Literal Thinking - Who has it?

[Gracey]

though not quite as impressive

You opened the door, Fridge.
(Not the fridge door)

Introduced an alternative way to view a situation


Man-drama can be whatever you would like it to be.
Mr Gracey can stub his toe on the corner of a couch or even a doorframe,
the amount of fuss and noise coming from him has me looking for a severed limb.


And yes, that momentary flicker at the corner of one’s mouth that’s almost a smirk can land me in myther sometimes.

...if only they could see what I see

 

[Gracey]

My husband finds it funny, because he has certain stolid, fixed ideas of what poetry is, anything that deviates is to be ignored.

I think I’d be agreeing with Mr Mia

I’d enjoy thinking about how white chickens and a red barrow so completely moved someone they had to write it down.

I wouldn’t be able to help myself comparing it to the likes of William Butler Yeats or Robert Burns and question why white chickens and red wheelbarrows are ‘poetry’

 

[Mia]

wouldn’t be able to help myself comparing it to the likes of William Butler Yeats or Robert Burns and question why white chickens and red wheelbarrows are ‘poetry’

Poetry changed, as did art, literature and music. It became less about the privileged class who wrote about their own demise and more about the everyday. Although Yeats and Wordsworth and others remain the canon of english language poetry.

It's purpose was altered, fewer rules, less formulaic, a different perspective that was more accessible to others. Like some modern art, it represents a thought, a moment, an instance in time. It has fewer pretensions than some of the earlier poetry does. It's language condensed and concise, it's poets refused the restrictions of earlier poetry. Moving on to alter it with their own ideas.

 

[Judge]

I can't adequately process sarcasm aimed in my direction. Need I say more ?

Though becoming self-aware of my autism has helped me to slow down in analyzing or responding to questions, given my first impulse usually involves that dreaded literal interpretation.

In the case of processing sarcasm, it appears to be one of those traits that is neurologically "hard-wired". Taking time and being patient won't likely allow me to get a sarcastic remark. Instead as the seconds go by, I default to a sense of having been insulted. About the only control I have at that point is to ignore the remark and just move past it.

Weird how the human brain works...

 

[Anarkitty]

This is true. Students learning foreign languages need to be taught the meanings of idioms and metaphors, or they often won't understand them. And when they hear a new one for the first time, it seems strange or funny to them.

Exactly! I had fun a few months back reading translations of French idioms. They were weird and hilarious.

And in school, I did fine in English until it came time for metaphors and symbolism. I had to be TOLD why she was wearing a scarlet letter A, for example. (Granted, I didn't like that one, so I only read the Cliffs Notes. Maybe the book was more explicit?)

I also often misinterpret texts. For example, I ordered something online, and the seller's instructions were that if I wanted a tracking number, I need to ask. So I paid for the item and for shipping. The packet took a long time to arrive, so I asked for the tracking number so I could see where the packet was. Turns out that he actually meant that I need to ask for insured or tracked shipping, but I understood literally the number.

Yeah, I've had similar events. I have to be very careful with emails, too. I compound this problem with a tendency to skim rather than read carefully.

Literal thinking is one of my most prominent and obvious traits. I am unable to think of any funny moments, currently, but will return if I do.

Funny or not doesn't matter. It's more about "share and remember you're with your people here." I have a completely non-funny one that also involves misinterpreting the text on a medicine label.

I had a migraine headache, a bad one. The labels on both Advil Migraine and Excedrin Migraine are emphatic that these pills cannot be taken more than once in 24 hours. With no further information to go on, I’m afraid that I assumed that I couldn’t take any other medicine either--the bottle of Excedrin Migraine literally says: “Liver warning: This product contains acetaminophen. Severe liver damage may occur if you take • more than 2 geltabs in 24 hours, which is the maximum daily amount • with other drugs containing acetaminophen.” So I treated a severe headache only once per day with medicine that wore off within six hours. This led to a headache which lasted more than a week, a trip to an immediate care center, and an expensive and addictive prescription pain medicine.

After I weaned myself off of the opioid the doctor gave me, I began looking for alternative headache medicine. Oddly enough, I found that Excedrin Extra Strength has the same ingredients as Excedrin Migraine, but that label says that you can take up to eight pills per day instead of only two. Even before this, I knew that acetaminophen can be taken more than once a day, but the label says only once per day and not with other drugs containing acetaminophen. I don’t understand why this kind of labeling is okay, and the only explanation I’ve seen is that they’re labeled for different purposes--migraine versus headache--but that is not a satisfactory answer considering the “liver warning” on the bottle.

I feel really stupid remembering this. I've taken that medicine for years, and usually, one dose takes care of the headache so that I don't need anything more, but I've still done quite a bit of unnecessary suffering because of that absurd label.

 

[Anarkitty]

When I say "real," I'm wondering if I can say it to people and they'll know what I mean or if it'll just affirm what they already think about me.

Please don't repeat Fridgemagnetman's sayings to other people unless you want them to be confused.

“Over the moon”...

Loved your visual for this.

