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Do words confuse you?

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League_Girl
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30 Jul 2011, 12:46 am

I keep seeing the words snark or condescending and I get lost with them. I read posts and then people mention those words and I just don't see a snark. People say things like "I am not being snarky, this is just a honest question" and I wonder how is that snarky? Why would I think it be snarky? Then when people say something is condescending, I wonder how is it condescending. I seeing nothing condescending in it.

I can't think of other words right now that confuse me but these are the top two since I see them a lot at babycenter.


Anyone else with this problem?



MakaylaTheAspie
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30 Jul 2011, 12:55 am

Now that you mention it, it happens to me all the time! :lol:


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Jory
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30 Jul 2011, 1:13 am

I'm so confused by words that I'm confused by this topic.



jojobean
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30 Jul 2011, 1:34 am

I dont know what snark means
the word condicending....I dont really know how that is defined either
Many times I use words knowing how they are used in a sentance, but not always knowing what they mean. I guess kindof a mimicry of sorts.
But when I get the word wrong...it is spetacularly wrong....and often pointed out.


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League_Girl
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30 Jul 2011, 1:55 am

Jory wrote:
I'm so confused by words that I'm confused by this topic.



I ask because I wanted to see if others struggle with this too. I don't know if it's autism or my learning difficulties. I learn a new word and look it up and it doesn't make sense in the context it got used in. I then learn a simple definition of it and the way people use the word doesn't seem to meet that simple definition so it makes it confusing. What the person said didn't make any sense and it's just false accusations I see.



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30 Jul 2011, 2:01 am

Snark is a kind of sarcasm.

Condescension is speaking or writing in a way that suggests that the person you are addressing is "less than" you in some way. Being "snobbish" is a kind of condescension.

I can't always identify these when I see them.

jojobean wrote:
Many times I use words knowing how they are used in a sentance, but not always knowing what they mean. I guess kindof a mimicry of sorts.
But when I get the word wrong...it is spetacularly wrong....and often pointed out.


I still have a few words I use this way - but I am much better at catching myself at it. Given that I was paid to write in my mid-late 20s, I still had a large number of words I still used this way, and it is probably sheer luck that most of my misuses didn't get past my editor.

In my teens, a lot of my vocabulary was like this. Before my teens, I know I used a lot of phrases and words because they fit into the conversation (based on my reading) but I didn't really know what they meant - I could only guess.

Also, mispronouncing words because I had only read them, and never heard them.

I think for me this was a side effect of hyperlexia. I don't remember if I've ever seen you say whether you were or not?



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30 Jul 2011, 2:04 am

Jory wrote:
I'm so confused by words that I'm confused by this topic.


Crap, someone here is more witty than me.

I was about to say the same thing.


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30 Jul 2011, 2:33 am

League_Girl wrote:
I learn a new word and look it up and it doesn't make sense in the context it got used in. I then learn a simple definition of it and the way people use the word doesn't seem to meet that simple definition so it makes it confusing.

Yes. I seem to have formed very rigid definitions for my vocabulary that are not easy to modify when conflicting information comes along.
It's as if I cling for dear life to the specific context in which I have learned a word, and I am not able to understand it when someone else uses that word in a way I am unfamiliar with. This proceeds to the extent that I will doubt the validity the other person's use of the word, and even go so far as to try and correct them.

For me, RIGID is the key word here, which does indeed seem to be the characteristic of autism at play.


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30 Jul 2011, 2:47 am

Verdandi wrote:
Snark is a kind of sarcasm.

Condescension is speaking or writing in a way that suggests that the person you are addressing is "less than" you in some way. Being "snobbish" is a kind of condescension.

I can't always identify these when I see them.

jojobean wrote:
Many times I use words knowing how they are used in a sentance, but not always knowing what they mean. I guess kindof a mimicry of sorts.
But when I get the word wrong...it is spetacularly wrong....and often pointed out.


I still have a few words I use this way - but I am much better at catching myself at it. Given that I was paid to write in my mid-late 20s, I still had a large number of words I still used this way, and it is probably sheer luck that most of my misuses didn't get past my editor.

In my teens, a lot of my vocabulary was like this. Before my teens, I know I used a lot of phrases and words because they fit into the conversation (based on my reading) but I didn't really know what they meant - I could only guess.

Also, mispronouncing words because I had only read them, and never heard them.

