It sounds like your roommate had a very severe version of TS. Mine was at its worst when I was in grade school. I did everything from squinting my eyes and wiggling my nose to coughing and clearing my throat. I also would repeat sounds or words I heard without even realizing it. My ticks have changed throughout the years, which is common with the more mild cases. These days I crack my neck and roll my shoulders for the most part. Most people assume I have a stiff neck or something. Only the people who around me a lot notice that I do it all the time. Stress makes it worse too, so I try to stay as stress-free as possible. I also meditate a lot. I started that when I was a kid and it helped almost immediately.
Thanks for sharing all that with us/me Brie.
I'm glad that you have a much milder version of it.
Repeating sounds, words or phrases that have just been heard (or even read) in your presence is the symptom called "echo". I remember this very sad and somewhat amusing story from the dorm. I'll have to explain in order to understand why I describe it that way.
There was a rather cute and preppy guy who lived on the same floor of the building as my dorm room. But he lived in a different wing. He would occasionally come down the hall to visit those of us on the east wing. We'll say his name was "Aaron". We'll say my roommate's name was "Brian".
Now I was very much in the closet through most of college. From day one all the guys warned me that this Aaron guy was gay. (Based only on rumors and supposition of course) And that I needed to be careful and keep him at arm's length as it were. I thanked them for the warning. But he was still around a fair amount since he lived only about the length of a large city block away from our end of the hall. Aaron was very much gay but was trying to have a girlfriend to convince people (and perhaps himself) otherwise. Once I had come out 2 years later we saw each other fairly often in the gay clubs around town.
So at the time in question Aaron had started dating this woman and (surprise!) they had lots of problems. I have no idea why he came down to our end of the building to have an argument with his gf. But he did. It got really loud and nasty right out in the hallway. We recognized his voice but people were still craning their necks outside their doors to see the commotion they were hearing. Some guys actually walked out in the hall to watch. Even though they were standing and arguing loudly literally right outside my own door (Oh joy), my roommate (in his infinite wisdom) decided to step into the hall too. So he stood about 3 feet away from them and watched.
It was a stressful and tense drama so Brian's ticks were all the worse for it. Aaron yells to his gf, "Lisa. You're such a f**kin' bitch!!" Brian grunts, growls, beats his own chest with his right arm and says, "Shit! Dammit! F**kin' bitch! F**kin bitch!" Growl... It was mildly amusing in hindsight that the phrase Brian "echoed" was about the worst one possible. At the same time it was horrifying and embarrassing for everyone that the phrase he echoed was about the worst one possible. But he couldn't help it.
Aaron was even more angry and turned on Brian in a rage. He said, "G*d dammit Brian! I'm tired of you and your Brian talk!" Then a stunned awkward silence fell down the length of the hall, as Brian got more nervous and grunted and barked some more before coming back into the room. I felt so bad and embarrassed for him that I wanted to climb out the window. Awkward.......
