"I Don't Know"

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I watched the movie Rain Man a while ago after reading a thread about it here. Early in there is a scene where Raymond frustrates Charlie by answering everything with "I don't know". I burst into laughter when I saw that scene, as I do that too! In fact, "I don't know" is probably my most used phrase. I have difficulty making decisions (especially trivial ones), so when someone asks me a question the answer is "I don't know" about half of the time. I also say it if I'm not comfortable telling them the answer or I just don't want to talk. A good portion of my "conversations" go something like this:

"Do you want the red or the blue cookie?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't know."
"The choices are red and blue. No 'I don't knows'."
"I don't know."
"Dammit JitakuKeibiinB! If you don't know then who does!"
"I don't know."

Does anyone else do this, or is it just me and Raymond?

I frequently use it, but only in the context: "There's nothing I don't know".

Constantly. iMother has learned not to ask me questions like this. She just decides for me now. We both prefer it this way.

When I was little, "I don't know" was too advanced, so I had no response instead. So "I don't know" is ackshuly a step up from no response. Or maybe just a stand-in.

I say this quite often too.

I was just thinking today that I should say "I don't know" less (because I also say it too often...am indecisive). Today my psychologist kept asking me questions like"was this exercise helpful?" or "do you think it would be helpful to .......?" or "what do you think would remind you to ...........?" I just kept saying "I don't know".....well, I really didn't though..............

I say this a lot too.

Me too.

I need to learn to use that phrase, actually. You ask me a question, that prompts me to answer... sometimes when I don't know the answer, I answer anyway, just matching the pattern, and it may or may not be a total guess. Sometimes I've answered things correctly by sheer accident. Sometimes I've made a fool of myself. Depends on my luck.

Making the mental shift to think about whether I know the answer, rather than only thinking about what I should say in response to the question, can be a bit of a tricky proposition in the middle of a fast-paced conversation. It's a gear-shift into metacognition when I'm already working pretty hard to keep up. No wonder I flub up on it sometimes.

Yeah, guilty as charged. I tend to say this a lot as well. I'm indecisive.

I don't say "I dont know" but I have another phrase instead.
My family uses it with me to point out when i'm being ... you know and I have started to use it when I know I need to stop

"Hello I'm an Aspie"

My mum started to do it when I started getting obsessed about sorting beads . She says this when am I being a bit too weird for the social situation that I am in. it's just a whisper in my ear. its a sort of amusement for me but it also stops me from being rude

it however helps with friends when they get to weirded out it sort of reminds them that this is normal for me and if they are uncomfortable they just need to tell me if they find the behavior inappropriate

it is my way of saying "hey imma doing this, is it alright?"

I hate when my BF says that when I really need to know stuff.

I'll say "I'm fine." a lot. This seems to perplex some people and not have the intended effect of them dropping the issue. My mom, in particular, doesn't know when to quit when trying to get me to eat more food or a snack or something. She'll ask me if I want maybe 5-10 different things before giving up or begging me to eat what she thinks I should. I appreciate that she cares, but sometimes it gets irritating.

I need to use the phrase "I don't know" more often because all through my life, I felt the need, and other people expected me to know the answers to everything. One reason why life was driving me nuts.

I get caught with that too. Someone asks me whether I would like tea or coffee, or yoghurt or pie for dessert and my first response is "I don't know" but this tends to frustrate the person asking so I just add "The same as what you are having."

I used to. Now I have an opinion about everything and want things to go my way.

A common phrase around these parts around the young is 'eh, I'm easy' meaning I really don't mind, you decide.

I may sometimes use that when I'm not being demanding.

At the hospital yesterday:

Doctor: Do you want something to eat?
Me: No
Nurse: Are you sure?
Me: I don't know
Doctor: Do you want a sandwich or some toast?
Me: I don't know
Doctor: You need to eat something.
Me: OK
[Doctor leaves]
Nurse: Do you want cheese or ham?
Me: I don't know
Nurse: Come on, choose. Cheese or ham?
Me: I don't know
Nurse: You need to make a choice
Me: *starts hitting self*
Nurse: I'll bring cheese then.
Me: OK
Nurse: Unless you want ham?
Me: I don't know
Nurse: *exasperated sigh*

I ended up with two sandwiches. I ate one and threw up. Turns out my first answer was right.

[this was after I started speaking, it was three hours at the hospital before I was able to speak and the first hour of that was hell with them trying to force me to speak which just made it worse]