I think for me this was a side effect of hyperlexia. I don't remember if I've ever seen you say whether you were or not?


I often dont know how to pronounce a word because I read it but never heard it. the word "chaos" was that way for me for a long time. I read some but I am not hyperlexic only because I am verrrry farsighted. I loved to read as kid, but as I got older I read less and less because it hurt so much to read. I have to get new glasses next week which I am not looking foward to doing. I looove my curent glasses they have become part of my identity...I had them for 5 years, but my vision is getting worse, so I need new ones. I want to just let them use my current frames, would save money too, but I cant see Sh*t without them. I cant even do dishes without them. With being legally deaf and 1/4 blind...I am afraid that I will end up like Helen Keller when I get old.


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30 Jul 2011, 3:28 am

"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.

"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What i tell you three times is true."



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30 Jul 2011, 3:53 am

jojobean wrote:
I often dont know how to pronounce a word because I read it but never heard it. the word "chaos" was that way for me for a long time. I read some but I am not hyperlexic only because I am verrrry farsighted. I loved to read as kid, but as I got older I read less and less because it hurt so much to read. I have to get new glasses next week which I am not looking foward to doing. I looove my curent glasses they have become part of my identity...I had them for 5 years, but my vision is getting worse, so I need new ones. I want to just let them use my current frames, would save money too, but I cant see Sh*t without them. I cant even do dishes without them. With being legally deaf and 1/4 blind...I am afraid that I will end up like Helen Keller when I get old.


The most annoying thing about mispronouncing words I have never heard spoken is that people tend to be rather cruel about pointing it out.

Sympathies on the reading difficulties.



BillyIdolFan217
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30 Jul 2011, 1:43 pm

I`m not too great with big words


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30 Jul 2011, 2:03 pm

Acacia wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
I learn a new word and look it up and it doesn't make sense in the context it got used in. I then learn a simple definition of it and the way people use the word doesn't seem to meet that simple definition so it makes it confusing.

Yes. I seem to have formed very rigid definitions for my vocabulary that are not easy to modify when conflicting information comes along.
It's as if I cling for dear life to the specific context in which I have learned a word, and I am not able to understand it when someone else uses that word in a way I am unfamiliar with. This proceeds to the extent that I will doubt the validity the other person's use of the word, and even go so far as to try and correct them.

For me, RIGID is the key word here, which does indeed seem to be the characteristic of autism at play.


I'm with you there. So much so that in the work environment I'm ultra careful about clarifying what superiors want from me. NTs are so loose with words and use them incorrectly (even without my stringent standards) that I try to avert issues whenever possible. The problem is they sometimes view my questioning as disrespectful or grow impatient with it and I find myself trying to tell them I'm not trying to be flip, I just want to be clear; crystal.



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30 Jul 2011, 2:28 pm

SammichEater wrote:
Jory wrote:
I'm so confused by words that I'm confused by this topic.


Crap, someone here is more witty than me.

I was about to say the same thing.


Sadly, I wasn’t being witty. I honestly didn’t know what he meant.



animalcrackers
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30 Jul 2011, 4:19 pm

I definitely have that problem.

Verdandi wrote:
jojobean wrote:
Many times I use words knowing how they are used in a sentance, but not always knowing what they mean. I guess kind of a mimicry of sorts.
But when I get the word wrong...it is spetacularly wrong....and often pointed out.


I still have a few words I use this way - but I am much better at catching myself at it. Given that I was paid to write in my mid-late 20s, I still had a large number of words I still used this way, and it is probably sheer luck that most of my misuses didn't get past my editor.

In my teens, a lot of my vocabulary was like this. Before my teens, I know I used a lot of phrases and words because they fit into the conversation (based on my reading) but I didn't really know what they meant - I could only guess.


I do this too! -->Use words because I know where they could go in a sentence (based on knowing something superficial about syntax--I don't understand the semantics but I can put the words together in a "grammatically correct" way) or because they seem to fit a conversation...but I don't know what the words mean. I often just say things I don't understand because I'm expected to talk; Only recently have I started to really try to pay attention to meaning.

I don't often catch myself doing this, yet (it's something I'm working on) --conversations move too fast for me to think about it.



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30 Jul 2011, 5:29 pm

Sometimes when words aren't used in their original meaning that's in the dictionary, it can be confusing for me... but in general, I am pretty proficient in the practice of using words.