Do NT categorize friendships? Or is it an Aspie thing?

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Skepkat
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15 Feb 2011, 8:28 pm

I label people I know as work friends, writer friends, online friends, acquaintances, etc. I don't really consider any of them as real friends. One of my coworkers heard me and she complained saying we were friends. I corrected her. We don't hang out. We don't go shopping together. We don't have any contact outside of work. We don't even go to lunches.

I've seen a few posts referencing acquaintances or categorize friendships to clarify that they aren't really friends. And it has me wondering, is this an Aspie thing?


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CocoaBean
Tufted Titmouse
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15 Feb 2011, 9:10 pm

Before I admitted I had AS I didn't classify anybody as my friend, even people I knew and had been in contact with for many years. Now, fortunately, some of them have been reclassified as friends but it's still hard for me to realise when's the right time to do that.



jackbus01
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15 Feb 2011, 9:20 pm

I think, although I can't be sure, everyone does this. It is probably because NTs don't talk about it like that. The other weird thing is that NT people don't talk about "relationships" unless it is strictly a romantic one. There doesn't seem to be a good word to use when describing relationships (non-romantic) between people. For example if I say something like "I wonder what the relationship be this person and that person is, I get some strange looks". Maybe it is just me.



antipolar
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15 Feb 2011, 9:22 pm

I have always classified people I meet as acquaintances. It's an accurate representation of the way we interact. If we don't hang out in a social environment on a regular basis, we're not friends. I'm a stickler for semantics.

I think everyone groups people, consciously or unconsciously. But I do so more consciously and with stricter semantics.

NT: "Work Friends", "Social Friends", "High School Friends"
Me: "Work Acquaintances", "(Close) Friends", "Social Acquaintances", "High School Acquaintances", "High School Friends"

Not sure if it's true for all Aspies though.