Aspies and taking things much to literally.

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You should read "Lord of the Flies."

My examples are school related.

We were studying Word on computer science lesson. At a moment the teacher said "Distinguish ("Wyróżnij") it using red color". So I looked at the Word options, found an uncommon option "Wyróżnienie" ("Distinguish") and used it. It ended up the teacher just wanted us to use red font color. Everyone else in my class got it right, only I used the "Wyróżnienie" thing. And I was even arguing it is what the teacher said we were supposed to do and everyone else is wrong!


Another example. Also computer science lesson (I am studying IT right now). The teacher was telling us for last a few weeks we can't use Polish letters (ąęćśżź...) in a app unless we put them in a specific field that allows them. It was a rule, it got bricked in my head.
Then suddenly the teacher told us to create a project and said: "Of course you are supposed to use Polish letters in the whole project". I got stuck, I didn't understand. What the hell? He was telling us we CAN'T use Polish letters there unless we get specific fields and then he tells us to use them in the WHOLE project? It's is impossible. It is against the rule!
So I pointed it put. "But... you told us we can't use Polish letters in file names, columns names etc... How come we are suddenly supposed to do it?". Everyone looked at me as if I was stupid, some people started to laugh. Then the teacher said "I didn't tell you to use Polish letters in file or columns names...".
It ended up he just wanted us to use Polish letters in the data fields as we always do and the "whole project" was just a mental shortcut. One that everyone understood - everyone but me.

Last edited by Kiriae on 03 Jun 2014, 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't do so well on people's implied meanings.

My stepdaughter would protest that she's not going to do something. I take her at her word and get upset that she is refusing. My husband has to point out that she is simply expressing her unhappiness about doing that thing, but that she is not "really" saying that she won't do it. That is extremely confusing to me.

If a statement sounds confusing or unusual I now usually know to ask for the meaning.

When I was younger, if someone asked me to do something and then wait, I would do the task and then sit still until the person told me I didn't have to wait anymore. I learned that I was actually expected to do other things while simultaneously "waiting" for that other step.

Haha. I also got this habit and it pisses my dad off just like it does to you. Unfortunately I can't learn I am not allowed to use it when dad is around.

I say "No" because they ask me "Will you do this?" as if they want to know if I was planning to do it. I don't see it as an order at first. Then I realize it must have been an order and I start to do it (sometimes without saying another word) or I say I am going to do it later. My mom knows the pattern and doesn't get angry when she hears this automatic "No" but my dad gets instantly upset because he thinks "I refused his order". He should learn that if they want me to do something without hearing the instant "No" they are supposed to say clearly they want me to do it. Not just ask me for my opinion about doing it... But he never will because he understands me just like I understand him. Which is not at all.

I don't take things literally, even the more subtle things. It's just an ASD symptom that I lack. Like once when I offered to work an extra day one week, one of the workers said jokingly, ''so we've got to put up with you for another day, have we?'' I knew she was joking, and I just laughed and enjoyed the moment, then moved on.

But the more obvious things like the OP said, I think most of us can work it out for ourselves. When I first heard someone say to me ''stop pulling my leg'', (which was actually only a few years ago), I thought that was an odd remark, but I still didn't take it too literally because I logically knew that I was not physically pulling their leg. So it only took a couple of seconds to work out that ''pulling one's leg'' means something along the lines of ''teasing'', and teasing that person was what I was doing, so I just worked it out like that.

Obviously some sayings are quite confusing to see the difference between the literal meaning and the other meaning if you have never heard of that particular saying before.

But if somebody was to say ''it's raining cats and dogs'', I won't really believe it and go running to the door and go ''there's no cats and dogs out there, it's just water coming down from the sky.'' I mean, come on, most children are taught that one at nursery school, so even an Aspie adult isn't exactly going to physically believe it. I remember when my NT cousins came (they're 2 years younger than me), I used the phrase ''it's raining cats and dogs'', and they laughed and one of them said ''miaw, woof!'' And then we all imagined real cats and dogs falling from the sky and laughed, but neither of us actually believed it. People don't normally use that expression when it's raining, so we just found it quite funny when I suddenly said that.

When I was younger, I took things much more literally, for example mother told me to "stand on my head", and I did it. I still do not know what it means.
Now I am taking things less literally, but still it happens. I remember that I have taken same thing literally in math lesson: (write) Pythagoras theorem, teacher meant to write with letters not with sentence.
Usually I am communicating by chatting in the Internet, it is much easier than in real life, so I take things literally much rarely there.

My mum and her partner take most of what I say literally. When I'm using sarcasm or irony they just don't get it.

People would tell me to drop their baby and I always refused. Then they would finally tell me to put them down.

At first, I thought you meant there was a problem with the lock, too. In that case, I think that person just doesn't explain things very well.

It's their own fault for asking such a vague question. What they should have said was "is suicide an option for you at this point in time?"

I don't take things like that literally.

What I do have problems understanding is the following:

1. Extremely general statements. I think in specifics, not generalities.

2. Dictionary definitions. I use the proper, dictionary-defined definitions of words. Most people don't.

Meh.

When I was little somebody was talking about rifles and I asked if left handed persons used lefles.

I still wonder when a tropical cyclone is named using a male name why they do not call it a himmicane instead of a hurricane.

In my language "standing on your head" means "do your best, try harder than you usually do". It often comes as "Stawałam na głowie żeby ci nieba przychylić" ("I was standing on my head to make your life close to heaven") which means your parents tried their best so you can get a decent life.

On the other hand "standing on someones else head" means you force someone, try to control him. In a way that makes him upset.

I don't know if it means the same in English though.

BTW. I remember a Polish lesson in my elementary school - there were some sentences like "heart on hand" (meaning someone extremally kind), "soul on shoulder" (someone scared) and we were supposed to draw those. It was fascinating and I wanted more lessons like this even though I was quite good in figuring out the meaning. I was imagining the thing literally then thinking "How could it relate to the current situation?" (for example: "Be silent as a mouse under a broom" - "I suppose a scared mouse would stay silent and not move - pretending it is not there - because it wouldn't want to be found by a cat. So someone "silent as a mouse" would say nothing and sit calmly therefore stay unnoticed by other people"). On this lesson I could finally express how I see those - without skipping right to the conclusion. What's funny other people considered the lesson boring and confusing. They didn't seem to know what's the point in drawing those. "It's not what it means. It's just a saying. You shouldn't consider it literal."

I used to get a bit freaked out when, for example, a supermarket checkout operator would say "See you later!" at the end of the transaction. I'd be thinking, sort of, "But I'm not going to be around here later!" I think I was in my early 40s when I finally realized it just means "Goodbye". It still stops me in my tracks occasionally though.

Other examples: Question - "How are you?"
My reaction - "In what respect do you mean?"

Question - "Are you alright?"
Thinks - "Why is he/she asking that? Do I look unwell?"

Er, this stuff just means "Hello", doesn't it?

Anyone remember "Mr Logic" from Viz magazine?

lol

Last edited by DeepHour on 04 Jun 2014, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

People imprecisely convey what they mean, and then blame ASD people for being too literal.

Here is an example, rather than "solve for x"; it says "find x" ......

Perhaps an ASD kid gets scolded for being a "smart ass", and not reading between the lines of what was really meant.