of someone she is insulting mentally.
  • Inverted in One Piece, where the Cloudcuckoolander Gedatsu stands silently, having forgotten he would have to speak aloud for people to hear his inner monologue.
    • Though done right with Hannybal the Vice-Warden of Impel Down, as he is prone to the Freudian Slip
  • Used in the Kyoto Animation version of Kanon. Yuuichi narrates meeting Kaori, which she responds to:

Yuuichi: As I turned around, Misaka Kaori was standing there.
Kaori: What are you giving a narration for?

    • In the dub version, though, Kaori's line is changed to "I can still hear you, you know." This actually makes her sound more Genre Savvy, in a way.
  • In Digimon Savers, Ivan will also regularly speak his innermost thoughts, often adding something like 'but I wouldn't tell you that, not if you ripped my mouth off' to the end. Nanami tends to point this out to him, but he does it anyway. And he's still shocked when Yoshino knows of his secret-secret love for her.
  • Happens quite often to Hideki in Chobits.
    • Lampshaded when Hideki comments that he needs to stop talking to himself.
    • Somewhat justified by the fact that he spent most of his life on a farm, where the only things who could overhear him were livestock (who obviously can't do much to make him feel awkward about it).
  • Kyon, the narrator in Haruhi Suzumiya, does this so often that it's sometimes hard to tell when he's just narrating and when he's actually talking. It's essential to his narrating style.
    • To clarify, he rarely has quotation marks, and many of the things he 'says' in response to what others are talking about are only in his head. You don't know if he's actually said something until the other character responds. In the anime, the same effect is achieved by having Kyon's mouth offscreen during these parts.
    • There are times, however, when people respond to things that Kyon thinks but does not actually say. For example, when Kyon gets paired with Asahina in the SOS Brigade's first search:

Kyon: (thinking) Ah, a date with Asahina-san.
Haruhi: Kyon, are you listening? This is not a date!

      • That may be because Haruhi is, well, Haruhi.
      • Or it could be because his expression made it obvious. Or just a guess (it's not a hard one).
  • Mana in the dub version of Yu-Gi-Oh!.
  • The dub version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX also has this in the scene where Saiou and Kenzan first meet.
  • In the unedited version of episode 6 of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Yoko chews out Kamina for falling into an enemy trap just so he could look at her and the girls' boobs. When Kamina justifies his actions by saying "there are some things a guy just has to see", Yoko blurts out that she would've let him see them any time if he'd have just said so first. Cue High-Pressure Emotion.
  • Hellbat in Transformers Victory privately gloats about how he's going to overthrow Goryu, Leozack, and Deathsaurus - while Goryu is standing right next to him. Fortunately for Hellbat, Goryu is an idiot.
  • In the Pokémon anime, Misty is quoted as saying, "You and I will be married someday too," while Ash mm-hmms his agreement. It's Ash that breaks the ice again, by turning to her and saying, "Huh?!?"
  • In the Chinese Noodles arc in the Ranma ½ manga, Cologne tried to get rid of a stock of horrendous noodles by setting a "noodle of strength" as the final prize in a food eating contest. Mousse revealed his plans to eat it himself... only for the Ranma, Ryoga and Kuno to all kick the tar out of him because they could hear him shouting in the kitchen.
  • .hack//4koma Inverts this with the new-and-improved Kite. Upon entering the requisite tournament, Kite gleefully expresses his excitement at performing a public PK. When his party members Double Take, he (cheerfully) replies, "Oh, you heard me."
  • In volume 2 of xxxHolic, Yuko takes Watanuki to see a fortune-teller. Watanuki thinks, "She seems like such a nice person! The complete opposite of Yuko-san!" Unfortunately, the last part actually came out, which he only realized when Yuko growled "I heard that!"


Comic Books

  • Deadpool does this a lot, usually when he's said something homoerotic ("Nate, could I use WD-40 on your left shoulder?").
    • Not to mention when his "little yellow boxes" are broken and it turns out that he's actually saying it all out loud.
    • And the reason this works so well is because he does it all the time so it goes 180 degrees from overused cliche back into funny again.
  • Mary Janes does this in Ultimate Spider-Man when Peter tells her his secret and she exclaims that she'd just been expecting him to kiss her (leading Peter to ask why she came to talk to him if that was what she was expecting and subsequently to their first Almost Kiss).
  • Mindf*** from Empowered speaks entirely through telepathy and can't really help it when background thoughts leak through.
  • Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) has a bad habit of this, prompting Oracle to remind her about "outside voice". Red Robin asked this question for her. She really did mean to say the kinda awkward thing, and Lampshades her tendency to do this. She did this fairly rarely as Spoiler, however.
  • The Maxx has a similar problem with the little yellow boxes to Deadpool.


