Overexplaining

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I've never seen this trait listed among common AS traits, but it seems closely related to my difficulties relating to and communicating with people. Basically, when I have to explain something to someone, I will go into much greater depth than normal people ever do; I'll give a short history of all the people involved, or explain the motivations behind tangentially related choices, or explain other terms on the assumption that the person I'm talking to might not know them. Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

Giving needlessly verbose answers to questions is a very common trait with AS. I'd say this falls into that category.

Yes, I do this all the time. Including in job situations where it has hurt me.

Yes, I'm very prone to over-explaining, along with also introducing other ideas related to the subject I'm talking about, giving additional useful information, and generally babbling. You may notice this if you see my answers on this forum, they tend to be longer than other peoples, and that's after editing to shorten or clarify answers. I cannot give a simple answer.

I would say it's down in part to communication problems, also in part I blame some of mine as being tied in with 'attention to detail' and seeing things from different perspectives, where as other people will generalise or see only one way to explain something, I will be precise and try to take into consideration a number of approaches.

I also tend to over explain. I can get pretty long winded.

I tend to alternate between overly long wordy answers and very short, terse answers. The latter always feels terribly short and I really hate them, but it's usually a matter of available cognitive energy.

Someone said it had to do with being unable to predict or know what other people might already realize or be able to infer from the core statement, so we try to make our answers as clear and explicit as possible, at the length necessary to communicate that.

I like what Bloodheart says about precision vs. generalization. I know I prefer to work from specific, precise details and say precisely what I mean, rather than leave too much to interpretation.

i tend to underexplain

Yes overexplaining drives neurotypical people crazy especially at work. Also the bosses hate it when they are required to explain instructions to autistic workers. Bosses say that overexplaining makes everything too complicated but for me it is more difficult to follow instructions that are underinformative.

I've learned to only answer the question that was asked. If someone is coming to you for your knowledge, I assume that they are looking for the most simplistic answer and that they have no interest in the details. People can always press you for more details if they want them.

I over explain a lot of things.

Yep, I'm the same with overexplaining or likewise with being very short and terse.

I have been told (by my NT wife) that I over- explain everything! And that I talk too much, too.

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An Asperger's man who has Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1- mild, with a sprinkling of Synesthesia.

I can't even count the amount of times in the past someone has told me something along the lines of 'I just need an answer, I don't want to know every little detail'. I think maybe two years ago or so I actually started to realize that I do give long-winded, overly detailed explanations and that people actually didn't like this. Now I often just give answers with very little or no explanation.

How do you guys feel about being on the receiving end of long-winded explanations? Personally, when someone has a detailed answer to a question I generally get into it... I want to know the details and not just the answer.

It's easier to deal with this in written form. For example if you get a question in an Email. You can just type the response and then play the part of editor.

I've typed responses to questions in email then chopped off paragraphs before sending through an editing process.

Interestingly while this is time consuming I do think it leads to a concise yet informative answer to a question when you throw everything on the page and gradually shrink it down.

I always give the person asking the question, three choices,
short answer
the answer he/she wants (mostly a longish answer)
and the truth (mostly long winded)
I hate pub quizzes, as I give the truth, which is normally not what is written on the card in front of the quiz-master. I tend to end up giving two answers, what is written on the card and the truth.

I always do this when I speak. People say they know what I'm talking about, but all too often they prove to me that they haven't understood at all. So I explain again in another way, so they definitely get it. I never do it in writing, as I'm able to edit effectively. This is the main cause of my monologues. My husband, who swears he's NT (I don't think so), also does this.