Published on 12, July, 2020
I recently became aware I may be on the spectrum, and since then have been noticing more signs in different situations. Where I used to find these frustrating, I actually find it quite funny now when I think back to occasions when I have been out of step. Am I alone in finding such things amusing?
For example, yesterday I had an interview and a receptionist was printing out some documents for me, but her computer was running very slowly due to being left on overnight. She was getting more and more frustrated and it reminded me of a research project into ‘computer rage’ I once read about.
My interest piqued, I started to explain the project in depth to the receptionist, before checking myself - it only belatedly occurred to me she probably didn’t want to hear about that at that precise moment!
Anyone else have any funny anecdotes?
Not my own experience, but interesting because it seems to involve both a slight ND miscommunication and a slight NT mishearing. (Apologies to those many of you who may have heard it before.) One guy spent some time explaining to another his being autistic. The listener perceived this as "artistic", and wondered why it should be such a big deal to be creative. Can't remember where that anecdote came from, but it was clearly a real misperception; with the speaker not realising for some time that his/her words had been misinterpreted.
At a job interview many years ago, I was asked to solve an imaginary problem which involved crossing a river with the use of ropes and planks, as part of a team. My first thought, which I managed not to say out loud, was, "what the hell has this got to do with anything?"
What I did suggest was that the people just ignored the planks and ropes and waded or swam across, because it would be the easiest thing to do, and they could just dry off afterwards. The interviewer gave me another chance, asking, "what if some of them can't swim?" To which I replied that they could float using a plank and be pulled across by someone who could swim. After further thought, I said that as it was an imaginary problem, why not just imagine a bridge?
I didn't get the job.
Haha. The literal mind is entertaining. It made perfect sense to me as a rule until he told me how ridiculous it was.
Many years ago a friend said that there is a new sleeping policeman in the road. I was very concerned, since I didn’t know it was the nickname for a speed hump!!!
Haha these are all hilarious!! Ok so I have a kind of reverse situation one to share. My dad never likes to directly ask to use the loo when we’re visiting people, so he always uses some kind of euphemism. Well once we visited friends and he asked ‘Where is the cloakroom’; they helpfully said ‘Oh just put your coat over here.’ He tried to explain ‘But I need to *wash my hands”, and they were like ‘Oh the sink is in the kitchen this way’. So finally he had to ask where the loo was. It cracked me up so much.
When my husband and I were in the supermarket once, I heard him say "I wonder if they have crustless bread in the Bread Isle" as in "The Isle of Bread". I thought about this for a while, considering where this Isle of Bread was in the world, before realising he meant the aisle with bread in it.
Just thought of a "literal language" one. I remember as a child being asked by my mum "Are you proud of yourself?" which I took to mean "Do you have a healthy sense of self-worth?" so I said "Yes", upon which she slapped me across the face. I can only imagine that I must have done something bad and she was actually asking if I was pleased with the outcome. In other news I wonder what that "stroke" actually did to my self-esteem.
Ahhhh I laughed so hard at the parking one!!!
I have been watching Mr Bean on Netflix this week and I can relate so much. All those times I've tried to fit in by copying people too closely and clearly coming across as unnatural! Or when the guy has the heart attack and Mr Bean doesn't want to give him mouth to mouth so he rolls up a newspaper and stuffs it in his mouth instead (I have not personally done this!) :D
Personally, as a kid I used to steal things from my friends cause I thought they had some magical power that made people like them. It was always little things like gem stickers or special rocks. I never told anyone I had them, I would just keep them in my pocket to see if that's what I needed to make friends!
The funniest one is just how much I struggle when people are emotional. Like, if you'd listened to what I told you to do last week, you wouldn't be here crying now. But apparently telling people how they've caused their problems while they are crying is frowned upon!
This made me laugh out loud!
My personal favourite is from when I was at school. My teacher kept saying pardon and I thought she was deaf so i shouted at her. It turns out she just wanted me to say please. Ooops.
Another one that makes me laugh is that until my brother explained it to me, I thought the parking signs that say no return within 30 minutes meant you couldn't go back to your car for 30 minutes so if i was just nipping in somewhere, I'd go for a wander to make up the time before getting back in my car.
Another funny moment that made me laugh the other day (bearing in mind I was having a conversation about cars) and the other person asked if donuts were illegal. I thought they meant the food and told them not to be ridiculous. They mean spinning their car in circles.
There are so many more than this but I just can't think of them right now.
Oh gosh, yes!
1) When I was a kid I overheard a line in a romance movie that said something like: "and they looked into each other's eyes and knew then and there that they loved each other." I then spent the next several years avoiding eye contact with everyone at school in case they accidentally thought I was in love with them.
2) A client once asked me to make sure his "name was in lights" on a website. I wasted a whole week trying to animate little blinking lights around his name before I realised he was being figurative.
3) I once tried to comfort someone who got a bleak diagnosis (they're better now!) by 'bunting' them like a cat (bunting: when a cat brushes its head against you), only to misjudge the momentum and basically headbutt them.
Many! Just three I can think of:
* As a child, I used to pull my fringe over my forehead, my forehead on the carpet, and push myself round like an aeroplane with a collapsed nosewheel all because I liked the feeling of the carpet rushing over my fringe. I got friction burns once!
* In a taxi with my wife, the driver asks "Where are you from?". My brain says "That's an ambiguous question; you must seek clarification! Does he mean where were you born? Where did you grow up? Where are you staying? Where do you live?". I say "In what way?" and he replies "Oh, cool!". Now I understand that what he heard was "Innwatt Way" - a perfectly reasonable-sounding name for a road :-)
* Many times my wife has said "Keep an eye on the food in the oven whilst I X/Y/Z". She's returned later to find it burned. I've said - you didn't specify that I had to do anything other than watch it!