"I was thinking in my head..."

[auserna]

Or, "in my mind I thought..."

I mean where else would you be thinking? Your left arse cheek? We don't say, "I was walking with my feet," or "I blinked with my eyelids," do we?

AIBU to find this tautology ridiculous and a bit annoying? (And no, I don't have anything better to do today.)

It is inelegant, and I think what makes it so is the redundance of the words "in my head".

YABU, I have never heard anyone say this.

I have only ever heard people say 'I was thinking...' or 'in my head...'

Never 'I was thinking in my head....'

eg; I say 'I was thinking, we could go to Llandudno instead of Barmouth, as it's easier to get to.'

And 'In my head Sarah's son is still a toddler. I can't believe he's 25, and a dad himself now! How the years have flown by!'

We all do or say things that annoy others though. Plus people say they are thinking out loud so I guess it’s kind of logical

If I were to say I was thinking in my mind, it would be to emphasise that I knew I hadn't actually said anything, (and therefore acknowledging that the other person couldn't have been expected to be a mind reader).
So usually after a miscommunication.

A prime example of this being the misuse of the word "literally".

Ha ha! This reminds me of something my husband used to tease me about. I'd say things like: "I think the Queen said that when she was alive".

Well, duh! But I know what I meant...

That's not fair - you can't say I'm BU just because you haven't heard it! I haven't made it up - in fact I could point you to a thread from today where it's used. You must just associate with very elegant speakers.

I have no objection to either of your examples.

You are being unreasonable because I don't believe people often say these things, you've decided for yourself why people think you are unreasonable, and you dismissed the very similar examples such as seeing something with your own eyes, in which the "own eyes" part is also redundant.

When my DD was little she used to say “I’ve got a good idea in my head!” And we still say this as a family ❤️

I wouldn't have started the thread if I hadn't heard people say this multiple times.

And I've already explained why I think "seeing something with your own eyes" is not equivalent.

‘Thinking out loud’ is also a thing!