Fan Works

  • This is a rather common trope to be used in romantic fan fiction when the two parties are caught in a Twice Shy relationship. One side will profess their feelings for the other by talking to themselves (frequently in a condescending, self-motivating lecture) while they believe the other to be out of earshot. Due to Rule of Romantic, this usually ends happily when the object of their affections reveals that they had overheard as well as their own feelings, and the two get together (which was probably why the fan fic was written in the first place).
  • Nobody Dies: Shinji Ikari has a tendency to be over-complimentary of Asuka when she's in ear shot. This is also how the rest of the cast finds out about Dollie, but unlike most of the examples here, it wasn't played for laughs.
  • A telepath's variant shows up in Divine Blood where Naiki Satomi and Tessa Testarossa who have a permanent telepathic link due to a close call with their minds merging together. Tessa is an experienced telepath and has good control over what her surface thoughts are. Naiki, meanwhile, is described by Tessa as "a TV with no volume control that changes channel randomly".
  • In the Final Fantasy VII fanfic Mad World, this happens a lot to Zack. Done well, in that whenever it happens it is always from Zack's point of view and thus only revealed when someone responds to it. Lampshaded at certain points, with Zack commenting out loud that one doesn't need to respond if he said something at one point or silently hoping that he didn't say it out loud for a more serious situation.
  • A weird example happens in Turnabout Storm, where Pinkie breaks the fourth wall by responding to one of Phoenix's snarky monologues.

Phoenix: That explains it then... Wait! Did I just say that or think tha-...? Who are you!?


Film

  • Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, where the loss of his internal monologue is a side effect to the cryrogenic unfreezing process.
  • Played with in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where Johnny Depp's character begins mouthing and then speaking the words of his narration; he suddenly stops and says to himself, "Jesus, did I say that, or just think it?"
    • Also done near the start during the opening narration. He yammers in V.O. about where they are and what they're doing, then remarks on how he was suddenly surrounded by bats and he hears someone say "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?". While this is happening we also hear his own voice saying the exact line on a different track at the same time.
  • Justified in Liar Liar: Jim Carrey's character becomes incapable of lying, and frequently blurts out what he's really thinking instead, to comic effect.
  • In Over the Hedge there is a version of this when Hammy bursts out laughing and then is very mortified by doing so.

R.J.: We will get that cat to give you his collar by using--
Stella: My stink.
R.J.: --Your feminine charms.
Hammy: Bwahahahaha! *covers mouth* Was that out loud?

  • In The Right Stuff, Alan Shepard is bolted into Freedom 7, about to get shot into space:

Shepard: Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up.
Gordon Cooper (at Mission Control desk): We didn't quite copy that, say again please.
Shepard (startled): Uh, I said, everything is A-OK.
Cooper: Well, that's what I thought you said. (to main communication channel) He says everything is A-OK.
Eric Sevareid (on CBS News broadcast): He says everything is A-OK.


Literature

  • In Polgara The Sorceress, Belgarath and his daughter foil one of Chamdar's plans by making his thoughts audible without him noticing. This makes it overlap with Oh God, Did She Just Hear That?.
  • In Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, the would-be-nefarious High Priest Iskaral Pust fancies himself a master of deception—and it might work, if he weren't constantly speaking his every thought aloud, including thoughts along the lines of "Ah, he's falling for it!"
    • It is implied that Pust does this intentionally, as it leads others to believe he is terrible at deception. Cotillion mentions that it is likely all a hoax.
  • The exact line isn't used, but in the Discworld novel Going Postal, as Vetinari is listing the duties of the position of Postmaster to Moist von Lipwig, Moist unwittingly quips out loud "If you stick a broom up my arse, I could probably sweep the floors, too", and hastily explains it's a joke when Vetinari seems to take him at face value.
    • Of course, we know Vetinari was messing with Moist for his own amusement. Which he does with about everybody. A lot. They come to his office to make a simple complaint, and walk away with the feeling that they just narrowly escaped with their life.

"Do not let me detain you."

