Malapropism

There are a lot of varying degrees of comfort in interpersonal relationships. Depending on how you feel about someone, you feel more at ease talking about certain taboo topics. Some topics might be avoided outright just to keep from complicating a simple friendship you really don't want to get too involved in. Certain good friends you may feel completely comfortable with to buy them a Christmas gift.

We all have our own little checklists for how involved you are in someone else's life. We take a weird sort of inventory every time we think about doing something that may be out of line. You wouldn't invite someone you just met on a cross-country road trip. You don't want to give a platonic friend flowers for any reason. A comic book geek like myself wouldn't want to take his new girlfriend to ComiCon.

Seinfeld popularized this whole agonization and system-building Americans deal with in their friendships and day-to-day relationships. I think it's made the country more neurotic.

The one benchmark I can tell I have, is that somehow, subconsciously, I start to talk incorrectly with the people I'm closest with. I'm very measured with my speech in day to day life. I use a lot of vocabulary words, most of which were drilled into my head in 8th grade by Ms. G. However, when I know I'm in the company of my best friends, I don't really think about what I am saying. A lot of things come out incorrect. Spoonerisms a lot of times. I've been known to say things like "This angries me" as well. I supposed my guard goes down and I don't worry about sounding like a jackass. By then, I think, my good friends already know I am.