Question About ASD And Taking Words Literaly

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Can anyone let me know if taking spoken words literaly be something that can be outgrown?

I am pretty sure I don't make any errors with regards to being literal but my mind always makes the literal connection first before I realise the true meaning of words.

I also find literal jokes very funny and the jokes I tell my GF never to anyone else

eg.

GF: "Can you put the kettle on?"

Me: *Places kettle on my head* "Ta Daa!"

Making a connection to the literal meaning doesn't mean you have problems taking things literally.

thanks. Your right i dont have a problem taking things literally. I just wondered if you did is it something you can teach yourself not to do.

Yeah. You do it by developing common sense and logical thinking. If you hear "Can you put the kettle on?" and imagine yourself putting the kettle on your head you are supposed to think "Why? It makes no sense. It must have some other meaning. Put the kettle on.. but on what? Where do you usually put the kettle? Stove. <imagine kettle on stove> Why is kettle usually there? Because it provides hot water for coffee or tea. And why do you do to make the water hot? You turn on the stove when kettle is there".

The core point is realization that pretty much everything someone tells you has a purpose...
Unless it is a joke but you can't know that so you should always look for a purpose and only take it as a joke if you can't figure out any reason that makes sense after you think about it long enough. You can also ask when in doubt.

I'm not sure you grow out of it necessarily, but you learn more about the non-literal meanings of words and phrases and can come to understand them without thinking.

Thanks Kiriae and Walrus

It's a Walrus, *Waddles a few feet backwards* Okay. Seems like safe ground. You can come to understand what it means, but, I'd rather take it literally. I mean Why should I try not to take it literally when they already know I'm going to take it literally.

I was recently requested to leave an educational course that I was undertaking because, I quote "You appear to see everything in terms of black and white and the responses that you make to questions are too literal. You are, perhaps unintentionally, a source of disturbance for the other students." So I obviously haven't grown out of taking things literally.

I'm still a literal thinker, even if I have the capacity to recognize non-literal meanings. There's a processng delay sometimes though.

Just based on this, you don't seem to upset by this. But I just want to mention, on the off chance you don't know, that they violated your rights under the ADA by doing this. You have the same right to attend class as any NT. They specifically listed your ASD traits as the reason for wanting you to leave. By doing so, they made it a very clear cut case of discrimination based on disability status. Even if they don't know your diagnosis, they are still in the wrong.

I use a lot of metaphorical language. I have little problems interpreting metaphor. But I still see things literally on the inside of my brain. Its good fun, most of the time. Its my own private game. I call it, Take Everything People Say Literally.

This game is extra fun to play while reading fiction, especially fanfiction.

The ADA doesn't apply because I'm in England. I'm not going to lose sleep over being asked to leave the course, it was boring anyway.

That's Ableism.

I think it gets better as you get older. I used to take the word "that" literal for example so up until high school if you told me to "Don't do that" I would do something else. I never could figure out when someone knew not to do anything else related to what I did. It puzzled me how anyone else can know what they mean. Also if you told me to not all someone a certain name, I would call them another name. I still take things literal sometimes.

I think it is possible to learn, so things like knowing situations in which one is likely to hear a joke or metaphor are more recognizable with time. If you are looking for it then you will more likely catch on. I didn't think I had a problem with taking things literally until I thought about it. I have a terrible time trying to do a project of any kind with my husband because I am so unfamiliar with the tools and how to use them. If he gives me a direction like (real example when putting up baseboard) "when you hit the second nail from the end start spacing them a foot apart" I have to ask dumb, frustrating questions like "so you want me to switch to a hammer for the second nail instead of the air tool? You said "hit"." I'm not so clueless (anymore!) that I go and actually hit it with my hand but if I don't clarify I really get hung up trying to decide what to do. Better to risk an eye roll with a dumb question than waste my time doing something that seems really strange and a waste of time only to find out an hour later that it was! I do that enough all unintentionally!

I can now go into a puzzle solving mode to figure out what is being said. I can often figure out stuff that the NTs I work with cannot.