Anyone Else Think People Are Being Sarcastic When Theyre Not

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Ishi2
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08 May 2016, 6:40 am

It's common for people with ASD to take things literally. We often misinterpret sarcasm.

I have an entirely different problem though: when people compliment me or comment on something else (for example: you ask them how they're doing and they say "I'm fine."; that's a terrible example but that's all I could come up with), I often can't tell if they're being sincere about their comment/compliment, and may even take them as meaning exactly opposite of what they're saying even if they are being sincere.

Is this an Aspie thing? Does anyone else do this or is it just me?


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naturalplastic
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08 May 2016, 7:11 am

"How are you?" is a meaningless question (unless its in a job situation - a supervisor may ask 'how are you doing?' as a real question to see if have an issues in some task that your performing), and "fine" is the meaningless expected response (basically you and they are just saying 'hello' to each other). So I wouldnt worry about "sincerity" for that.

About compliments: its sounds to me like you have been bullied and abused so much growing up that youve gotten a bit paranoid that folks maybe always giving you a hard time whether they are or not. That could well be the result of being an aspie. Though its not some inborn intrinsic symptom of aspergers.



leozelig
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08 May 2016, 7:46 am

Ishi2 wrote:
It's common for people with ASD to take things literally. We often misinterpret sarcasm.

I have an entirely different problem though: when people compliment me or comment on something else (for example: you ask them how they're doing and they say "I'm fine."; that's a terrible example but that's all I could come up with), I often can't tell if they're being sincere about their comment/compliment, and may even take them as meaning exactly opposite of what they're saying even if they are being sincere.

Is this an Aspie thing? Does anyone else do this or is it just me?

I take a lot of things as being sarcastic by people I am closer too and can become upset if I think I detect it as I feel criticised. But with people I hardly know, sarcasm goes over my head because I can't detect it which then makes communication simpler after they get to know me better. I take almost everything literally and often ask people what they mean or if they are being sarcastic with me.



JakeASD
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08 May 2016, 8:25 am

I tend to misinterpret something that is serious as sarcasm, yet I also misinterpret something that is sarcastic as serious. It's almost laughable how utterly abysmal I am at reading people.


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spinelli
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08 May 2016, 9:26 am

I have no use for people who rely on sarcasm to communicate.



strawbebby
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09 May 2016, 10:30 am

Yes. I always ask them 'are you being sarcastic or for real' (sometimes just 'seriously?') because if I ignore a serious thing they get all pissy. It's so annoying because I just expect everyone around me to be sarcastic. I can't understand it for the life of me and I hate it. I wish it would go away.