Learning to Take A Joke

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I can never tell when people are just joking around or actually saying mean things to me, and I've gotten sick of "You've gotta learn to take a joke!"

Believe it or not, this gets better with time. I've certainly gotten a better idea when folks are kidding me, and I've learned not to take myself quite so seriously most of the time. And most folks do it less as they grow up.

Make a study of it by watching others around you and how they deal with it.

Which isn't to say it doesn't hurt... it does. Just that youcan rise above it.

It's generally sarcasm, alot of aspies don't seem to catch sarcasm..

I don't, almost all of the time. Learn to take a joke? It isn't that we can't take one, it's that we don't recognize one.

I also find it hard to recognize when people are joking. One thing that helps is to look at other people (if you're in a group) and see how they're reacting.

For instance, I have one friend who is always making fun of himself (his religion, race etc) and I can't tell if he's joking unless I look at my other friends and see if they're smiling.

When one of my friends say a joke it takes me a while to understand the joke.

I'm always get upset if someone makes fun of me, because I don't realise it's a joke. With my best friend though, I just find it easier to assume she's joking when she makes fun of me, usually she is. That way neither of us get upset.

Yes, I am the same way, I don't understand most jokes, or sarcasm either!

I can tell when someone's joking if I've known them for a long time, but recently I've noticed I can't tell with strangers or acquaintances.

Seems like it'd be better for our own peace of mind to assume others are joking rather than deciding they're being mean or insulting, which is a very negative state of mind, no fun to be in.

And IF the other person is intending to be mean, laughing it off really gets their goat... undercuts their ability to hurt us. What better revenge is there?

I figured out you just have to learn how to counter, like in a fight. For example Person 1: "Dude you're so gay." Person 2: "Your mom didn't think so." It would have been funnier if I didn't have to keep it clean, but you get the idea. It's fairly simple tho, once you get the hang of it. You can even use logic to help you figure out if what they are saying is a joke, and to help you joke back. You have to be quick with it, though.