Aspies and taking things much to literally.

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One thing I have heard that is typical of aspies is that they can take things too literally even when it's obvious it can't possibly be the case. I was reading a topic on another forum (non asperger's related but talking about those with asperger's) and one of the posters used an example saying "Those with asperger's take things very literally, such as if you say the sky is falling they will believe it, or if you say they're a couch potato they will believe it". But are those with asperger's really take obvious things that can't possibly happen that literally? I can understand how difficult it can be to get social cues or may take some things too literally but I think examples such as those are quite extreme and I would think the vast majority of those diagnosed with asperger's would know better. I have heard similar examples before and I have always thought few aspies would really believe stuff like that unless they were EXTREMELY inept at understanding.

I agree, I may take things a lil more serious than others and sometimes think that they mean it when the don't but examples like that are silly and dumb, I have the intelligence to know that is not literal, those examples are extreamly offensive and paint out AS people to be easily influenced and dumb which is very untrue.

Many times when NT's think something is "too much" they with explain this with an exaggerated example. Your reaction might actually be a good example of taking things too literally, since they probably didn't seriously mean that aspies are that literal, but rather that many aspies take things literal to the point of it being ridiculous (to them). The examples are not meant to be taken literally, but are exaggerated in order to make a point.

I don't think they have the right idea of how we take things literally.
For example, there is a story from when I was a kid that my mother still laughs about. She was teaching me how to cross the street safely, and she told me to look up and down. (Where I come from, that means look left and right). So I looked up into the sky, and down at the ground.

Other times, it's usually when someone uses a word in a different context (like slang words). In 5th grade, a kid sitting next to me said that one of the other kids in the class just burned himself. ("burn" as in, got made fun of). I said "how did he get matches?" Another time, a friend of mine said that something was "sick", and I thought he meant "disgusting", until he explained to me that he meant it was really good.

I remember the time when my mom said to me the men that put siding on our house cut corners and I told her they had to cut them so they can fit them on our house. Mom told me cutting corners meant taking short cuts to get the job done quicker.

A boy in the resource room was talking about a truck he sold and that man sold it to another person and that truck blew up with him in it. I thought the man died and then was shocked he survived so I asked how did he survive the explosion. The boy told me not literally he meant the engine stopped running.

My husband told me at a flea market to give him 60 seconds looking at things so I started the count down from 60 and he told me not literally, he meant more like five minutes.

Mom told me to stop that teasing so I kept on doing another tease. Turns out she meant she didn't want me teasing her at all.

I remember the days when I always thought I had to save (insert amount of money here) to get an item for that price when a coupon would say "Save (insert amount of money here), when you buy..." But my dad told me it means that is how much less money you pay for the item so if something costs $19.99, it would be $18.99. I then said why didn't it say so.

I was told to put a spatula in the sink so I did. Turns out the culinary art teacher wanted me to wash it too and put it on the counter for it to air dry.

I also remember this between my mother and I:

"Beth you left your bowl in the sink."
Me: Okay
Mom: are you going to do something about it?
Me: No
Mom: I want you to rinse it and put it in the dishwasher

Then I was reading a book called 10 Things a Person With Autism Wish You Knew (or whatever it was called) and sure enough that example was left in there for how we don't pick up on those hints that you want something done like telling us we left something in the sink and we don't even know it means you want us to put it in the dishwasher. I sure learned that day and since then I have not been this literal.

As others said, the literal examples you used are a little too far fetched and are too obvious. Just like "It's raining cats and dogs."

It's often subtle things, metaphors, believable scenarios and jokes/humor that tend to be taken the wrong way.

I remember my grandfather telling me once "Hey kid, you better pull your socks up!" and I responded "But I'm wearing sandals?" Little did I know he meant get my act together because I was skipping classes in high school. I was 16.

Yeah, I'm pretty good at catching on to when someone's being figurative, but there are still times I'll miss it entirely. Yesterday for instance, I was at the grocery store with my mom, she picked up a vine with five or six tomatoes on it and said, "Put one of these in a bag for me," so I pulled one tomato off the vine and put it in a bag. She didn't notice until we got home, and then told me she'd meant one of the vines, not one of the tomatoes. I'm always wary of when people use the phrase "a couple" as well, because it's supposed to mean two, but people use it to mean "a few," and that always annoys me. If anyone asks me for a couple of things, they're getting two of them, regardless of how many they intended.

I think it really depends on the age of the individual. There are things that I still don't quite get, in terms of jokes, because I do take them literally - and don't always see the hidden meaning. But a lot of things I have just learned what they mean. My son, who is 6 and on the spectrum as well, takes things very literally. If I tell him that I will be there in a few seconds, he begins to count. And once he hits around 3 or 4...he comes to question me as to why I wasn't on my way to help him. And no matter how many times I have explained to him what the phrase is meant to imply, he still continues to count.

Just the other day at work, someone said to me "We have a problem with locking this door." I had to stop and ask several questions to try and understand what she meant by it. Did the door have problems locking? Did she have problems when trying to lock the door? But as it turned out, the door was not supposed to be locked. There was nothing wrong with the locking mechanism on the door itself.

Another example was when my brother was telling a crude joke about a rather promiscuous young lady. He called her a "door knob." Everybody laughed, but I just didn't get it. So I had to have him explain that when she was referred to as a "door knob," it meant that multiple people had a "turn." Apologies for the crudeness of that one - but it is just another example.

I also do the literal on multiples and clarify now. "You asked for a couple. Did you mean two?"
"You asked for a few. Did you mean three? Or five?" (Ha ha, it's usually five!)

What still gets me as a middle aged autie, is when a doc asks me which ASD label I prefer, & then they use something else. (Oh why do I bother with speech?)

And Problem people ask open ended questions.
Them: "what do you want for lunch?"
Me: (thinking...no limits? Want? Hmmm. Salmon with aioli sounds yummy!)
They: "did you hear me?"
Me: "yes. I was thinking it over. I want salmon with aioli for lunch"
They:" ha ha. All we have are PB&J or hamburgers. What do you want on yours?"
Me: "but that's not what you asked! You asked what I wanted."
They: "huh?"
Me:(thinking...who has the communication disorder around here??)
And some of my family figured this literal issue out on their own! Yay for them!

I got one from a psych RN doing an assessment once.
Her:"Is suicide an option?"
Me:"yes"
Her: completely shocked. "It is not!"
Me: "oh yes it is! It is always an option!"
Her:"no! It's not!"
Me:(thinking: if I was not crazy, These people will get me there!)
(I got too upset & left the room)
Doc later explained she did not personally see suicide as an option at any time, but I did when looking at all the possible options in a situation. I did not limit myself to positive options, and this was okay.
When I realized she(RN) was asking figuratively & I was answering literally I did get a giggle out of it. She understood why I got so upset too.

Part of the reason it can take a long time to get an answer out of me is because I hear what is said, and have to figure out how to rephrase some of it, so I can give an answer which will not be confusing.

My mom once said "you watch, your uncle is going start shooting his mouth off" and I cried and cried, i didn't want to watch that.

I like "Super Duper" much better

That is a funny story.