"I was joking!" "I know, but evidently I resp

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I seem to get this a lot. someone will say something they don't mean to be taken literally and I will respond in kind...

of course I can't think of any examples, but I usually treat whatever their statement was as a hypothetical proposition to be entertained for the remainder of our interaction. I figure if they're joking then I must be joking back? I think this may happen most often when people are being somewhat mordant about a less than ideal situation.

they make their not-literal statement and I respond in kind...and usually get interrupted by someone who bemusedly but earnestly insists that they weren't serious. is this response "I was only kidding!" part of the fun of their improbable statement (like a knock knock joke? some kind of more adult formulaic humor?) or is it a real correction?

do you experience this sort of thing or am I doing something unusual?

I know what you’re talking about. I don’t think you’re doing anything “wrong” but they might be confused if you’re not using inflection to signify that you’re joking. I've run into similar situations.

It's a real correction if they can't perceptibly tell that you were joking in return. If your voice, facial expressions, and/or body language don't communicate that you're joking then they're going to believe that you took their statement literally and that your response is serious. This is probably most often exactly what happens when things go down as you described.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Reread your post and realized I had misinterpreted it as being about not knowing when something is a joke... Kind of ironic. I'm so used to that stereotype and started thinking about why that always gets brought up about autistics. In your case I guess it's about the joker just wanting a passive audience, or THEY thinking you were serious... And in the cases they know you were joking, they might not like it anyway, especially if you're funnier than them

That happens to me a lot too. I know they were joking and I try to joke back and....

I'm not used to people just walking up and joking around with me without some sort of transitional comments or time period. It catches me off guard and I can't switch to social mode in time to take in what they've said.

Maybe you're too deadpan when you reply. Or maybe whatever you said went over their head. I've had that happen too.

P. S. I love your avatar. When I was a kid, my mom had a "Carmina Burana" album with that painting as the cover. I could stare at it for an hour or more at a time and find something I hadn't noticed before. And I was surprised that it had naked people in it, since nudity was such a taboo.