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ocdgirl123
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21 Jun 2016, 7:05 pm

There are metaphors that I just don't like because of the picture they paint in my head. The phrase "get your head out of your a**" bothers me because the literal picture is gross. Any sexual or private part related figures of speech bother me because of the picture they paint in my head. It's not even that I'm offended by them, it's just the picture they paint in my head.

Does this happen to anyone else?


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21 Jun 2016, 7:07 pm

No, but whatever steers you boat.



ocdgirl123
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21 Jun 2016, 7:58 pm

I know it's weird, but I was wondering if other autistic people experienced this because they take things literally.

Taking things literally is always been one of my worst issues. Especially metaphors and figures of speech.


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21 Jun 2016, 8:12 pm

Yes, I have the same issue. I instantly picture almost any metaphor, gross or not.


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slw1990
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21 Jun 2016, 9:39 pm

Yes, I'm like that with metaphors. I get some disturbing images with them too.



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22 Jun 2016, 1:51 am

Even if I understand the metaphor, or at least that it is a metaphor, I still see the literal interpretation in my head.
The "get your head out of your a**" almost always makes me think of that scene in the movie Hancock.


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22 Jun 2016, 2:00 am

There's a hilarious short story on this topic -- I wish I could remember its name. It's written with conventional, even stale, metaphors, but it's written in a way that causes you to take them literally, which makes the whole story very funny. Drat, what was its name ...

The only line I remember from it was, "Her eyes followed me around the room." :mrgreen:


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22 Jun 2016, 2:44 am

I have pictures in a bad way. Visual things is the worst. I can not watch horror movies because the stuff stays in my mind forever - but things people say can also stick. My husband has an absurd amount of fun with this.


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22 Jun 2016, 3:42 am

i never really "picture" metaphors in my mind.
they are just "sayings" that i learn the meaning of (which i inquire as to (if i can see that they are logically absurd sentences)).
many metaphors which i have heard, i tried to work out the meaning of on my own (like a puzzle in which i tried to work out the original (maybe medieval) root of), and some i found i understood in a more essential way than those who sprouted them.

like "i'm home and hosed" i think i correctly worked out as a simile to a horse having finished running a race and won, and has been hosed down (to reduce temperature and sweat problems) before the next horse even passed the post.
and the issuer of that phrase was not aware as well as i was of what it really meant.

but other metaphors i was disappointed to learn that i had incorrectly calculated the meaning of. like when i was about 12, i heard " a stitch in time saves nine", and i was perplexed but calculated that "a tear in the fabric of time (an impossible continuity that is therefore miraculous) saves nine people from some inexplicable fate"

i did niot know where the "nine" bit came in or what they were saved from, but i was 12 and it was not the only thing on my mind, but my conclusion was that it means "don't worry. something miraculous may happen to prevent your horrific expectation from occurring" , but when i learned it's true meaning many years later when i got on the net, i thought "how dull, but how stupid of me for not seeing what it really means".. like "make hay while the sun shines". it means work done while you are able is the work you will be glad that you did when you can not work any more.
stitch in time saves nine means "do not let things fall into disrepair". they are similar in meaning to me.

i can make metaphors in my own mind by equating concepts with objects and procedures, and i do so. but i never "picture" them.

the "get your head out of your arse" one is something i would try to calculate the true original concept behind, but i would judge the person who said it as a dullard who is just regurgitating sayings he hears instinctively.

ok...

man: mate... get your head out of your arse!!
me: why? is that the only place you think the sun shines from and i am blocking your rays?
man: ??? (who knows what he would say)
me: i'll keep my head in my arse thank you because then there is no room for your obsequious tongue to slither into you moronic fawning minstrel! (accusing him of trying to flatter me in the height of his insult fueled rage whilst peering at him down my nose).......
man: [punch]... (i guess).