Freudian slips are unintended words or phrases that may indicate underlying intentions. They were originally seen as a way to access repressed wishes, but may also be due to language learning, exhaustion, or other factors. While the term is still used today, it is often used in a joking manner and may not necessarily reflect deeper meanings.
When words come out of your mouth that you didn’t mean to say, did you really say them in some repressed part of you? Are they the expression of semiconscious or repressed desires, or simply a slip of the tongue? We call these unintended words and phrases a Freudian slip, expressing that somewhere deep inside, we mean what we didn’t mean. Sigmund Freud described this phenomenon, calling it Fehlleistung in German and parapraxis in English.
The words translate as wrong action and other action, respectively, and Freud’s explanation for the now-called Freudian slip is that these slips of the word often indicated the underlying intention, even if they were very small. For the analyst, such slips were excellent news as they could give the analyst a direction in which to take therapy or indicate something in the patient’s mind that needed discussion. Unlike today, where a Freudian slip can often be seen as sexually motivated or as a vehicle for double entendres, Freud did not necessarily attribute a sexual motivation to these things. Instead they were simply a window that might reflect a deeper meaning or a way to get to the feelings behind the words.
Sometimes the Freudian slip is misinterpreted as an expression of our unconscious desires. This is difficult to understand if one takes Freudian analysis seriously, as the ego could not access the unconscious mind so easily. Instead these slips should be understood as an expression of repressed wishes, which are not so deeply rooted in unconscious thought processes. They may be semiconscious but are not fully realized by the person making a Freudian slip.
On the other hand, Freud’s theory is not proven. What we say could be due to the language we have learned, simple mistakes in speaking or processing grammar, exhaustion, excessive alcohol use, or a variety of other things. Furthermore, if the interpretation of the slip falls on another person, his interpretation of speech may be completely different from that of the speaker. If someone always interprets other people’s speech as sexually based in some way, it is possible that the slip of the tongue is the interpreter and not the speaker.
In the modern sense, the term Freudian slip is not much overanalyzed. If we accidentally say something wrong and are aware of it, we can quickly add “Freudian slip” to make fun of our linguistic errors. In this sense, we could be joking about our intent or being serious. Much depends on the circumstances under which such slips occur.
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