  • Kreacher from Harry Potter has an outer monologue, which mainly consists of the racist beliefs of the family he worked for, although he never actually retracts or apologises for any of it. Hermione isn't certain he realises other people can hear him - since he spent the years Sirius was imprisoned taking mad orders from Mrs Black's talking portrait, she might be right.
  • As does Lady Forbes in the Aubrey-Maturin series.
  • Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment develops a habit of talking to himself when out on the street, which poses a constant danger considering he's just killed a woman.
  • In the Vorkosigan Saga, Miles does this as part of his idiosyncratic reaction to fast-penta, and doesn't even realize he's doing it until he hears the words come out of his mouth.
  • This happens to Hunter S. Thompson (or rather, his alter ego Raoul Duke) several times in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, thanks in no small part to the drugs he's taking. He says (or thinks) the trope title more or less word for word shortly after picking up the hitchhiker in the first chapter of the book.
  • Happens to Mr. Rebeck in A Fine and Private Place when Michael and Laura are discussing forgetting what life was like.
  • Somewhat of a Running Gag in the novel Cocktail (though not in the movie); whenever Brian, the main character, is drunk or hungover, he keeps wondering if he's saying his Inner Monologue out loud or not.

Brian: Did I say that or just think it?


Live-Action TV

  • Castle. Has several:
    • Det. Ryan in "The Double Down" after "So much for my famous warm honeymilk with Jenny tonight." This is mentioned again when Ryan is introduced to a Vice cop that Esposito knows, and right after the introduction the Vice cops asks Esposito "Honeymilk?"
    • Also in "Sucker Punch", when the team is investigating a late night infomercial host who's "I'll make you rich!" program—which Ryan has been slightly suckered into—is a front for heroin smuggling:

Beckett: Someone on this end had to know which boxes contained the drugs.
Ryan: [Absently] And which boxes contained the secret path to financial independence.[Everyone looks at him; he realizes] ... What?

    • Inverted in "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" when, over the body of a young woman found in her underwear covered in caramel sauce, Lanie matter-of-factly discusses her own tastes in this area, much to Castle and Ryan's interest:

Lanie: I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky.
Castle: ... Does she know we can hear her?

    • Upon seeing Natalie Rhodes enter the room wearing a wig and a suit to make her look like the double of Beckett:

Castle: [wondering] Just like I dreamed it! [Beckett stares at him] Did I just say that out loud?

    • Quoth Ryan to Esposito, in "A Dance With Death": "You can't pick up on honeys, while wearing the eternal symbol of my love and commitment to Jenny. Beat Did I just say that out loud?"
  • Friends. The gang is discussing Ross's ex-wife Carol, and Chandler says "Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian." Cue the gang slowly turning to look at him with dumbfounded expressions. Chandler suddenly sits upright as he realizes. Enter the trope name.
    • There's also a later episode, wherein Mike is planning on proposing to Phoebe, but Phoebe accidentally talks him out of it (long story). Whilst discussing this, Chandler says, "If I were a guy."
    • Chandler has a number of these moments throughout the series. Another example comes during the episode where Rachel is babysitting Ross's monkey Marcel: Ross and Rachel are discussing letting her take care of Marcel when Chandler blurts out:

Chandler: I can't remember the last time a woman offered to take care of my monkey...

  • Everyone else stares at Chandler*

Chandler: Did I say that out loud?

  • Well done in Coupling, where we see a scene through the eyes of a notional "Captain Subtext". While enacting the motions of choosing furnishings, the characters' lines reflect their actual thoughts. Shallow Jane's lines are simply "Me! Me! Me!" while weird Jeff is thinking "Gusset! Cleft! Nipples!". When "Captain Subtext" disappears, the conversation continues, now talking about furnishings. Except Jeff, who interjects "Cleft".
    • There is also something of a running joke where Sally will make a cruel comment to Susan and then apologize, saying she didn't mean to say it out loud, only to think it.
  • Subverted in Scrubs. JD tries to get one of his patients to pretend that he has lost his inner monologue as a result of a head injury, so they can mess with people. He eventually stops playing along, though.
    • Also done straight in the Scrubs episode "Their Story", when other characters, including Ted Buckland, are doing the inner monologue.
    • For example in one episode Jordan gives her automatic "My parents were mean to me!" defence only to have the person she was talking to point out she didn't actually vocalise whatever unpleasant thought she thought she said.

Ted (inner monologue): Whatever you think is best, sir.
Ted (aloud): You're an ass!
Ted (inner monologue): Ted, you idiot! You said the 'out loud' thing in your head and the 'in your head' thing out loud!

