Mimicking People

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Imitation whore, right here. I'm like the Aladdin of imitating people, stealing the unleavened bread and bird tongues of other people's mannerisms and ways of speaking. Including, for a time after the film came out, Aladdin.

funny

Lol, this is so me. My mum had to sit me down once and explain that other people would think I was making fun of them if I kept copying their accents . And I also relate with the idea that it feels safer to 'be the other person'. That's why I like acting so much. And why I fall into an RP English accent when I'm angry at someone.

Regarding language learning, I can get the accent down pretty fast, but learning the actual language is a whole other ball game. I'm rubbish at it. So when I travel I learn the stock phrase of "I only speak a very little of (whatever lanaguage)". Problem is, if I've learned it from a native-speaker I sound fluent. Then I get strange looks and people start talking to me in their tongue anyway.

But this happens with my writing too. God help me if I've just been reading Shakespeare and I go to compose an email. I sound like an absolute twit.

I don't think I've ever copied people's behaviours.

I used to try copying what people wore at school to try and fit in and I still do now, but I realise I just don't feel comfortable in it and give up.

Ha-ha! I once waited on a man in a bookstore who came up to me and asked, "Do you carreh the Oxfahd Ameruhcayun?" I said, "Yayus."

yeah, I used to do impressions of famous people when I was a kid. My dad used to tell me I should be a comedian, for reals.

I still can take on the verbal cues of people after just a few minutes.

Before the days of Asperger's, this was one of the ways I coped with being different. "How can I figure out what makes people normal and wear those habits to fly under the radar?"

Yup, I can't help myself. Within minutes I will copy someone's speech patterns and physical characteristics. I actually find it quite annoying because I can't just steadily be myself. Also sometimes people notice me doing this and I think they find it creepy.

I do all the time and sometimes I do it without even noticing it.

I used to do this during my adolescence.

My clumsy social skills and uncharismatic personality did not appeal to others. I had no friends. My obvious mimicking helped me navigate social interactions, because I had no clue how to do it on my own. Behind this behaviour, I knew who I was, but no one wanted to associate with the real me. Imitating others made me feel terrible about myself. At the time, I was desperate for a real friend.

Once I accepted myself, the need to mimic stopped.

uh that's what people do
social interaction has that effect
i thought this stuff was supposed to be lessened or impaired in autism? lack empathy, mirroring, reciprocation, etc.

I understand where you are coming from but I think this highlights the difference between the social interaction of NT's which would involve wearing something because the "popular girl" is wearing it (and therefore you actually think it is cool), and mirroring the language of our "peers" as a natural progression on making friends because you enjoy being "one of the gang" ; then the copy cat behavior of someone who doesn't know why they are doing something or where it is socially "acceptable" to do those thing and doesn't really enjoy it (it's not "them").

When I was growing up I had no idea that it was socially “weird" that I would idolize someone like Johnathan Taylor Thomas for being “cute” and therefore have his posters on my wall, watch his movies… cut my hair like him, dress like him and try and do the things that he did. I was a 12 year old GIRL… Awkward!!

There isn't any emotion attached to it - it is simply a tool that is used to desperately make oneself "like" another person in an attempt to connect yourself to the world.

It is more like "fake" conforming. The research done on female Aspie's is that they are better at mirroring behavior that they don't understand or that doesn't come naturally - that's why diagnosis is made later in life than for some men.

Yes! I just recently became aware of how extensive and...not normal my database of words, intonations, jokes, movements and facial expressions really was. After I gave it a lot of thought, I realised almost everything I do when talking to another person is all stolen information, some of which I learned as a child from adults and use in exactly the same way today. I could easily give you a long list of frases, words and expressions I purposely use or display in any given social interaction, along with a subcatagorized list of tone of voice or stressed words to be used in conjunction with those things.

I have done this for as long as I can remember and never understood when people would, for example, say something terribly mean and then later claim they didnt mean to because they were angry. I didnt understand this because I thougt every one did the same as me and had a plethora of words and movements on hand to be executed when necessary and that these words and movements were always deliberate just as mine were, even when I was upset or angry.

whenever i speak to people with an accent, particularly UK accents, it takes a conscious effort to not start speaking in the same accent as them.

I don't do that and it always baffled me that people would think I would/should and that they would think that the actions of others would influence me in any way.

When I was 14 and my psychologist heard that my friend was going to college she seemed to think that was going to be a good influence on me. I was like . Just because my friend did something doesn't mean all of a sudden I'll want to do it. I'm not them and they aren't me. As the old stereotypical parent saying goes "if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you do it too?"

Yes I do this a lot, right down to copying other peoples' laughter style or their accent or the way they intonate certain phrases. This allows me to socialise on auto-pilot by basically copying other people. I have relied on this so much in the past that I have doubted whether I have a personality of my own. Over time I have assimilated more people into my repetoire, however I still have embarassing moments when I realise I have just mimicked the person I am with at that moment.