Unintentionally changing one word for another is called a slip of the tongue . According to Freudian theory, what we do is say what we really wanted to say . That is, we let our unconscious manifest itself. The question of why we say what we do not want can be discovered, for example, in an analysis session in which the patient associates this lapse with his past experiences.
Freud recounted that the president of the Austrian Chamber of Deputies opened the session one day by saying: "After verifying the presence in the room of a sufficient number of deputies, I declare the session closed", instead of considering it open as appropriate. For Freud, the president had a hidden desire to close it, as the meeting was expected to be conflictive.