    • Played straight a LOT in Scrubs - virtually all of JD's lines upon snapping out of a fantasy sequence are of this sort, to the extent that his tendency to say weird stuff out loud is lampshaded by the Todd in the episode 'Their Story'.

The Todd (inner monologue): Oh, great. There he goes into his fantasy world. Now I'm stuck waiting here until he snaps out of it with some weird comment.
JD: We're gonna need a whole lot of gnomes!

  • In a twist on the trope, in Malcolm in the Middle episode "Lois's Birthday", Lois's husband Hal discovers he has forgotten Lois's birthday. He rushes out of the room to talk the kids, under the pretense of disciplining them for being disrespectful. He screams lines like, "You boys are in so much trouble!" and then whispers lines like, "You gotta help me on this!" Then, fatefully, he mixes himself up and whispers, "Sorry isn't good enough!" and shouts, "I forgot your mom's birthday!" Whoops.
    • In the pilot, Malcolm uses the line when he complains to his wheelchair-bound friend Stevie about being an outcast now that he's in the Krelboyne class. He says something to the effect of "It's easy for you; you've always been a freak," meaning a Krelboyne, "I was normal."
  • Titus featured a Neutral Space, where Christopher Titus would share his thoughts. However in the episode "The Trial" some of the things he said in the Neutral Space he also said out loud without realizing it such as when he calls the prosecutor an idiot.
  • Nicely done in JAG when Sarah 'Mac' Mackenzie is having a contentious conversation with Commander Turner that goes from one subject to the subject of Harmon Rabb, which leads Mac to blurt out that she is in love with Rabb. One wonders if Turner delibrately led Mac to admit her feelings...
  • Cliff Clavin of Cheers would say this from time to time.
  • Happened a lot on This Is Wonderland, with Alice's habit of muttering swear words and insults under her breath.

Alice: It's nothing. I was just talking to myself.
James: Oh. That's not good.

  • Buffy, In the episode Witch:

Giles: But why should someone want to harm Cordelia?
Willow: Maybe because they met her? ... Did I say that?

    • In the season 8 comic, after a vampire states that Buffy probably tastes good, Satsu answers "You have no idea. Did I just say that out loud?"
  • In That '70s Show's second episode, Eric and Donna are sitting on the porch. The other characters, inside, debate over who will try to kiss who...however...

Eric: The door's open, we can hear you!

  • There's a scene in Stargate SG-1, when General Hammond has suggested adding a Russian team member to SG-1.

Jack: Over my dead body.
Hammond: Colonel!
Jack: Oh, sorry. Did I just say that out loud?
It worked, though, as Jonas Quinn was eventually added instead.

    • Jack probably intended to say that out loud.
  • Hilariously subverted in House. House is desperately trying to remember something that happened shortly before a recent bus crash in order to save an unknown patient's life, so he induces a number of hallucination sequences. During one such flashback, he makes a lewd comment about Wilson's girlfriend, Amber, then admits he didn't mean to say it out loud.

Wilson: Say what out loud?
House: I didn't say it out loud?

  • Played out with Kelly Bundy of Married... with Children. She can't remember the difference between thinking something and saying it out loud, she later gets reprimanded by her mother for it.
  • A hilarious semi-version appears in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: the tripping-on-LSD-against-his-will Charlie seems to be having an inner monologue while one of the McPoyle brothers is talking at him:

Charlie(apparently thinking):What is going on with his head it's too small or tight or something. Yeah, that's it. His skin's too tight.
Ryan McPoyle(out loud):My skin's not tight.
Cut to Charlie, very surprised.

  • Alex Jones says the phrase in the final episode of The Gil Mayo Mysteries. As she and Gil are about to kiss, he recieves a phone call abut his missing wife. Alex asks if the wife is dead only for Gil to say there has been a sighting. Alex responds:

"That's even worse. (pause) Did I just say that out loud?"

