Colloquial Expressions

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Colloquialism- a word or phrase that is used mostly in informal speech.

Among some of the communication issues that many people with AS have is that they have trouble understanding colloquial expressions or just choose not to use them. It can cause others to think that they are distant and hard to relate to. I propose that we make a list of expressions that we at first had trouble understanding because it's not something you'd find in a dictionary, explain what it means, and give the story behind it. We aren't really talking about slang, just informal colloquial expressions.

Here are two examples:

I wanted to go to a movie with a friend over the weekend. He said to hit him up. I thought "hit me up," what does that mean?
Hit me up, a verb meaning to get into contact with a friend via phone call, text message or similar means.

Two males are at the male. They see an attractive female. One says to the other "I wanna tap that"
To "tap that" means engage in intercourse.

Now, I want to hear your examples. REMEMBER, WE WANT TO HEAR THINGS THAT YOU THINK OTHER PEOPLE WILL NOT ALREADY KNOW.

Really? No replies yet? Come on, pitch in.

I think i'm okay with them, or if i'm not - i'll just ask the person.

Some things I don't understand at first, but once I learn what they mean then I can catalog them in my brain's memory. Some of them make no real sense, and seem dumb even after I learn what they mean. But some of them are kinda funny because they paint a certain picture in my head.
My favorite one as of late:

" Wow, he/she is as dumb as the day is long!"

I don't know why it seems so funny, but people here seem to use it frequently. This means that either our days are long or we have many dumb people here... or both. There are quite a few that just seem funny to hear.

Good job, Skahthic.

Keep it coming

Like Em, I think I can understand most of them (or at least pretend to), but that doesn't stop me from getting a humorous image when someone says them. One of my favorites is, "I don't trust him/her as far as I can throw him/her."

"Do you wanna hang?"
-i always picture in my head hanging from a tree branch or metal monkey bars, and that doesn't sound like fun for very long. My immediate thought is, "no. that sounds mostly terrible," and I have to really shake that out of my head so I don't respond negatively.

also, many people use the term "Word." and I have no idea what that means in itself. It seems to be some kind of multipurpose slang term that can be used for expressing agreement, understanding, or a state of being mildly impressed, or for bidding farewell to someone. I don't see the reason for using a single term in so many different ways.


but i recently used a phrase sort of like this for the first time and immediately regretted it, because it was the first time I asked myself what it actually meant and where it came from. It was "-- blows my mind." Now I wonder if this has any profane origins, and the meaning that I get from that phrase I think doesn't actually communicate what I wanted to communicate. I don't think I'll ever use it again.

One that took me a while to figure out (and once I did thought was exceptionally stupid) was
"Walking on eggshells."
It means something like being on your best behaviour because you're not sure what to expect/what's going to happen...

Which, as I said, is stupid. I mean everyone KNOWS that when you walk on EGGSHELLS they're going to break