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Joe90
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31 Oct 2011, 4:52 pm

I'm not really a logical/literal thinker. I've always been able to understand jokes and idioms and all other forms of humour, even as a child. But sometimes I think things the logical way just for fun, to make me laugh, even though I really know what they mean and I show them that I know what they mean. Not sure if other Aspies do this, or if you really take things the literal/logical way.

For example, I usually go job-hunting with my friend which seems to require a lot of rushing throughout the day, and one day I said, ''oh I'm tired today, let's not do so much today'', and she said, ''no, I don't feel like running around today'', and I knew what she meant and agreed, ''no, neither do I''. But in my head I pictured us literally running around; scuttling across roads, running up the street at full speed, bumping into people, speeding around shops, etc, and it made me grin to myself.

But I don't take anything the literal way. I just picture the literal way, just for fun. It can sometimes be quite funny. Does anyone else here these witty pictures in your mind, or do you really take it the literal way without thinking?


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ediself
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31 Oct 2011, 6:26 pm

Yes I do that and it makes me laugh, sometimes I can't help but make a joke about it, and even NTs see the humour in it, if they know me well enough. My sister intuitively knows what images pop into my brain now , and if we exchange a look we laugh like idiots .
As a teenager I used this as my primary form of humour and, it's very situational but it was very popular.....



League_Girl
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31 Oct 2011, 11:15 pm

I've been told I am a literal thinker and logical but yet I can understand jokes and idioms once I learn them. I still have a hard time with them but in my head I still get literal images. Even if I know what someone means, the literal images are there nonetheless. Sometimes I just pick up on a joke or an idiom and understand what it means without an explanation but the literal images still pop in my head. That is why I enjoy some idioms or words because of the funny images it gives me.

I do very well understanding literal jokes. My husband does them sometimes and I don't always know if he is joking or really taking it literal.

But yes I do sometimes intentionally make literal images in my head for fun.



Sparx
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01 Nov 2011, 12:25 am

I usually picture the literal in my head whilst still getting the joke.
I have a great sense of humour. It's just that most people crack stupid jokes that don't make sense. x)



twich
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01 Nov 2011, 12:28 am

I take pretty much everything literally, but once an idiom has been explained to me, I generally understand it if I hear it again (as long as I understand it when it's explained to me.) I still enjoy the pictures I get even when I understand them.

My favourite one is when I started seeing my psychotherapist- She said she likes to see her patients weekly until she has a handle on them, and immediately I saw myself with handles coming from my temples and thought "But I don't want handles." Before I actually said that, I realized it was probably an idiom so I said ok and left it at that. When I got home I called my Mum and told her I don't want handles on my, she asked what I meant so I told her, and she told me it means until someone gets to know you better. I still automatically see my temples with handles coming out of them when someone says that, though, and it makes me laugh.



Tiranasta
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01 Nov 2011, 12:47 am

I'm much better at figuring out what to take literally and not to than I used to be. Sometimes when I don't particularly want to participate in a given conversation I'll start intentionally taking everything literally. It tends to discourage speaking with me quite quickly.



League_Girl
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01 Nov 2011, 1:15 am

I rarely take things literal on purpose because it's crying wolf. If I do that too often, then pretty soon people won't know when I am being literal unintentionally.



ediself
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01 Nov 2011, 7:29 am

League_Girl wrote:
I rarely take things literal on purpose because it's crying wolf. If I do that too often, then pretty soon people won't know when I am being literal unintentionally.

Yes, that's the problem with this, I use it as a form of humour and when I genuinely don't get it, people think I'm being a smartass. But in high school it was perfect and didn't matter: I didn't trust those people to explain what the non-literal meaning was in a kind way, so, to avoid being bullied, I started pretending I was joking even when I genuinely didn't understand, and asked my mother what it meant once I got home. (no internet back then :P ) The rest of the time I just enjoyed the fun images, and shared them around...
Edit: although even now, with close friends I can trust, I just tell them I was not intentionally joking and I really am clueless lol, they tend to think of it as "cute" rather than "stupid".....there aren't many people I can be that free to be myself with though.



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01 Nov 2011, 11:58 am

I think I used to think literally by nature, but these days I've realised there are other ways of interpreting things....the original literal reaction still happens but I've learned to laugh at it.

For example, at work I walked past a sign that said

PLEASE DO NOT PROP THESE DOORS OPEN (TO KEEP NOISE DOWN)

I immediately thought "No problem. I will only prop them open so I can get through them easily, I would never do it to keep the noise down, because that wouldn't work."

A funnier one happened when I saw the caterers had put little signs on the tables -

THIS IS A SELF-CLEAN AREA

I said to a colleague, "It's amazing what technology can do these days, isn't it?" That one actually got a laugh.

I guess I like that kind of thing because I have a problem with authority and I like to find loopholes in commands and to poke fun at people who issue them.

I'm sure a lot of (NT?) comedians use jokes like that to highlight how silly the world can look. I can't find the clip, but Dave Allen used to talk about silly "wise sayings" and would do a lovely rant about "teach not thy grandmother to suck eggs." That saying actually angered me when I first heard it, until they told me what it means.


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