do you always have to be accurate?

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ask me what time it is, and I'll tell you it's one minute to five. if my digital watch says it's five seconds to five, I'll wait five seconds and then tell you it's five o'clock.

are you this way too?

if this is an aspie thing, why? why are we this way?

Yes. It can be found in several different personality and disorders including autism. Probably because we like details and things to be exact when people approach us with information so we exert the same for them.

I will say things like almost two or almost five or just say what exact time it is.

Yes, or at least if I'm inaccurate it frustrates me. I might be aware that the person wants "close enough" and give them the time to the nearest major unit, but I will at the end add "in fact it's exactly...".

I'm a perfectionist in general. At work other people work on/create the same thousands of computer files I do; if they name them wrong I must change them to the correct name so that balance is restored to the universe.

Analog watch---"it's about" or "it's a little after".

Digital--whatever the watch or cell phone says it is.

I can be a bit obsessive about that sometimes. Yes, one minute to five is not the same as five o'clock. When I tell people to meet me at 9 to give them a ride somewhere, I prepare to leave at 9:01 if they're not there. I've tried to be lackadaisical about this since it seems most people could care less about accuracy, but I still watch time like a hawk.

I'm either way too careless or way too preoccupied with things being "right". I tend towards the former nowadays as the latter caused me a great deal of unwarranted guilt and stress in earlier years.

+1

What happens if you are not accurate?

I doubt that a brain exercises such specific influence over action without some conscious decision making.

I don't do well with criticism, disappointment, or failure. I guess that's why I triple check things sometimes to make sure I spelled it right or wrote it coherently.

Reminds me of when I sent a personal letter to a family member. I was playing it more lose because I didn't expect to be judged. But instead of focusing on what I was actually saying they just criticized how I wrote it. =[

It depends. If I am relaying data from a precision measuring instrument (such as a clock) then I am accurate.

But usually if I am speaking extemporaneously, and if I use a number, I don't mean that number precisely, but a point in the neighborhood of that number. Sometimes I describe this as "every number is a variable."

Saying "it's 5 o'clock" when it's actually 4:58 feels uncomfortable (because it's not) but I don't mind saying "it's almost 5". You can avoid being inaccurate by using "almost", although it's a different kind of accuracy I'm talking about (accurate with words, not with time).

In general I'm extremely accurate (or try to be so).

I'm extremely obsessive when it comes to correct spelling and following rules, but less so when telling time.

He is, I wholeheartedly concur

Exactly this.

Yes and it is quite powerful.
I have made a life-long effort to be less accurate to conform to the zeitgeist within which I am forced to exist.
The compulsion still remains.

One thing which is a constant source of frustration for me is lack of specificity in communication.

Eg. Where is it located? "Over there"
How many would you like? "A few"
What time would you like to leave? "Oh, it doesn't matter,...whenever"
etc.....