This sounds like when my t says to me, ah you sound like your mother! And the next thought in his head is, get away from me. It's complicated. Kudos to you for seeing it for what it is, and not taking it personally. But basically, t is getting the message I am mimicking from my mother, the message I heard from my mother and now THINK I am expressing differently, but if that expression is difficult for me, it probably sounds more like her than like what I really wanted to say. My benchmark question to t is, whenever he gets on a plane, to ask him if he's going to stop by my apartment on the way home. He claims the first time I said it, it sounded like a demand. I think he's nuts!!