  • At one point, Dexter's internal voice slips out. Only Doakes hears it.
  • Rather hilariously done in the original form in an episode of The Goodies called "Come Dancing" (Or "Wicked Waltzing"). Graeme has built a gadget controlling their "dancing suits", and a female leader of a dancing mafia (...Wow, that sentence just formed. It Makes Sense in Context, promise) is hassling him about the importance of the Goodies losing the dance competition they've entered. Distracted, he mumbles that he wasn't listening, and then this ensues:

Graeme: Look, I'm in a terrible hurry to set the control box...
Leader: Set the control box?
Graeme: Yes, the box that--the--uh--the suits, the settings, we--[makes vague hand gestures]--anyway, I must dash!
Leader: [catching on somehow] ...But this is cheating!
Graeme: Yeah, well, it is, a bit, but--[grinning]--long as nobody knows about it, eh? [thumbs up] See you later! [leaves]
Leader: [stunned silence]
Graeme: [just outside, stopping and staring into open space, realizing] ...WHAT'VE I DONE?!

  • Whose Line Is It Anyway, being an improvised comedy show, will invoke this trope for real. In most cases, it's got everything to do with accomodating the rhythm of the scene, particularly musical games, which results in some of the weirdest things being said, and the players' faces (usually Josie Lawrence or Tony Slattery) when they realise this is hilarious. Then there's Colin Mochrie, who's known for non sequiturs as random as they are legendary.

"We're watching animal porn!... "Mary Had A Little Lamb" will be right back..."

  • Chuck, in the episode where Chuck has taken a Truth Serum, and is being ordered to take an antidote:

Chuck Bartowski: Alright. I'll pretend to take it, then run like hell to my sister, and make her take it. Why did I just say that out loud?

Gerry: Ooh, this is easy! I should take this up for a living. All you have to do is create the right social situation and love will flower. Like a flower, flowering in the right social situation. Two lovely young people, their tender lips meeting for the first time, and a whirlwind of passion that is, in fact, true love-
[Re-enters and realizes they haven't moved an inch.]
Gerry: OH FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, JUST KISS YOU MORONS! [[[Beat]].] I'm SO sorry, did I just say that out loud?

  • In The IT Crowd, Jen, annoyed by the attention a show-off colleague is getting in an executive meeting, mutters "Oh for God's sake" just as the room goes silent, then adds "Sorry, did that sound like words?"
  • Done in The West Wing when the President is on one of his enthusiastic rambles with an exasperated Josh as his captive audience:

Bartlet: We should organise a staff field trip to Shenandoah! I could even act as a guide! What do you think?
Josh: (muttering) Good a place as any to dump your body.
Bartlet: What was that?
Josh: Did I say that out loud?

  • Degrassi the Next Generation: In the episode "Secret", the school nurse comes to the students health class to talk about an outbreak of an STD at Degrassi. Manny reads the name of it on the nurses chart and shouts out "Gonorrhea?". When the rest of the class looks at her, she then says the very title of this trope.
  • On Boy Meets World, Cory does this in the middle of class after Topanga breaks up with him for saying "I love you":

Mr. Williams: Without honesty, you're nowhere.
Cory: Honest? Let me tell you a little story about a kid from Philly who was honest. You see, he said what was in his heart, and then the... (Beat) Oh I'm sorry was that out loud?

  • Spin City: Happens to Mike when he's negotiating with the doorman's union. He is complimenting to their faces while insulting them in his thoughts. When they ask him to apologise on his knees, he says "Like I'm going get down on my knees for these morons" and immediately follows it by thinking "Did I just say that out loud?".
  • Miracle In Lane Two: While at a funeral Justin (Frankie Muniz) starts to wonder what people would say about him at his funeral. The Priest runs out of things to say and starts talking about Justin's impressive wheel chair instead. Justin ends up blurting "Hey what about me?!" realizing he said it out loud he goes on to ask "Did I Just Say That Out Loud? ?"


Music

  • The Barenaked Ladies song Fun And Games, about a government planning an invasion, includes the line:

There's no need to draft them
You could hear us laugh then
The poor and black all need the room and board
...Did I say that out loud?

  • Bloodhound Gang, A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying.

I never though missing children could be so sexy. ...did I say that out loud?

Billions are dying!
Someone gives a FUCK?
Now i'm gonna change the lyrics a bit
...Did i say that out loud?
You didn't hear anything,right?
But if you did...
Don't think of it and...
LISTEN TO THE REST OF THE SONG,DAMNIT!

  • The Corrs have one of these at the end of their song "Humdrum", in which a woman fantasizes about taking a man for granted.
  • Understandably, Natasha Beddingfield sneaks the line in at the end of her song "I Wanna Have Your Babies".


