Things You Used Too Take Litterally

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Come on I know that it's common for us aspies that we tend to be very literal people. I myself is one. But have improved over my 18 years of life. I have several things I used to take literally. Like the day you turn 13. Your voice instantly changes on the day you're 13. Actually found that out when I was 12 because that was when my voice started changing. And the sign that says no shoes no shirt no service. I used to think that I had to take off my shirt and shoes. When I first started learning to read. I read the sign and tried to take it off. But I have several more too list since I have so many. But what are your's?

The sign that says: IN CASE OF FIRE, DO NOT USE ELEVATOR

I thought that meant: Avoid using the elevator at all costs, just in case there happens to be a fire

Don't drink and drive. I thought it meant you couldn't drink anything and then drive or drink anything as you drive.

Good lord, i have no idea! I take things literally all the time, so cant keep up with what i learn as not being literal to what is literal. Last flatmates worked that out pretty quickly so would wind me up with apparent literals hide within less obvious sarcasm... It is a constant flow and somewhat rather confusing. Some days are better than others! lol
Even though i have a bit of a dry sense of humour also so hard for people to know when i am joking, so people often laugh hysterically when i am actually being quit serious and look at me blankly/intently when im kidding (awkward!)

Idioms, similes and the like were totally lost on me as a youth.
I remember right, in English class.. my teacher hinted at the deeper meanings of a character in a play we had to read. She was addicted to drugs and was going cold turkey at a point. Anyways, I took it to mean a literal cold turkey...but I read through the entire play book and found no reference to a turkey or even a chicken. I then theorised that maybe I misheard my teacher and she said GOLD turkey...as if it were some slang for currency or the drugs themselves. I then went on to write over 200 words about this gold turkey and how the goblins were using it to influence her and make her do bizarre things.

My teacher rightfully returned my paper, with aggressively red-circled and underlined paragraphs saying "WHAT THE HELL IS A GOLD TURKEY?? WHAT IS THIS, NATHAN?" and "I don't think you're taking this seriously. Please refer to me after class."

I remember being struck by a notice in the London underground saying "Dogs must be carried on the escalator," and then by contrast at immigration a notice saying "Passports must be shown at the immigration desk." Language, and unspoken conventions, can be tricky sometimes!

Another one that gets me is a pair of double doors where a notice is stuck to one of them saying "Please use other door." Absolutely clear and unambiguous, until they add an arrow on the notice too, pointing at the other door. Now they've created a real ambiguity; use the door the arrow is pointing at, or does the arrow indicate the door you are not supposed to use?

When kids at school used to tease me and I was told to not listen, I would say that it didn't work because they were so close I could hear everything they were saying.

But I don't know if what I said as a little kid would count since they normally do take everything literally at that age.
When I was a teenager, however, I heard the expression of someone who eats a lot of food as having a "hollow leg". And to to this day the mental image of a leg with no bones or muscle inside and chewed-up food going into it instead of just your stomach is kind of gross.

Stuck in a traffic jam. I pictured cars stuck in a bunch of jam on the highway.
Someone being asked if they were chicken. I thought they were being asked if they were made of chicken.
Hearing about someone shooting their mouth off. I pictured someone doing that literally with a gun.
Metaphors like someone has a frog stuck in their throat.
Someone has a chip on their shoulder meant someone with a potato chip on their shoulder which made no sense.

I still take things like idioms literally (probably because I'm young). One example is when I was sitting next to this girl in class and she was practicing her signature. She said "I love the way my new signature rolls off my hand." I then proceeded to ask "Rolls off your hand?" and roll my own pencil down my hand. I've even heard that expression before. She looked very confused. It was an awkward moment. That's the most recent one I can think of.

Now I am confused about these idioms, can you explain what they actually mean?





I guess even NTs were getting confused by this. I never had this problem because the sign on the door indicated you can't use that door. Reminds me when I was in my freshman year of high school, the kitchen staff had a sign on their computer saying "there will be no charge on lunches starting April 21st" and I took it as they won't charge you for lunch anymore. So one day I went to get my lunch and the lunch lady told me I was below in my account and I told her "I know" and she told me I can't have lunch and I said I could because they don't charge us for them anymore. I even showed her the sign on her computer thinking she wasn't aware of their new policy and she let me have my lunch. Later I learned that is not what the sign actually meant and even other kids had taken it literal too. But my aid knew what the sign meant and said it was poorly worded and she only knew what it meant because she is an adult and we were just kids so we didn't know.

I'm not the person who posted this and I'm no native speaker, but I would think the confusion arose because the OP thought he had to bring a dog with him even though he didn't have one and that he had to show his passport even though he wasn't an immigrant.

I am right?

I still do too and I'm 18. They are some of the most confusing things people say. I don't get how people understand them right away.

That makes so much sense now if that is what he thought. I couldn't see how else those signs could be interpreted so I thought I was being literal too and got confused.

I know. Even ones that have been explained to me I still process literally first. Sometimes I just don't think before I speak .

So what did it mean? I'm stuck and can't think of any other possible meaning. It's driving me nuts.