I am so embarrassed and panicking.! !!

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My childhood friend from out of town just called and we had one of the awkward silences and do you know what I said...

something like this:

Me: You want to here an interested/kind of disgusting fact about newborns (my sister just had a baby)
Her: Umm okay
Me: Newborn baby girls sometimes have little breasts and have something resembling a period because they still have some of their mom's hormones.
Her: Silence
Me: Baby boys sometimes have breasts.

I'm so embarrassed and I'm panicking so bad since she will be here in two hours with an NT friend.

I almost feel like crying. Why did I say that? I'm 27.

Take a deep breath slowly and let it out slowly. If your friend is still visiting you, then it doesn't seem to be such a big deal. We all say or do stuff that makes us embarrased sometimes. I find focusing on my breathing helps calm me down sometimes, perhaps try it and see if it will work for you.

I wouldn't worry too much. If she's paying you a return visit, you can't have upset her that much. What you said was probably rather inappropriate and off-putting, but I'm sure there are much worse things you could have said, but didn't. Just pretend it never happened. People usually have fairly short memories for small social gaffes, in my experience.

As for why you said it, well if you're an Aspie then you will occasionally make that kind of mistake. The only way I avoid it these days is by being a man of few (spoken) words. It's really annoying because it means I can't be immediate in conversation, which can be quite tedious. But the alternative is probably worse.

I am 26, and have made similar mistakes. Obstetrics are my obsession, so I've made more than a few people squeamish.

Just relax; if she's still coming to visit, I doubt she was disturbed.

I'll share an embarrassing story of mine for you. I was with my mother, and she was introducing me to two male friends of hers. I noticed she had a cold sore, and couldn't stop staring at it. Well, one of the men said we looked alike. I replied, "Except for the herpes". Yes, there I was, a 21 year old woman, responding like that quite seriously.

I'm still embarrassed.

I frequently say things like that on purpose just to enjoy the awkward silences or squeamish expressions. So when I do it accidentally, those who know me well tend to assume I'm just messing with them. Maybe I am....maybe I'm just an Aspergian dork...

actually, it kind of goes without saying...


Toughdiamond is absolutely right, though - people have very short memories - look how quickly they forget the inappropriate stuff that celebrities do. The media will obsess about something nonstop for a week, and by the end of the next month, everybody's forgotten all about it. Marv Albert who? Kanye What? Yesterday's news...

I remember a statistic quoted to me by a Radio mentor that the average listener's attention span was about 13 seconds. That was in 1978 - its probably much shorter now.

But really, I'd just jump on the whole concept and hammer on 'baby boob' jokes for the rest of the day. If they're gonna think you're weird, make sure its hilarious weird, rather than creepy weird.

Don't feel bad. It is kind of interesting, what you said. It's a little blunt to say something like that to someone you hardly know, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. It might make you seem a bit quirky, but that's not so bad. It's just you being you, right? That's better than worrying all day about saying or doing the wrong thing, IMO.

I'm reminded of this guy I used to work with many years ago. I'm sure, in hindsight, that he was autistic. He would walk into the office and shout, "You know, they found alligator fossils in Iceland!" and then walk away. The rest of us thought he was a little strange, but we also liked him, because he was unique, and was full of interesting facts.

I personally don't see anything wrong with what you said. It's true, it's interesting, you wanted to share this with her, so what? If anything, she should have said, "Really, I didn't know that. That's interesting." I'm guessing this came as a surprise to you and had something to do with you sister's baby, which mean it is not completely out of context, but related to what's going on in your life, your sister's life right now. Big deal. Your friend's silence seems weirder and more inappropriate to me than what you said.

LOL about the fossils in Iceland-that reminds me of my Dad. I saw something really disgusting but also really interesting regarding the decaying body of a mouse and I couldn't help but tell someone about it. He said thanks for sharing and then of course I realized this wasn't considered a normal thing to talk about.

I say embarrassing stuff like that all the time. I once out of nowhere said to my mum that eating a sandwhich could give someone a heart attack. There was a long silence afterwards and the person from the next table gave me a dirty look.
I just expect things like this to happen now.

I found what you said interesting but I wouldn't know what to say back. It would take me some time to process what you said so there would be silence afterwards but no negative thoughts about you.

But then as an aspie I don't know what your friend would think.

It IS an interesting fact, though. You just caught yourself too late to realize it was on one of the taboo lists. I found myself talking about autopsies during dinner once... my dinner companion wasn't happy.