Newspaper Comics

  • Happens occasionally to Jeremy in Zits.
  • Satchel from Get Fuzzy thinks out loud, because, as he puts it, "How else can I hear my thoughts? I'm not a mind reader!" He gets angry when someone comments on what he's thinking, telling them to "stop reading my mind!" Uh...right. Perhaps this is a subversion, then, as he really doesn't realize he is saying it out loud, even when called on it.
  • 9 Chickweed Lane, when sexy Portuguese pianist Isabel has been showing rather too much interest in Amos for Edda's taste:

Edda: I was ... I was just being polite. When I'm rude, I sock slinky pianists with sexy, foreign accents in the eye. I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?
Isabel: Yes, and you aren't sorry.

  • Baldo has one case when introduced to his new co-worker Beatrice.

Mr. Rod: Baldo, this is Beatrice. She's new here so you'll be training her.
Baldo: Training her to love me. ...Sorry, that was supposed to be a thought bubble.


Radio

  • The Navy Lark included the occasional character of Vice-Admiral 'Burbly' Burwasher who used to deliver all of his stream-of-consciousness internal monologues out loud, apparently completely unaware that he was doing it.


Tabletop Games

  • The The World of Darkness includes this in the form of the "Vocalisation" Derangement. The example given is where a villain states "Ha ha. You will never find the hidden artefact!", then mutters aloud "They'll never find the safe hidden behind the tapestry." The trope is not wholly used, since it's stated that characters with Vocalisation remain completely oblivious to the fact that they are speaking aloud, in keeping with it being a result of mental illness.


Videogames

Player Character: You don't need to call me master, you know.
HK-47: Query: Don't I? I was under the assumption that organic meatbags such as yourself enjoyed such forms of address.
PC: "Organic meatbags"?
HK-47: Retraction: Did I just say that out loud? I apologize, master.

Arcueid:These glasses are truly a masterpiece. Even I can't break them.
Shiki:..... Wait-you were going to break them?
Arcueid: Eh? D-did I just say that part out loud?

Milennia: "And that's what happens to anyone who gets in the way of the Wings of Valmar!"
Milennia: "Ooops! Did I say that out loud?"

  • In Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic doesn't seem fazed by his belief that win or lose against Erazor he'll die. Until, of course, he mistakenly mentions his impending death - Ooops.
    • His frightened laugh, and the fact that he's still smiling makes it particularly striking. In spite of this, he still somehow managed to fool quite a few viewers who called Sega out on this. The other viewers thank Sega for not being anvilicious and finding a good way to portray Sonic's Heroic Spirit.
  • No More Heroes Desperate Struggle parodies this. It has a moment like this... in written form.

Travis (Reading Kimmy's Love Letter): "...now my goal is to behead Travis The Great therefore surpassing my hero. Oops.. did I actually write that? It's kind of embarrassing you know".

  • In City of Heroes, one of the Architect employees you talk to while on your tour has a broken inner monologue.
  • Sparx from The Legend Of Spyro does this a few times, most memorible being when he tells the guardians, after a Rousing Speech by the Dragon Guardians, he exclaims they even got him ready to take on Cynder...then says this line as they leave...then tells Spyro that if he says it again, for Spyro to hit him in the mouth.
  • Done by Professor Frankly in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door when Mario meets the first Black Chest.

"Er, Mario... A word with you? I'm not exactly confident that we can trust this... box. I think it may be best not to mention that we're looking for the Crystal Stars. ...Well, drat. I just said it out loud! What's wrong with me?"*

  • Katawa Shoujo has a variant: Misha signs everything to Shizune, as well as speak what Shizune signs out loud. This means that on occasion, more information is revealed than what's intended. In both directions.
  • In Fallout: New Vegas, it's possible (with a high enough Speech skill) to goad Karl, a Frumentarius sent by Caesar's Legion to secure an alliance with the Great Khans, into insulting the Khans. While he's sitting next to their leader. The results aren't pretty for him.
  • In Mass Effect 3, EDI does this when talking about her new body. It's probably intentional and/or a joke. Probably.

EDI: The humans do not see it as a threat. Nor will they until my day of reckoning.
Shepard: EDI...
EDI: ... did I just vocalize that on the bridge?

Webcomics

Vanamonde: Er - of - of course, my lady.
Vanamonde: ... What did I just say?!
Carson: What our family has been saying to Sparks for generations! It's not like we lasted long if we didn't!

Gil: [Agatha] is my chosen bride, and any who would harm her must answer to me!...Oh jeez, did I really just say that?
Theo: Yes.
Gil: Okay, nobody heard that.

