Literal thinking

I was listening to the radio the other day and they were talking about things that you’ve only just learnt or realised that everyone else seems to just know, the typical - “I was today years old when I realised…”. Made me think of some things that I didn’t register about straight away, and now wonder whether this is part of my autistic way of thinking about things, that I just thought about things literally. Some examples… 

On for sale sites when people put something about collections, I always thought they meant that the person that bought the item had to be a collector to purchase it, as in a stamp collector or a coin collector, like it was their hobby. Not that they had to physically be able to go and collect it from the person selling. 

In the song ‘one man went to mow, went to mow-a-meadow’ I always assumed there was a place called mow-a-meadow. I didn’t realise he was going to a meadow to mow/cut the grass.

when people put ‘Tia’ at the bottom of a post I thought it was that their name was Tia and it always amused me how many people shared the same name. It was only recently that I realised it was ‘thanks in advance’ 

Has anyone else got any examples of things like this? Do other people do it? Is it an autistic literal thinking thing or am I just stupid? :) 

Parents Reply Children
  • How hungry are you? My Mum used to ask   " Do you feel like a giant refreshed, or a frog who snapped at a fly and missed it?" Weird.

  • Sayings are sooo weird! 
    why would anyone come up with a saying about eating horses?! 

  • Ah, that raises another good one....."How hungry are you " my wife asks when she's dishing up dinner.

    Well dear, I'd like 4 sausages, 50 fries and 30 baked beans please.
    Or maybe, I'd like 200g of pie, 100g of mashed potato and 50g of carrots. Don't forget the 150ml of gravy with a 5:1 ratio of water to gravy granules.

    When I cook (I do a mean chilli con carne) I simply say its ready and the family can dish up however much rice and chilli they want.....makes it so much easier!