Wondering if anyone else does this.

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Mostly, I will take things at face value and literally. For example, if someone tells me "your room needs cleaning" I will not see this as a request but a statement.

However, mostly when I am feeling upset or emotionally vulnerable, I tend to misunderstand things so that they sound like they are being more nasty than they are. For example, when someone told me to "stop being all bitchy to me," (She explained later that what she meant was that I was being a bit snappy and abrupt with her - not brilliant precision of language really) My mind translated it into she is calling me bitchy, and then into she is calling me a b***h. This upset me because I have my flaws, but I know for sure that I'm not a bitchy person at all.

Does anyone else get this?

Yes.

I cannot tell the difference between a vague request and a comment

I have taken people as calling me names when they tell me to stop being X or I am being a X

I also tend to be more literal when I am nervous

When people tell me to do something or ask me to do something, I always think they mean NOW

heh.. yeah.
I do that alot. I sometimes take things way too literally. For example: Im looking down in the table and my fiance tells me to look up.. what do I do but look up in the roof instead. While he meant look straight forward.
I misunderstand more when Im nervous or depressed. Then its like my brain disconnects and gives up. THen I take everything wrong wich usually doesnt end so well.. It can take a while to clear those things up.

She lied. She was simply calling you a b***h. Then she wanted you to learn to shut up and take it. Being offended is perfectly reasonable and you have every right to tell her that you don't like it. If this is how she is all the time, ditch her.

All the time. People are always looking to take advantage and walk all over me. If you let it go too much and for too long, once it reaches a certain level, when you are thoroughly degraded and dehumanized in that person's eyes, no power on earth will change that perception. It's time to walk away.

oh---i didn't realize that thinking i have to do things NOW after being asked was an aspect of taking things literally. i've had some confusing encounters with people lately as a result of that. i think that if i don't do it NOW, there will be some kind of awful consequence. but mostly, people look at me strangely when i do do things right away--as if it's some kind of social faux pas. (apparently it is.)

that explains a few things. :)

For me, it needs to really resemble a statement rather than a question.

I tend to play on this sometimes to tease people... so if someone asks me if I can do something I just say "yes"... meaning that yes I can do the thing - in other words yes I'm capable of doing the thing asked - but I don't actually do it until they specifically ask me to do it. Silly perhaps but hey that's me.

I didn't know it was taking it literally until I asked my husband "Why is it that whenever people tell me to do something, I always think they mean now?" and he said because I am taking it literal meaning now.


When I worked full time at swing shift, I always had to be told "I don't mean now, I mean after you're through with this" when I stop what I'm doing.
One of my bosses called it being black and white.

I can't tell the difference between now and later when it comes to this so I always think NOW. If I don't want to do it now, I say "I will?" and I usually get "I meant later. Not now."

But if people told me "when you have the time" or "After you are done here" "Can you do X later" I know then they don't mean now. But then I usually forget I need reminders. My office clerk hated having to remind me to do things. If I did it NOW I wouldn't have forgotten. I'm surprised I kept that job. I consider myself lucky.

Tahitiii, I would say that in this case I think she was telling the truth and she wasn't calling me a b***h. This is a person who knows me really well and I trust quite a lot. She is also quite a mature adult with a tendency to say what she doesn't mean without thinking. So when I took offence, I think that I was the one who was mistaken.