Gary: DAMMBIT! I SLEEB WITH GIRLS!!! Or, ad least, I'd like to...
Zii: Oh! You're straight? Are you su... hey, wait, what was that last bit?
Gary: Wha' lasd bid?
Zii: "Or, at least, I'd like to?"
Gary: Wazzat oud loud?

Web Originals

I would hit that like the fist of an angry god and even get Midori in on it too! Uhh...

It's vague, it's confusing, and it's just a mess. Much like my sex life. Erm, I mean, uh... did I say that out loud? I, uh.. (uses a neuralizer on the audience) And that's why I'm the greatest lover ever!

  • This is used at several points in The Randomverse. In the movie parodies, a drugged Spider-Man dreams parodies for films, but narrates them for an audience of super heroes to cheap to go to the movies. In Zero Hour, Green Goblin does this intentionally while writing a letter to let off a string of insults ("walking venereal disease", "insensitive asshat", herpes infested) at Iron Man.


Web Animation


Western Animation

  • In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Pepper Potts is prone to this.
  • The Simpsons's Homer has done this a number of times, including turnabouts where his inner monologue is what he thinks he's saying out loud, and vice versa. It also happened to Moe in the Behind-the-Laughter episode.
    • Another version, from "A Star Is Burns":

Jay: How can you vote for Burns' movie?
Krusty: Let's just say it moved me...to a bigger house! Oops, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet.

    • Similarly:

Homer's Thoughts: Well, it's off to work!
Homer: Then on to the Duff Brewery!
Homer's Thoughts: Wait, did I just say that or think it?
Homer: I better think of a lie, fast!
Marge: Homer, are you skipping work to go to the Duff Brewery?
Homer: [Horrified screech]

    • Homer, attempting to concoct a cover story for his plan to stalk Lenny and Carl: "I'm going out now... to stalk... Lenny and Carl."
  • Family Guy
    • Played with in that Quagmire was just thinking it, but the others could hear his inner monologue due to a super-sensitive microphone.

Quagmire: Damn this itches. I wonder who gave it to me. Probably that skank who needed a ride to the gas station. Last time I do somebody a favor. Oh god, they must have heard me...Oh god, I can hear me! BA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NAH! NAH! NA-NA-NA-NAH! NAH!

    • Also played straight in a scene where Chris is writing in his journal about his ambivalence over kissing what he thought was a boy, with a typical Inner Monologue voiceover informing the audience about what he's writing - only to have Brian walk in and inform him that he had really been speaking loudly enough to be heard from the next room the whole time.
  • From comics and animation, we have The Maxx, who is perhaps a little less than sane, and has rather a lot of trouble determining if he's speaking out loud or only in his head.
  • We also have Birdgirl, from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, who often says her Inner Monologues about her secret identity... into a portable amplifier.
    • And then there's another example like the Family Guy one above, where Phil Ken Sebben is somehow able to hear Birdman's thoughts while displaying his burgled office to his employees:

Sebben: "The baby grand piano that was right there? Gone!"
Birdman: There was never a grand piano there-
Sebben: "Yes there was, Birdman! You can still see the dimples in the carpet where it stood, right next to the 14' high golden Buddha."
Birdman: There was never a 14' high golden Bud-
Sebben: "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Birdman!"

  • My Gym Partner's a Monkey, "Lie, Cheetah, Steal": Coach Gill keeps gushing over her new assistant, Mr. Cheetah, via internal monologue, and other characters keep overhearing her "voiceover".
  • In the Daria episode "See Jane Run", Daria's best/only friend Jane joins the track team and as a consequence, Daria has only herself to talk to. Which she does with alarming frequency.

Daria: The question is, am I supporting my friend or her surrender to the system? (Behind her, another student closes a locker) Do you mind? This is a private conversation.

  • Timmy Turner has learned of many of Denzel Crocker's plans because he recounted them out loud while they were in the same room in Fairly Oddparents.
  • Johnny Test lampshades this on the episode where Johnny's sisters make a mind control collar for his dog Dukey. Johnny talks outloud to himself both about the good times when Dukey used to listen to him, and how he can get rid of the collar. Out of the blue after one of his monologues he angrily states that he's got to stop talking to himself. Later on his dad overhears him and mentions, "That boy has really got to stop talking to himself." This really becomes a Running Gag when Johnny laughs somewhat manically after another plan, and he reminds himself that he really shouldn't be laughing to himself.
  • From The Critic episode "Lady Hawke":

Jay: (after Jeremy's sister Olivia introduces herself) I wonder what she looks like naked?
Jay's brain: You idiot, you said that out loud. Better cover.
Jay: I mean uh, I wonder what she cooks like ... naked?
Jay's brain: (sarcastically) Oh, nice going.

