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Byron
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24 Jan 2011, 2:10 am

I take things very literally-especially what people like my family say. Sometimes when one of my family members jokes with me (particularly my mom, she understands that I have AS & she understands the symptoms of AS.), I don't know their joking until they say they're joking. My mom's nice about letting me know she's joking.



Brown06
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24 Jan 2011, 2:18 am

yes just today i was watching a commercial about a giant who works in a grocery store and spills all the aisles and for a second I was like "wait what? Why is a giant working there? Who decided that? I had no idea giants were even real" And the I realized of course it isnt real.



Verdandi
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24 Jan 2011, 2:21 am

I tend to immediately take things literally and miss things. If I think about them for a bit, I can figure more contextual clues out, but my immediate reaction is generally that.

Sometimes, I use this literal interpretation to make a joke.



nortier
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24 Jan 2011, 2:44 am

I take almost everything literally. Which is funny, because I myself can be very sarcastic (as a way to cope, I suppose).

More often than not I:
- am not even the last one to understand a joke. I never get it and confusedly ask 'what is that all about? I don't get this. Talk normal.'
- don't understand fixed expressions that everyone else does seem to know.

The other day my boyfriend and I were talking about something, and he said a fixed expression and I was like 'Bro, WHAT?!' And then he spent 30 minutes trying to explain what it meant (totally unnecessary, in his opinion), while I was flabbergasted over the fact that it sounded so ridiculous.



Yensid
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24 Jan 2011, 3:15 am

I can't tell if someone is joking or serious. I usually spend a lot of time thinking about what people say, just to make sure that I haven't accidentally mistaken a joke for a serious remark.

Some things that I once took literally, now I know better:
How are you doing
How has your day been going
Why don't we meet for lunch
Call me sometime



peterd
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24 Jan 2011, 3:26 am

The really irritating thing about taking things literally is that when someone points out that's what you're doing, it's obvious that that's what you're doing. But that doesn't help, it just raises the stress factor a bit.



Verdandi
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24 Jan 2011, 3:33 am

Yeah, about 30 minutes ago I was watching a movie with my nieces. One says, "She gutted the cow like a fish" and I almost immediately respond, "But didn't she gut the cow like a cow?" and then the rest of my brain caught up and I remembered it was an expression.

And then I had to stifle the urge to keep arguing that the statement made no sense.



LuxoJr
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24 Jan 2011, 4:06 am

I read and write a lot more now so not as much as I used to. Like when I was a child, there was this essay question for a homework assignment that asked "How do you feel about this story?" And I put that I felt happy, and I got the question wrong. The teacher then told me that the question actually meant how I felt as in what did I think of the story.
Another classic example was another teacher saying "Take a look at this painting and tear it apart." as in mentally dissect it and analyze it. I didn't try to tear it apart but I was appalled for a moment as we were in an art museum and it was a 19th century impressionist painting.
But as of now, I've learned a lot and adapted relatively well. Though the only things I still often fail to understand completely is what someone is thinking, or what someone thinks of me, or whether or not someone is being sarcastic, or whether or not someone likes or hates me and to what extent. Yeah granted those are things many normal people have trouble with but I don't know any at all. I am generally distrustful of people so I assume as though anyone I feel for some reason intimidated by hates me or wants nothing to do with me. I also have trouble knowing how other people will react to the things I say or do so I sometimes say or do very little or act very modestly or sheepishly when I feel intimidated by someone.


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Surfman
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24 Jan 2011, 4:14 am

I take and have taken many books, I used to work in a literary store, a book shop.

But yeah I dont understand implied meaning very well at all



CockneyRebel
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24 Jan 2011, 8:05 am

Being the no nonsense person that I am, I take a lot of things literally. People can't joke around about sex with me, because I'll get a little defensive.


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ediself
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24 Jan 2011, 8:13 am

just this morning, girlfriend of mine:
-i had a weird dream last night, a mob was after me, trying to kill me because of my depression...
- maybe you feel someone is mad at you for being depressed? but yeah, dreams are just dreams
-I'm not sure they are.
- oh, i assure you, no mob is going to try to kill you in the near future...
_ not LITTERALLY! (laughter)

yeah. happens to me everyday. At least people think it's funny....



MrXxx
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24 Jan 2011, 8:36 am

Who is "u?"

"U" is a letter, not a person. Why are you addressing a letter of the alphabet?

Yes, I am just kidding.

No, I don't take everything literally. Not anymore anyway, but I used to. I've had AS all of my life, and even though I didn't know about it or understand it until fairly recently, I learned through trial and error that most people around me use innuendo quite a lot. It wasn't easy learning this "code" so many people use. I really had to get over feeling stupid asking all the time what people meant, but it was worth it. As a result not that much goes over my head anymore.

I've never forgotten what it used to feel like though. I can't tell you how often I'd be the only one a room NOT sniggering about some "inside" joke.


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Kiseki
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24 Jan 2011, 8:58 am

Sometimes, but usually just in the sense that I don't pick up when people are joking with me.

I love language and metaphors, so I prefer to talk in terms that aren't literal.



syrella
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24 Jan 2011, 10:23 am

I never used to get double entendre and people, usually guys, would laugh so hard at me when I answered the question literally. After much, much practice, I can usually see where a statement might be taken a different way, but sometimes I still miss it or goof entirely (read: something that I thought might've had a double entendre was meant as said).

As for humor, I understand jokes some of the time. I enjoy really corny jokes like puns and other "dumb" humor.

Example:
Why did the mushroom get invited to all the parties?
Because he was a fungi!

I like telling jokes too, though I can't tell them to save my life. I'm never quite sure if people are laughing because of my jokes or because I'm obviously trying to make them laugh.

Most of the time, though, I just default on simple, straight-forward, and direct. That's the way I prefer to speak to people and way I prefer to be spoken to.



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24 Jan 2011, 10:38 am

ediself wrote:
just this morning, girlfriend of mine:
-i had a weird dream last night, a mob was after me, trying to kill me because of my depression...
- maybe you feel someone is mad at you for being depressed? but yeah, dreams are just dreams
-I'm not sure they are.
- oh, i assure you, no mob is going to try to kill you in the near future...
_ not LITTERALLY! (laughter)

yeah. happens to me everyday. At least people think it's funny....


mmm ditavonteese.



ruveyn
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24 Jan 2011, 10:46 am

Being literal is the story of my life.

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