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Taking Things Litterally

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gav126
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28 Mar 2011, 5:26 pm

Is there any one else who understands some sarcasm, but gets confused when it is too complicated? I mean, I understand when people say no in that exaggerated voice, that it means yes, but when people tell me a whole story sarcastically, I don't understand it. Is there anyone else like this?



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28 Mar 2011, 8:05 pm

gav126 wrote:
Is there any one else who understands some sarcasm, but gets confused when it is too complicated? I mean, I understand when people say no in that exaggerated voice, that it means yes, but when people tell me a whole story sarcastically, I don't understand it. Is there anyone else like this?


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28 Mar 2011, 8:06 pm

gav126 wrote:
Is there any one else who understands some sarcasm, but gets confused when it is too complicated? I mean, I understand when people say no in that exaggerated voice, that it means yes, but when people tell me a whole story sarcastically, I don't understand it. Is there anyone else like this?


The story of my younger life. I finally learned to catch on, but it took decades.

I was the quintessential clueless Nerd until my mid thirties. I nominate my good wife for sainthood for putting up with me.

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28 Mar 2011, 9:26 pm

gav126 wrote:
Is there any one else who understands some sarcasm, but gets confused when it is too complicated? I mean, I understand when people say no in that exaggerated voice, that it means yes, but when people tell me a whole story sarcastically, I don't understand it. Is there anyone else like this?


Usually when I take something literally that wasn't meant to be taken literally, it's because the person wasn't overt in their sarcasm or just caught me off guard.



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28 Mar 2011, 9:29 pm

gav126 wrote:
Is there any one else who understands some sarcasm, but gets confused when it is too complicated? I mean, I understand when people say no in that exaggerated voice, that it means yes, but when people tell me a whole story sarcastically, I don't understand it. Is there anyone else like this?


I can still miss sarcasm when someone really nails a deadpan delivery. But I've gotten quite good at picking it up.


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28 Mar 2011, 9:34 pm

I don't have a hard time understanding sarcasm at all. If someone says something and it can't be true, then chances are it isn't.



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28 Mar 2011, 10:42 pm

sometimes I have this problem..........



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28 Mar 2011, 11:07 pm

I'm fine if people use the sarcastic tone of voice. Otherwise, I'm usually okay, because I can figure it out by using a little reasoning. Sometimes, I get caught, though.


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29 Mar 2011, 1:07 am

Yeah, I can catch a sarcastic tone of voice, but I can't really tell if that's not present.

And of course even when I know someone is joking, my literal interpretation may differ greatly from other people.



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29 Mar 2011, 1:27 am

I take almost *EVERYTHING* literally. It causes me so much anxiety most of the time. My ex was very demanding, and I did almost everything she said, and was so exhausting at times. I follow people's instructions almost exactly to what they say, and it can be so awkward at times.



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29 Mar 2011, 1:27 am

There are some attempts to make it explicit, such as irony punctuation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang

Letting one explicitly indicate the sarcasm in the sentence "Does the Pope sh*t in the woods‽"

The constructed language Lojban actually has several kinds of explicit irony/sarcasm indicators built into the language both as written and spoken. It is possible to speak a sentence with the precise segment which is to be taken sarcastically identified, and with the precise level of sarcasm.

Attempts to make sarcasm more explicit have not proved very popular.


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29 Mar 2011, 1:43 am

I sometimes take things too literally, though I don't normally have to much trouble with sarcasm. however, I do struggle with other types of non-literal language. things like metaphors and allegorical stories, I often can tell that there is suppose to be a deeper meaning, but I can't figure it out.