Most people seem more literal than me

Post Reply New Topic

Does this mean I'm neurotypical? I swear there are so many times when someone says something and someone around me says something like "That doesn't make any sense! How can [literal interpretation] be possible?", and I inform them of the speaker's intent and then they suddenly 'get it'. I seem to often 'get what others are saying' more often than the average person does. But, on the other hand, I seem to have many times when I make fun of something by taking it literally, and most people act like that's childish (or 'crazy') instead of funny. And, there are many people who sometimes say "That's not what I meant" and then others who complain I take things too literally (online, anyway.) and I just don't "Get them", whatever that means.

So, do you sometimes correct other people's interpretations of what people said? Maybe this is actually common for aspies because some people tend to communicate in a literal way that aspies tend to more readily 'get' than average people and so then there's the "literal" camp on one side and the "metaphorical" camp on the other, and communication within each group tends to be smooth but communication between the camps tends to be difficult.

(OH, by the way, when I said "camp", did you actually think of a tent and a bonfire and wondered... "what the heck? that doesn't make sense.". If so, maybe I'm from the metaphorical group. XD)

I don't have problems seeing the metaphorical meaning of things. But I do see the literal meaning too, and often find it funny even though NTs seem oblivious to the literal meaning. I can remember snickering to myself during a staff meeting when the boss said we "shouldn't go overboard" on some project, as I kept having these mental pictures of people suddenly falling out of boats. Nobody else was smiling though ... hmm. Well, I am the only Aspie in my section. Of course I knew what the boss meant, I just couldn't ignore the graphic visual image in my head.

So no, I don't think it means you are neurotypical. Your capacity for making fun with literal meanings suggests to me that you may be more vividly aware of them than your NT colleagues are, and that would seem to be an Aspie trait. Personally, I don't think it is an absence of metaphorical understanding so much as a vivid awareness of literal meanings that typify Aspies. Of course, in some Aspies, the awareness of the literal meaning is so vivid that it prevents any awareness of the metaphorical meaning. Perhaps this latter state is the more "severe" Aspie reaction, and our "see both meanings" is a more mild Aspie reaction. Either way, we have a vivid literal imagination.

Same deal here, I get the literal and the metaphorical, and whenever I make a joke about the literal version people act like I didn't get it when in fact I got it, I'm just commenting/joking about it. Literal interpretations are usually pretty funny, especially in the right context.

It doesn't make you an NT though.

Yes i did, and added a flagpole, uniforms, and horses.

Basically i can understand both modes, the literal as well as the metaphorical one, with emphasis on the former. However, in a normal conversation i need to be told about the change. If a person talks literally and then suddenly uses a metaphorical expression, i don't get the point.

It would be advantageous if people could use a verbal equivalent to emoticons in a conversation.

Oh yeah, that definitely happens to me with people who don't know me that well. It's like there's a typical/expected "NT" type of response that indicates that one 'gets it' to NTs, and taking it literally in making fun of it somehow doesn't qualify. I guess if people didn't understand you were joking (such as you didn't give off the "joking" tones well enough, I suppose.), that might be reasonable, but a lot of times I think most NTs just fail to register the humor of it (due to a different non-literal sense of humor) and assume it's meant seriously.

That makes sense. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep my humor to myself, it's too much trouble explaining it every time. XP

PTSmorrow: Seriously, verbal emoticons would make life so much easier.

I know someone who is talking exstremely in pictures, once he said (in german) "my bike rust away under my ass". He talks like that all the time and I dont understand how he can be so serious. Its always obvious what he means though, he is just definitely good with words.

I used to be very literal but as I have got older I have developed a 'translation' device. I still see/hear things literally at first but with enough time to process, I can work out the meaning (only if I know the meaning of a metaphor) but if someone rushes me or uses too many metaphors in one go, I struggle. I've actually started drawing some comics about literal interpretation. If I ever get them online, I will post them on here!

I believe people use tonality and facial expressions. Emoticons, after all, are just digitized facial expressions used to help communicate nonverbal meaning in a wilderness of otherwise sometimes opaque text.

I'm very literal, as I have been described. I can learn phrases and metaphors but the literal images are still there. I did pictures tents and campfires and a picnic table and fire pit when you said camp.

I have a hard time with phrases. I may know the person didn't mean that but I still don't understand what they are saying. Like "The bike rust away under my ass." I have no clue what that meant. Maybe if I heard it in context I might understand. Sometimes I understand phrases just by how they are being used in certain situations.

Here is a funny story, I once did a quote in class and I took this quote out of a movie I loved. "When a boat runs ashore, the sea has spoken" and everyone in class said it didn't make any sense. I told them "Welcome to my world, now you know what things are like for me often and why I ask loads of questions."
In this class we always did a quote and we always had to say what it means to us. I had a hard time with it because it was all metaphors and other kids did far better than me even though all their meanings were different. But they had a hard time with my quote. But to me it made sense.

In case anyone doesn't know what it means, it means you are done, you quit. You aren't wanted or liked so you're done.

Well, literal interpretations can be funny to NTs. George Carlin knew how to do it.

"They say 'Get on the plane! Get on the plane'!......I say ' f*** you, I'm getting IN the plane!'. Let Evil Kneivel get ON the plane."

I guess adding funny facial expressions, voice immitations, and profanity will make people laugh harder.

I read a lot and love language so I know many sayings and do not take them literally (most of the time).

This is reminding me of yesterday when my father was telling me a story about a politician & said he had a "skeleton in his closet", as I waited for him to complete the story & reveal the guy's past my dad found the expression amusing himself & said "now I don't mean a real skeleton" & I said "I know". Those are the times that I feel like he's like this too.

Yup. I love language myself, and I have learned a lot about figurative language. I think I may be even better at using it than NTs are. I learned about figures of speech at around eleven or twelve years old; since then, I've grown used to the patterns, and I can make my own analogies and use figures of speech more creatively than most people. I think maybe that's because I learned those things consciously rather than just picking them up like NTs tend to. That, or it's just my usual talent with language coming through.

You have to look at the whole picture to see how autism affects a person. A single criterion like "Can/can't use figurative language" is never enough.

My husband will make literal jokes. At work he will do things like, someone asks him to hold the elevator for him. He tells the co worker "No it's too heavy."

One time I got a baby stroller from the free yard sale and it was one of those new umbrella strollers that are made bigger and higher up. I told my husband I got him a stroller. He said "I'm too big for it."

Lot of times I think he is being literal and then he tells me he is just joking. Sometimes I pick up he is kidding.

I almost think George Carlin was a bit of an Aspie, actually. He says in one of his intros, something about thanking the kids he went to school with for tolerating his long speeches, and then much of his humor is, as you say, literal interpretations. Just sayin'.

I remember these jokes as a kid:


Q. Why did silly Billy sit on top of the TV set?

A. He wanted to be on TV


Q. Why did silly Billy sit on top of the clock?

A. He wanted to be on time


Q. Why did silly Billy throw the clock?

A. He wanted to see time fly



Q. Why did silly Billy drop a glass of water out the window?

A. He wanted to see a water fall




Q. Why did silly Billy drop a stick of butter out the window?

A. He wanted to see a butterfly




I wonder if an aspie invented these?

Last edited by League_Girl on 11 Sep 2011, 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.