Examples of Taking Things Literally

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When I had my first USB device on my computer, somebody asked me if it was USB 2. I told them it was using the second socket down on the back of the PC.

That's not taking things literally that's more being unfamiliar with the term USB 2.0.

I had to present a presentation in front of my class and a fellow peer said "Go!" so I left the room.

The same form of criticism could be levelled at the idea of pressing F and 7 instead of F7. But both anecdotes were worth reading IMHO, so I think a little bit of off-topic naughtiness wasn't such a bad thing.

Is she computer illiterate? That would be why.

I have been reading those books and they were hilarious and then they stopped being funny after the first two I've read.

This is a memorial one in my family. I remember being 11 years old and my mother and I were coming back from the funeral. I kept teasing her and she kept telling me to stop that teasing so I did a different one each time. Then in Washington, I turn on the cold air vent on her side while she was in the gas station and then she comes back out and not too long later, she noticed it open and closed it and I smirked and she got very angry at me. She pulled over and kicked me out of the car and I would have to walk home. We were three and a half hours away from our house. I get out thinking she was mad at me about the air vent and she drives off and then stops and orders me back in the car and she is so angry at me and I am wondering why is she so mad. I did what she wanted. Then she is crying and it turned out she wanted me to quit teasing her. She never said this and she said she did and I said "No you said stop that teasing so I was doing a different tease to make you laugh." For a while I just thought she misspoke and blamed it on me for her mistake. She had a strange way of telling people to quit teasing her But really all this trouble over one extra word when it could have been avoided with "No more teasing, I want no teasing on the rest of the way home." But she didn't say that, she said "stop that teasing."

She is certainly aware of the function buttons. She heard F and 7 and that's what she pressed. When I pointed out her mistake, she laughed and immediately pressed the right button.

I use computers and I hardly every use the F keys. And they aren't on my radar screen either. And many functions on apple computers are: a letter key plus the control key at the same time. So I mighta done the same thing.

Last week at work, I tried to be more welcoming to the kids I was working with and ask them to "Please take a seat." Well, in doing this I had overlooked the one child in the group who I suspected was an aspie (later confirmed by mum). The kid picked up a chair, brought it to me and said "Where should I take it?" My fault, in honesty.

Interestingly, at about the same age I also had a chair related literal interpretation. We had a supply teacher for the day and the classroom hadn't been set up so the chairs were in the wrong places and too few. She asked us to get a chair each. I was one of the last to locate a chair. When she told us to freeze, I did exactly that with the chair elevated in the air. Consequently, I was sent out the classroom for 'attempting to throw a chair'. I ended up being let off thankfully. I think the teacher felt really bad because I was very upset about it.

I was older - a teenager already - but I also had a funny situation with seats.
On a school trip(winter time) we entered a room with soft carpet and a lot of stone benches and our teacher told us: "Just sit where you feel comfortable". So I ignored the cold, stone seats and sat on carpet by a wall with warm heater. For some reason all my classmates sat on the cold, hard benches and I couldn't understand why they consider the seats more "comfortable" than the soft, warm carpet.

And noöne decided it was more comfortable to sit on top of someone else? I'm pretty sure, had I been in such a situation, someone would have obeyed by sitting on top of me. And they'd probably have managed to make me scream so I got punished.

I had that happen today. I was talking to my employment assistance counselor about jobs I'd be interested in, and he said, "There's a lady I know who you'd probably be able to shadow; I could set that up tomorrow," (meaning "very promptly; in a very short time"). I thought he meant literally the next day, so I thought about my schedule and said, "Well, tomorrow's Tuesday..." at which point he interrupted and apologised for not being more literal, saying, "I didn't mean literally tomorrow." I thought it was odd; I've never heard of "tomorrow" being used as a colloquialism for "promptly".

I remember when I was 16, I applied at Wal-Mart and they tell me they would be calling Friday for interviews. That day comes and I stay at the phone all day long waiting for it to ring and it never does. I felt lied to. All that wait for nothing. I realize now they didn't mean they were going to call me literally. They were just going to call people for interviews who they are interested in. I know better now.

I would be just as confused. Tomorrow is tomorrow - I couldn't see any double meaning in it. I am not sure if that was person specific or there is a "tomorrow meaning promptly" in English. I am familiar with the Polish "I need it for right now/I need it for yesterday" meaning "It's very urgent." but its easy to guess because it is literally impossible to change past so I know it must have double meaning(although before I was familiar with that term I used to say "It's impossible. You should say it earlier if you wanted it for yesterday/now.").
"Tomorrow" is a logical point in the future so its easy to take literally.

I seen a unfamiliar double meaning in your sentence but it wasn't "tomorrow"(which I took literally without questioning): what does it mean to "shadow" someone? Walking behind their back like a shadow? Doesn't make much sense, it would be stalking. Or maybe it like a mimicry because a shadow moves like the person, just without so much details?

Agree with both of your points: I am a native American English speaker, and I've NEVER heard "tomorrow" used to mean "any minute now". Sometimes it used to mean the FAR future ( as in "science fiction tales about of the world of tomorrow").

And that is a curious usage of the word "shadow" because you're right ..it IS used to mean "follow someone around", "dog them", or to even "stalk" them.

When I was a kid (around 6-8), I remember a day where my mother had promised to reward me and my little brother with a TV dinner that night. All day I was so excited! We had never been allowed to eat dinner while watching TV before! When dinner time arrive my mom said to sit down at the dining table and she plopped a small tray with chicken nuggets and small sides that were in separate compartments. Confused and sorely disappointed, I asked why we weren't having a TV dinner. My mom said we were, and she pointed to the tray in front of me. When she realized what I'd meant, she must have felt badly, because she let me eat it in the living room with the TV on.

My most embarrassing one was immortalized in my 5th grade yearbook. They did a special book for the entire 5th grade and for one section we were each given a questionnaire to fill out. One of the questions asked "Who is your favorite composer?" I answered "Beethoven." Well when the yearbooks came out and I was reading through my copy on the last day of class, I began to get this sinking feeling. I was noticing that everyone else had answered with pop stars and boy bands. At first I felt bad for them, thinking that they were the confused ones....then I realized I'd gotten it wrong...not a single other person had answered with the likes of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, or any of the others we learned about in music class. I still cringe when I see that book.