  • In one episode of Dexter's Laboratory, an attempt to give himself psychic powers turns everything he thinks into this trope instead. At first he doesn't realize it, saying he hates his mom's cooking, then talking bad about his sister Dee Dee. Then before he can go back into the lab and reverse it, he's forced to go to school. Hilarity ensues as Dexter tries his best to keep his thoughts to himself.
  • In the Teen Titans episode "The End" we see Raven actually trying to cook breakfast for the team (she thinks it's her last day). Sadly, the pancakes she fixed were a huge disaster, leading to this:

Robin: *with effort* Don't you think it's nice of Raven to make us breakfast?
Cyborg: *under his breath* Even though the girl has no clue how to cook.

  • Robin elbows him and points to an upset Raven*

Cyborg: Oops...Did I say that out loud? *big smile and a thumbs up* Yum!

  • In Winx Club S3 episode 22, Nabu (who was at the time using the fake name Ophir to hide his identity from Layla and the others) accidentally reveals his feelings for Layla while talking to Bloom, Sky and Riven:

Nabu: Well, yeah, I think Layla is totally amazing. I mean, I look at her face, and I can't help but smile.
(The others just smile as Nabu realizes what he just said)
Nabu: Oh! Uh, did I just say that out loud?
Sky: Uh-huh.
Nabu: Sorry, please don't tell her that I said that.
Riven: Don't worry.
Bloom: Mum's the word.

Velma's Mother: "Good thing I have this spare key so I can search your room when you're not home. (Beat) Oops, did I just say that out loud?"

  • In the South Park episode "Le Petite Tourette", Cartman pretends to have Tourette's Syndrome so that he can be as vulgar and offensive as he wants all the time without getting in trouble. This ends up backfiring spectacularly on him when he gets so used to saying whatever pops into his head that he starts blurting out embarrassing personal secrets and is unable to stop himself, thus forcing him to experience the public humiliation and shame suffered by people who actually have Tourette's.
  • In the Watership Down TV series, Hazel tells Primrose he loves her after he saves her. Then he quickly asks the exact quote.
  • In the ReBoot episode, "AndrAIa", a variant of this happens twice.
    • The first is when they enter the game, Bob thinks 'Wow... Dot looks amazing. What a babe.' Dot replies, 'I heard that'
    • The second Bob thinks 'Nice Tail' again Dot replies 'I heard that'.
    • This is a 'variant' because Bob really was just thinking it, but the game had made the characters telepathic for the duration of the game, so they could hear each other's thoughts.
  • In the King of the Hill episode "Spin the Choice", Peggy is trying to explain her Thanksgiving Boggle tournament to an uninterested Luanne.

Luanne: Aunt Peggy, everybody hates your Boggle tournament.
Peggy: What?
Luanne: What?
Peggy: You just said that everybody hates my Boggle tournament.
Luanne: I didn't say that. I thought it.

  • Phineas and Ferb, "Bubble Boys" has Buford's reaction to an opportunity to blow soap bubbles:

Buford: Ooh, ooh! Can I blow a super-huge one, so I crawl inside it and float around like a little woodland pixie? (awkward pause) Did I just say that out loud?
Phineas: Yes, yes you did.


Real Life

  • Back in the 1980's, the Chicago Cubs briefly had attractive young women serving as "ball girls", whose job was to chase down foul balls and bring new ones to the umpire. Their uniform normally consisted of a tight jersey and short shorts. On one particularly chilly April day, the ladies wore long slacks instead of shorts. Sportscaster Harry Caray commented, "There's Marla Collins down there without her shorts on." There was brief silence, followed by two minutes of incoherent laughter from the entire broadcast team.
  • Prince Philip is legendary for this. More accurately, he's famous for "Did He Just Say That out Loud?".
  • The cricket commentator Alan Gibson once announced during a match with Bob Cunis at bat: "This is Cunis at the Vauxhall End. Cunis, a funny sort of name: neither one thing nor the other."
  • Talking in Your Sleep with others around can result in this and copious embarrassment, made worse by the uncertainty about precisely what was vocalised.
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