I Can Understand Metaphors And Use Them

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I can understand metaphors and use them, but if I've not encountered them before I end up being clueless to what they mean. I found the expression "airing dirty linens in public" and I had no clue what it meant.

Is it possible to have Asperger's and understand metaphors? I'm fairly literal, but if I've encountered a metaphor or expression before (and I read a lot) then I can usually understand what it means. My first impression is the literal one, but it takes about two seconds for me to translate it to what it actually means.

I have Aspergers and do not have a problem with metaphors.

Being able to interpret metaphors or not is not included in the diagnostic criteria for ASDs.

This is good to hear, because one of my main points against AS is that I don't have any pronounced problems with metaphors. I do have problems with certain/new expressions at times, but that's about it.

it sounds like you do what I have done. That is picked up which ones are used when, but not understood their actual meaning (apart from the really obvious ones like 'looking for a needle in a haystack' because obviously that would be an impossible thing so it tells you that reference is being made to something very difficult).

Because I have high verbal skills and a very good memory, as well as paying attention to detail, I learned when to use them. But when I actually stop to question what they actually mean I frequently haven't got a clue. It's harder work for us because as you say, we have to intelligently calculate where we can, whereas to NTs it's more obvious.

Right. Like I've memorized a lot just because they're so common, but ones like "easy as pie" don't make any sense to me because I baked mini-pies when I was eight and it was not easy. So that one I just have to know. Same with ones like "piece of cake" and things like that.

I've noticed that if I make up my own metaphors/expressions, they tend to confuse my NT friends.

Also, unrelated (get used to this, my mind goes off on tangents very frequently), it irritates me when sites say "your aspie." It sounds akin to "your dog" or "your chinchilla." We aren't a separate species. At the same time, when people go out of their way to make sure they don't call a child by their AS, it irritates me. I guess I'm just hard to please.

Most people don't have a clue about what the majority of the metaphors they use actually mean.

As a kid, I used to look them up in the library because I thought they were pretty bizarre.

Ironically, I now have a better grasp of the meaning of metaphors and common sayings than most NTs.

Many people with Asperger's have a high verbal IQ, so their ability to interpret language and derive meaning from it may actually be better than average.
The logical capacities of someone with Asperger's may also help them to "decode" a metaphor by breaking it down into logical pieces.

For "airing dirty linens in public," for example, I think of why that act might be significant. "Linens" refer to underwear, as undergarments are often made of linen, and underwear is often symbolic of privacy or secrecy, as the underwear covers the private parts and are usually not seen in public. If they are "dirty," then those linens have exceptional reason to be hidden. When underwear is "aired," it is usually displayed on a clothing line, several feet in the air, for all to see. The fact that it is "in public" means that others can see the "linens." Thus, "airing linens in public" likely refers to displaying or revealing something that most people would keep private to the general public.

I would assume that the phrase "easy as pie" came into play when pies began to be sold pre-made by mass-production companies and simply had to be heated in the oven. Those pies truly are easy to make.

Oh I hate that too! It's really condescending, like we're something you need to pat on the head indulgently.

I still occasionally have issues with social conventions and literal meanings. Yesterday I met my downstairs neighbor for the first time. He said, "Nice to meet you." I replied, "Thank you" then I quickly corrected myself and said the more appropriate "Nice to meet you, too."

In any case, phrases like "nice to meet you" always trip me up. How can someone know, within seconds of encountering someone, that it's nice to meet them? I could be a noisemaker or maybe I throw garbage all around the front yard, then it's really not so nice to have met me. Conventions...

Things like this trip me up too. My little sister is always laughing at me for saying the wrong things in a social situation (I'm going to stick with that she's laughing at me in a nice way)

I find some metaphors to be self-explanatory while I need other metaphors explained. Once I know what it means I have no problems using them.

With SOME aspies its a problem understanding sarcasm, or 'reading between the lines', or they take things too literally.

But ive never heard that aspies have problems with metaphor per se.

And "linens" means "underwear" in that expression- BTW.

Putting your dirty underpants on a clothes line where everyone can see.

Get it?

For me -that expression is pretty vivid.

But we all use expressions that have archaic references that no one knows the literal meaning of.

Like "hoist on your own petard".

The "hoist" part has nothing to do with "hoisting" a load on a crane. Its Elizabethan English for "blown up". And a "petard" is what our forces now call an "IED" ( improvised explosive device). So it means "stepping on your own land mine, or booby trap".

Many correctly use it to mean that in figuritive sense, but few know what the literal derivation is ( they know what it means, but they have no idea HOW it means what it means).

Last edited by naturalplastic on 03 Apr 2013, 9:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.

For me, that expression (the one with the linens) just meant someone doing laundry in a public place. Oops. That explains why I thought it was ridiculous.

Well... That's good you clarified, because at a glance it looked like "hold his own" type expression. I'm fairly literal and miss a lot of sarcasm.

"hoist by one's own petard"

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hoist_by_one's_own_petard

(sorry, I am a pedant for spellings).

Ah, same here. That would have driven me mad, except for I just found out that that word existed when that person posted, and thus I didn't even know how it would be spelled.

How are most aspies with puns and Spoonerisms?