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BookPerson
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04 Jan 2013, 5:00 pm

I've always wondered about this.

Is it common for Aspies to use language in a different manner than NTs? I have found that I've had to train myself on how to speak and communicate with many NTs, becuase they are perplexed, confused, and/or unable to understand what I'm saying. I've always had a penetrating understanding of language, but I think it really developed around age 11 - when I began intensive studies of philosophy and literature. I speak naturally in a manner that appears to nearly everyone I know to be very complicated. Like I said, over the years I've learned how to communicate, though. At times, when I've spoken naturally, they have been unable to fully understand what I'm saying. They say that my natural speech is too complex to understand. Has anyone else had similar problems?



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04 Jan 2013, 5:27 pm

Could you give a couple of examples, because I'm not entirely sure I'm following what you're saying.

Do you mean that you use uncommon words, or that you take shortcuts in sequential logic, or something else?


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btbnnyr
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04 Jan 2013, 5:30 pm

Formal pedantic advanced language with lots of big words in series is a trait in some autistic people. In autistic children, this is called "adult-like speech".



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04 Jan 2013, 5:32 pm

btbnnyr wrote:
Formal pedantic advanced language with lots of big words in series is a trait in some autistic people. In autistic children, this is called "adult-like speech".


I wish I'd meet more adults who talk like that, though.


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BookPerson
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04 Jan 2013, 5:36 pm

I think that btbnnyr summed it up well. Do you want an example? I'm trying to think of one.



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04 Jan 2013, 5:42 pm

BookPerson wrote:
I think that btbnnyr summed it up well. Do you want an example? I'm trying to think of one.


Maybe it won't be necessary. I'm quite familiar with the 'formal pedantic speech with big words'.


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04 Jan 2013, 5:49 pm

My theory is that unlike most people, (most) aspies pick up language by analyzing the pattern, and for that you use the best two sources for language patterns, TV and Books. Since both are designed to be far more clear than "normal" conversation, and are using a higher-level vocabulary, you very quickly run into social interaction issues, that in turn cause more differences.

It's a theory, I'll be waiting by my phone to collect my prize.


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BookPerson
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04 Jan 2013, 5:49 pm

I mean, it's hard for me to think of an example. There were a few instances when, in my college courses, that my professors gave my papers back with notes saying that they couldn't understand them. I went to see them and they explained that it wasn't that my reasoning was illogical, but that, in their own words, I was "too smart" for them to understand me. (I should note here, that I truly do not write that out of vanity or narcissism.) Again, as in other things, I had to learn how to communicate with them - as I did with most NTs.



Last edited by BookPerson on 04 Jan 2013, 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

btbnnyr
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04 Jan 2013, 5:50 pm

Many people in academia also have this style of speaking.



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04 Jan 2013, 6:07 pm

BookPerson wrote:
I mean, it's hard for me to think of an example. There were a few instances when, in my college courses, that my professors gave my papers back with notes saying that they couldn't understand them. I went to see them and they explained that it wasn't that my reasoning was illogical, but that, in their own words, I was "too smart" for them to understand me. (I should note here, that I truly do not write that out of vanity or narcissism.) Again, as in other things, I had to learn how to communicate with them - as I did with most NTs.


That is really weird. The language of academia is arcane and pedantic. How could they read papers in academic journals if they couldn't read your paper?



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04 Jan 2013, 6:21 pm

When I was younger I used tons of big words. Even stole a huge dictionary from the library to help facilitate this experience. Of course no one got - or cared about - what I said so I've eschewed it in favor of simpler speech. I was like a little Sheldon Cooper. Oh well.



BookPerson
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04 Jan 2013, 7:53 pm

Janissy wrote:
BookPerson wrote:
I mean, it's hard for me to think of an example. There were a few instances when, in my college courses, that my professors gave my papers back with notes saying that they couldn't understand them. I went to see them and they explained that it wasn't that my reasoning was illogical, but that, in their own words, I was "too smart" for them to understand me. (I should note here, that I truly do not write that out of vanity or narcissism.) Again, as in other things, I had to learn how to communicate with them - as I did with most NTs.


That is really weird. The language of academia is arcane and pedantic. How could they read papers in academic journals if they couldn't read your paper?


That's what I found odd too. I know most of my professors very well and they're very smart people, some of whom are even brilliant.



BookPerson
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04 Jan 2013, 7:56 pm

redrobin62 wrote:
When I was younger I used tons of big words. Even stole a huge dictionary from the library to help facilitate this experience. Of course no one got - or cared about - what I said so I've eschewed it in favor of simpler speech. I was like a little Sheldon Cooper. Oh well.


For you, though, was your use of language something natural or intentional (i.e. you changed how you naturally used language)?



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05 Jan 2013, 12:44 am

I have a habit of speaking in an overly formal manner at times. It's not necessarily something I cultivated; it just...happens. As a child, I developed a fairly advanced vocabulary at a young age. My mom recounts how as a toddler I once said something around my then-teenaged sister's friends that totally shocked them; they couldn't believe that a little kid could say something so advanced, and laughed about it. Unfortunately she doesn't remember what, exactly, I said. She also wonders now if the response I got contributed to the selective mutism I experienced for a time as a child.



BookPerson
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05 Jan 2013, 1:01 am

That's interesting, I had a very similar experience as a child too - though not with the same end results. I also struggle with speaking/writing too formally, although it's generally when I'm talking to/writing someone that I don't know. Is it the same way with you?



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05 Jan 2013, 1:51 am

Oh yes, I know that. I try to switch to simple language when talking with others, my family seems to understand me though.
I also tend to use older, less common words at times as someone once pointed out.


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