Published on 12, July, 2020
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? :)
Definitely not just you! I can’t think of any conversations currently but I shall report back if I do!
I believe Baker was the Secretary of State for Education who brought in mandatory staff training days.
Oh wow! You learn something new everyday! :)
Risking being literal here - your answer is doubled spaced (the space of a line between lines):
Wait, that’s not what it means?!
what the hell does it mean then?? I always thought that it was two spaces after every word!
what the hell does it mean then?? I always thought that it was two spaces after every word! )
‘Meet at 2 pm.’I expect them to mean 2 pm
For anxiety one is meant to
‘float, don’t fight’
how do I literally float? On water?
I felt like quitting playing violin when a new prospective ‘great’ pedagogue explained that there was no such sound as mine in violin playing. He did add
‘…well, maybe in French music’
I was playing flautando and he wanted me to dig the bow into the string which is painful because I am too close to it. I guess autistic sensitivity makes it hard to appreciate the distant concert audience perspective needs stronger playing than is bearable up close.
At a violin lesson I was playing a concerto and my teacher asked me to ‘grab the bull by the horns’. I felt more distracted than educated in that instant.
A colleague gave me a ‘gift’ of something recently. I wrote all over it in pen: it was mine, right? No, they had meant I could borrow it to copy shared information.
‘you are big-headed’
I am easily offended by what people say because of literalism.
Ahh that’s such a good example of being literal! Makes total sense why you’d address it like that! I’m glad they still gave you the job!
I do wonder whether it’s not that autistic people are literal but rather that non-autistic people do not explain themselves fully! lol
Ah yeah it’s definitely reassuring to know that I’m not the only one that does this too! :)
it’s weird with phrases and things like it’s raining cats and dogs, I know that it’s not literally doing that, I guess by learning that it is just a phrase but when someone says that phrase I instantly picture cats and dogs falling out of the sky and it never seems weird to be picturing it!
Bizarre how our brains work!
ah love both your beliefs about teaching training days - both seem obvious and literal assumptions to me too!
We used to call teacher training days Baker days when I was at school, and as a child used to think the teachers spent the day baking whilst the children got to stay home (I still to this day do not know why they were called that! I wonder if it was just a local thing?!)
Ahh such an easy thing to assume! I do wonder if non-autistics would just pick up on that they were talking about their pets and not their children! I also feel that I’m an over-explainer so if I was telling a story about my pet, it would be so obvious that I was talking about my cat! Ah stories like this do amuse me!
Ahh! That makes sense to me too! I guess maybe that one is easier to figure out if you see it written down, but I don’t think I ever had done! :)
Ahh I’m glad it’s not just me who thought Tia was the name!
ah it’s so weird isn’t it how literal thinking works, I think I’d have thought the same about the do not reply!
Ahh I’m glad it’s not just me then! yeah I can imagine it results in a lot of confusion and funny conversations! Have you got any examples of funny conversations you’ve had?! :)
Very funny!
Mine is double spacing. Took it so literally, the next time the formatting guide stated it does not mean pressing the space bar twice.
My Mother was convinced that nursing homes were flats for nurses. I tried to explain to her otherwise, she told me that I was talking B#######.
HMO said:I used to think teacher training day meant that teachers were allowed to wear trainers.
It should mean that, in my humble opinion!
Lol I used to think it was a day when we could train and teach the teachers. I was so disappointed when my Mum explained it to me
When I was 17 my parents had a friend who was a supermarket manager and they asked him if I could apply for a job before going to university for a few months. My parents told me to write a letter to them ASAP so I dutifully sent a letter starting with "Dear Mr Asap..."
I still got the job, but that is neopotism for you... He always remembered the application though.
Literalism is 100% an autistic trait (which I also share ):"Social communication
Autistic people have difficulties with interpreting both verbal and non-verbal language like gestures or tone of voice. Some autistic people are unable to speak or have limited speech while other autistic people have very good language skills but struggle to understand sarcasm or tone of voice. Other challenges include:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism > Social communication and social interaction challenges