Asperger's and metaphors

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One would think that the tendency for literal interpretation would hinder the ability to understand and identify metaphors. Has this been anyone's experience?

I like to use metaphors, and I think it's because I like to be creative and use my imagination a lot.

i understand metaphors just fine and use them quite often. what i cant seem to grasp is sarcasm and some irony.

I use metaphors without noticing.

Same here, but sometimes they aren't caught by others.

Could it be that when THEY say thag we have no grasp of metaphors, and no sense of humor that what they are telling us is that they don't understand our metaphors and humor?

Yes.
I try to use metaphors to help them understand.
Unfortunately, using motorcycle metaphores is lost on most people.

Back in Texas, boxed up and sadly out of my reach, are at least two books with most known metaphors and colloquialisms. It was another of my efforts to understand everything there was to understand about nonliteral communication.

I understand metaphors and know the history behind many of our common metaphors. I wouldn't have been able to get a Master's in English without knowing about metaphors and other figures of speech.

Intriguing idea there.

Same here, except I DO understand a lot of sarcasm. OBVIOUSLY, I understand emphasis, and DECENT people use emphasis to make sarcasm clear. If they don't, sarcasm is really IMPOSSIBLE to understand outside of context! After all, I have sometimes said something profound and intelligent, and later found that people were being sarcastic with compliments because they didn't see what I saw. Other times, I did STUPID things and people said things I thought were sarcastic compliments that were SINCERE! Go figure!! !!

HECK, just yesterday, I mispoke, and my mother applauded my "correct grammar". I told her SHE was incorrect, and I made a mistake. This was clear when I was a kid, but apparently not so today!


"I was just talking" means I was talking a short while ago.
"I just was talking" means I was talking only about something.

"All people are not lying" means nobody is lying.
"Not all people are lying" means some people are telling the truth.

And HEY, WHO came up with the idea that "I don't know nothing"(which means I know something) means I don't know anything? The ONLY language I know of that has that type of construct is spanish.

But YEAH, I used to have a problem with taking things literally, I still do sometimes. I STILL take advantage of it at times to get out of things, and point out things and joke about it. JUST TODAY I was told I take things too literally. I even argued with someone that database modeling wasn't tangible, and with someone else about how nulls meant NOTHING. ANSI nulls have a definite value, but ANSI SQL defines nulls as having no value and aren't even equal to themselves! Although I meant what I said, and it was true, it was just a way to joke around.

So HEY, there are DIFFERENT levels of the effects of AS on people, and different skillsets, etc... But AS people DO tend to be smart, so obviously a lot of statements that seem contrary to that are just WRONG!

BTW I use lots of analogies, etc... and they are just lost on people. If you ask me, others have more trouble understanding ME than I have understanding them.

Steve

Weird... I would use that first, to mean 'I was only talking'...or, 'I was only saying'. I would not even use 'I just was talking' as it makes no grammatical sense to me... I cannot get any meaning out of it.

'All people are not lying' is another I wouldn't use as it makes no sense to me, but 'not all people are lying', I would take to mean not everyone tells lies.

Dr. Wilson:
Obsession is dangerous.

House MD:
Only if you're on a wooden ship and your obsession is a whale. I think I'm in the clear.

Dr. Wilson:
You do realize it's a metaphor?

House MD:
You do realize that the point of metaphors is to scare people from doing things by telling them that something much scarier is going to happen, than what will really happen? God, I wish I had a metaphor to explain that better.


Oh, I love Dr. House! Anyway, I don't really have a problem with metaphors or irony or sarcasm unless I don't know the meaning of the metaphor. My solution to this problem is to read as much as a I can so I have a wide base of knowledge from which to derive meaning from. It isn't always a perfect system, but it works well. And I am very sarcastic. Sarcasm has a lot to do with tone of voice as well as content, so it is typically caustic and hurts people's feelings. (Oh, sad. ) And I have trouble interpreting sarcasm sometimes.

YEAH, I meant to say "was just talking", but made the mistake "just was talking" and my mother applauded that! She was an english teacher, but is obviously showing her age. As for the "all people are not lying", I have NEVER said that, but have heard people do it. So we agree there. For the record, I ALSO don't use double negatives!

Steve

I enjoy metaphors but my writing teachers complain that I don't use them.

I understand metaphors, czarchasm, and irony pretty well. Other people just can't seem to tell when I use them, possibly because of my body language and voice.