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MrLoony
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18 Jun 2009, 4:13 pm

I was thinking about this the other day and I was wondering if it was the way I was raised, or if it might be related to autism.

I have trouble with certain groups of words. I have to force myself to say any foul language, and age-specific gender nouns (boy, girl, man, woman). I prefer, in the latter case, to say "guy," "gal," or "lady." I'm sure there are other groups that I have trouble with, but those were the ones I recognized right off the bat.

Does anyone else have any trouble with this? Like they have a physical resistance to saying certain words/groups of words?


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outlier
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18 Jun 2009, 4:33 pm

Oh yes! These are the most difficult: please, thank you, beautiful, boyfriend, girlfriend, lovely, and wonderful.

Other words: people's names.



cellardoor
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18 Jun 2009, 4:45 pm

i think in my case, it is not a specific group of words but the situation i need to say them in.
the words are like yours, boy,girl etc i get stuck on thinking whether the person might be offended my being called a girl when they might prefer to be thought of as a woman.
i see very little difference but i have appeared to be rude before by calling someone a girl instead of a woman.

i do not like offending people so i start thinking about what the other person might want me to say, then i realise i just stopped talking and they are waiting on an answer, then i get upset because i got stuck on the words and its hard to begin talking again.
its very annoying. does anyone else experience this, or is it just the words themselves?



Apple_in_my_Eye
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19 Jun 2009, 4:27 pm

When I was a kid the word the word "I" would bother me. Also saying my own name for some reason. There's still a minor weird ('exposed'?) feeling, but it's not a big deal anymore.

Also relate to "man, woman, boyfriend/girlfriend" and names as being difficult to say. Cursing is not difficult, except for certain types, ie female-specific terms (that is, not for reasons of PCness).

Oh, and "lover."



subliculous
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19 Jun 2009, 4:52 pm

hey, i was going to create a thread similar to this, "words that embarrass you". so, basically in that same vein, there are words i simply cannot get myself to say, these are some of them:

beautiful
wonderful
massage
gentle/gently
cleanse
nurture
nourish
caress
relax
ease
and the queen mother of them all - BELLY. it makes me claw at my ears and have violent thoughts involving sledgehammers. please, say stomach, for god's sake.

there are plenty more i can't think of offhand.

oh, and i'm also embarrassed to say/hear my own name.



starygrrl
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19 Jun 2009, 5:31 pm

It is related to autism. This is a semantic-pragmatic language issue. It seems to manifest itself with certian people on the spectrum, including AS. Then there are people with semantic-pragmatic disorder, which exhibits alot of these language issues, its commonly diagnosed as PDD-NOS in the US.



Morgana
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19 Jun 2009, 6:21 pm

I also used to have the problem with hearing/saying my own name, but I´m finally over that one.

When I was a child, I hated words like "man" and "mankind"; I was a little girl, so I didn´t relate to it at all. I also used to dislike the word "human". (Still do, kind of).

And somehow, words like "wife" and "husband" send jitters down my spine....

Other words I don´t like (to say):
Masturbate
Lips
Butter
Butt or Buttocks- (but strangely enough, I´m fine with "but" if it has 1 "t").
Mucous

For years, I disliked words like "French" and "wrench", but I think I´ve gotten over that too.
I used to also dislike the word "cheese" and would never say it when people were taking my picture and going "say cheese!"

I´m sure there´s more....


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animal
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19 Jun 2009, 11:55 pm

Names... I can never call anyone by their name. Well, it used to be impossible for me, but now it is just very difficult and uncomfortable.

I also hate 'relationship words'. Like boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, dating, married, &c. Friend is ok, but only occasionally.

I also don't like saying hello or goodbye, in any form. I would prefer to just start talking to someone and then walk away.

And I'm nearly incapable of saying 'how are you'.



MrLoony
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20 Jun 2009, 12:33 am

animal wrote:
Names... I can never call anyone by their name. Well, it used to be impossible for me, but now it is just very difficult and uncomfortable.


Haha, wow, this is so me. I wasn't even considering this when I was talking about groups of words. I guess it does count, though.


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outlier
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20 Jun 2009, 4:54 am

starygrrl wrote:
It is related to autism. This is a semantic-pragmatic language issue. It seems to manifest itself with certian people on the spectrum, including AS. Then there are people with semantic-pragmatic disorder, which exhibits alot of these language issues, its commonly diagnosed as PDD-NOS in the US.


Interesting! Do you have any more information about how this specific issue relates to semantic-pragmatic issues? Does anyone provide a detailed explanation as to why we find certain words and phrases so cringe-inducing? I'd always assumed that because my cringe-inducing phrases related to emotional or social reciprocity/expression, it was a general autism reciprocity issue, rather than a specific language issue.