Why are Aspies o slow to pick up on jokes?

Page 1 of 4 [ 58 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

just_ben
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 399
Location: That would be an ecumenical matter!

14 May 2008, 6:09 pm

Discuss.


_________________
I stand alone on the cliffs of the world.


Ryn
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 9 Apr 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 492

14 May 2008, 6:14 pm

It's due to people with an ASD having issues with words, jokes, and forms of irony that play on a different meaning that we don't always get.

I find that when I don't get it, not only do I not understand but I can't understand that I'm even missing anything. It's like it was on a different level than I work on, and it takes some explanation for me to even see the other meaning.


_________________
"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."--Augusten Burroughs


krex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,471
Location: Village of the Damned

14 May 2008, 6:25 pm

I usually "get jokes" I just don't think they are funny, especially the ones that make fun of people or are generaly based on cruelty. I like the humor of many people here and I love "word play", sarcasm and dark humor in written works. I just don't always know when people are doing them when they speak. Sometimes I can teel, especially if I know the person and what they believe.


_________________
Just because one plane is flying out of formation, doesn't mean the formation is on course....R.D.Lang

Visit my wool sculpture blog
http://eyesoftime.blogspot.com/


zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

14 May 2008, 6:28 pm

Hey Ryn!! ! I do the same thing my dad has said jokes and I'm like oh ok. No laugh or anything most jokes are over my head LOL! I'm glad I'm not the only one with that issue. :-)



_BRI_
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 28 Apr 2008
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 94

14 May 2008, 6:31 pm

krex wrote:
I usually "get jokes" I just don't think they are funny, especially the ones that make fun of people or are generaly based on cruelty. I like the humor of many people here and I love "word play", sarcasm and dark humor in written works. I just don't always know when people are doing them when they speak. Sometimes I can teel, especially if I know the person and what they believe.


I feel the same way, their jokes doesn't ring my laugh chords.



2ukenkerl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,234

14 May 2008, 6:35 pm

Well, some "jokes" are ones that I just don't think are funny. Some assume knowledge of things like sports, fashion, pop culture, that I just don't bother to know. Some assume you don't know other things, and I do, so I see a tangential thing. And some seem to be like Ryn's problem.

My humor can be a bit "off" though. I laugh at some things others don't, and vice/versa, EVEN if we BOTH have the same understanding of the joke!



slowmutant
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Feb 2008
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,430
Location: Ontario, Canada

14 May 2008, 6:49 pm

I'm at the point in my personal evolution where I can understand & appreciate most jokes and witticisms. When one of my family makes a joke I pretend not to get it, play dumb, etc. This is my own little private joke. Mom and Dad are left wondering, Did he get it or not? :wink:



IpsoRandomo
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 1 Dec 2006
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 338
Location: Colorado Springs

14 May 2008, 6:58 pm

Literal mindedness

Lack of insight into unusual social situations



14 May 2008, 7:08 pm

Because we take things literal. Sometimes I wig out what someone says to me and then I calm down when they tell me they were just joking. My boyfriend jokes a lot and I fall for lot of them and then he tells me it was a joke when I am questioning him or correcting him about something and then I go "oh."



zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

14 May 2008, 7:19 pm

Hey Spokane your comment sounds like something that happened to me the other day. :-) My dad came home from work and snuck up on me. I freaked out and said is something wrong. He said come here (he said it quitely as if something was wrong being fired or death I didn't KNOW!) He then laughed and asked for my cellphone to look at it. I was ALMOST in tears!! ! My family says I should of seen my face I was shocked since he wasn't suppossed to be off of work and unknown to me he came home for lunch. Still for like an 1hour+ I was just stunned!! ! :-(



Willard
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Age: 65
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,647

14 May 2008, 8:02 pm

Who doesn't get jokes? The majority of my most dearly held iconic role models are comedians. The darker the cynicism, the more absurd the puns, the trickier the wordplay, the more outrageous the point of view, the more I like 'em.

I do not, however care for stupid office water-cooler humor. Tell me a "Priest and Rabbi and a Duck all walk into a bar" joke and expect a blank stare, or a polite nod and an insincere half-smile. Most of those are just not that funny and most people are utterly inept at telling them. I can count the number of talented joke tellers I've met in my life on one hand.

I prefer more absurdist gags and sardonic social commentary. Maybe that's just because I enjoy seeing the inane contradictory nature of NT society rabidly torn to shreds.



samantca
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 8 Apr 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 438

14 May 2008, 8:16 pm

My boyfriend has this annoying tendency to joke about things that might be true. Like he can say... "You are so evil. Look at this. You should have mopped the floor five hundred times, atleast." Well not quite like that but im not good with his jokes. Anyway, this usually causes a temper tantrum from me, in which i start to defend myself or argue with him. Then he says: "I was only joking". I hate those jokes, i fall for them all the time and i never learn that hes actually joking... :(



Felinity
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 182

14 May 2008, 8:57 pm

Ryn wrote:
It's due to people with an ASD having issues with words, jokes, and forms of irony that play on a different meaning that we don't always get.

I find that when I don't get it, not only do I not understand but I can't understand that I'm even missing anything. It's like it was on a different level than I work on, and it takes some explanation for me to even see the other meaning.


I can so relate to this... Then I can hear others laughing or looking my way all of a sudden, for no apparent reason to me, and they are making fun of me for obviously not getting something... then they joke amongst themselves and call me nuts or stupid or whatever... and I honestly don't even know what it was about :(

I also don't have a sadistic sense of humor like alot of them and don't thing jokes that are cruel are funny at all.. I also hate "headgames".. when people joke at me and tease and trick me into thinking they're serious when they aren't... they are basically using my disability as their toy.. I HATE this... It happened alot more frequently when I was younger, but still does to this day.. I AVOID those types of people completely now if I can help it!



pakled
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Nov 2007
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,015

14 May 2008, 9:17 pm

I just treat everything as a joke...that way things work out.



Jeyradan
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jan 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 488

14 May 2008, 9:17 pm

I get puns, wordplay, games... things that really are funny.
I have problems with two things:
- formulaic jokes. They're easy to recognize and I know they're jokes. I just don't usually find them funny.
- teasing and, sometimes, sarcasm. I'm never sure if it is or it isn't. If I am sure, I do all right. I just find it hard to tell.



brat
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 38
Location: PA

16 May 2008, 1:06 am

My family jokes around alot and so do the people at my work, for instance I'll say to a co-worker "I'm going to be on my lunch now, see you later" and they'll reply "Do you think you really DESERVE a lunch?" I'm almost always like ouch you do, and you tell me that your going on a lunch or break or something and I'm like sure. And they call it a joke, they've done that a couple times. :x
I get regluar jokes. irontic stuff. stories, comedy (some comedy at least, I hate stupid, gross comedy because it has NO point.) People say I'm silly.
But for other kinds of humor I guess I'm just too serious.
Thats what it boils down to and besides I can't tell if they are serious.