There's a simile in the song "Happy" that my husband had to explain to me. The line is "like a room without a roof." That sounds pretty negative to me. Actually, when we first moved and were building, we had a tarp for a roof, and it was raining like God was pouring five gallon buckets of water on our house (MY similes make sense), and "like a room without a roof" and "Happy" did NOT make sense in the same sentence. I was WET. I was not HAPPY.

Husband explained that it meant "no upper limit" to the singer's happiness. Now I see him floating up and out of the room when I think of that line. I still don't get it.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Please don't repeat Fridgemagnetman's sayings to other people unless you want them to be confused.

People can actually be too embarrassed to admit they don't know.

People are confused, anyway.

You can say ' isn't it obvious?' to win the day .

Personally, I find it very beneficial. The world is missing out

 

[Anarkitty]

I'm sorry for posting multiple times in a row, but I have trouble keeping it all straight if I try to do it in one post! (I got in trouble for this once on another forum.)

Neither do I find it funny, I like it as well. Anarkitty you are not missing the point, it's as I'm sure you know it's a moment in time, an instance of reflection, perception. Some modern poetry is exactly that. My husband finds it funny, because he has certain stolid, fixed ideas of what poetry is, anything that deviates is to be ignored.

A perfect example: 'She cut off her nose, to spite her face'. Ugh, no matter how many times in my life I've heard this saying (less so in the last ten years, as older people used the term) I visualize her cutting off her nose. Understand the meaning, of what the phrase is meant to convey. Yet each time it's recited, there is a visual of a female cutting off her nose.

Thank you! Yes, NOW I understand why he finds it funny! I feel the same way about a lot of modern art.

I don't like that saying, either, or the "you get under my skin" one. It gives me the heebie-jeebies. Any of them that have some bizarre, literal, physical meaning will usually disturb me.

My mother has a number of sayings that involve urine, though, that make me laugh and my husband cringe, like "I have to pee so bad I can taste it" and "I have to pee so bad my eyes are yellow." Like the body has become nothing but a container that holds urine. I've felt like that before.

I still get visual images of phrases like "throw the baby out with the bath water" or as the already mentioned example "tongue in cheek", but I think everyone visualises them to some extent whether they're on the spectrum or not.

Sometimes English can be harder to guess, in terms of someone's intentions, but common sense and a little thinking on my part usually is the way to go.

Actually, my husband told me that he does not get the literal visual when he hears these sayings. He was very surprised to learn that our son and I do!

You sound similar to me in that we're verbal enough to logic our way through many of these. With metaphors, I can at least usually figure out that it wasn't meant to be taken literally, and that's why I didn't even realize that I was taking things literally at first.

 

[Anarkitty]

People can actually be too embarrassed to admit they don't know.

People are confused, anyway.

You can say ' isn't it obvious?' to win the day .

Personally, I find it very beneficial. The world is missing out

You remind me of my son. I'm not sure that's a compliment. He loved your "There's many a slip between the butter and the fish" story, btw. He has my family's talent for lying with a straight face. We once gave him a topic--bubbles--and he talked complete nonsense about bubbles for several minutes with no prep time and never even cracked a smile--he goes completely into little professor lecture mode. He tells me the trick is to combine enough of the truth to make the rest sound plausible.

I've been working on admitting when I don't know. I scripted a line for myself. "I don't know what that means." It's easier when I have an exact phrase I can just regurgitate.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

You remind me of my son. I'm not sure that's a compliment. He loved your "There's many a slip between the butter and the fish" story, btw. He has my family's talent for lying with a straight face. We once gave him a topic--bubbles--and he talked complete nonsense about bubbles for several minutes with no prep time and never even cracked a smile--he goes completely into little professor lecture mode. He tells me the trick is to combine enough of the truth to make the rest sound plausible.

I've been working on admitting when I don't know. I scripted a line for myself. "I don't know what that means." It's easier when I have an exact phrase I can just regurgitate.

I guess I'm a very young 47.

I decided a long time ago that I would continue to be daft, childish no matter how old I get.

 

[JDShredds]

Speaking of literal thinking, my buddy texted me, "How does one write a business plan?" and I replied, "With a pen."

I decided a long time ago that I would continue to be daft, childish no matter how old I get.

We can tell. I wish there was a saying like "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," except it was fridges and magnets instead. "The magnet doesn't fall far from the fridge."

...That made literally no sense.

(...At 35, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm headed in a similar direction as you).

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Speaking of literal thinking, my buddy texted me, "How does one write a business plan?" and I replied, "With a pen."



We can tell. I wish there was a saying like "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," except it was fridges and magnets instead. "The magnet doesn't fall far from the fridge."

...That made literally no sense.

(...At 35, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm headed in a similar direction as you).

I'm hoping it's ' a watched magnet never grows old'

If it meant me....

 

[Monachopia]

You sound similar to me in that we're verbal enough to logic our way through many of these. With metaphors, I can at least usually figure out that it wasn't meant to be taken literally, and that's why I didn't even realize that I was taking things literally at first.

Yeah, maybe to some extent I take things literally for a second or two, but usually logic and rationalisation of circumstances and context put the missing pieces into place... But certainly, in my experience people who aren't on the spectrum also take a second or two in those situations or often say "What do you mean?" when they can't put the two together. It happens to everyone.

Maybe the "literal thinking" that some autistic people have which is referred to in literature - is more rigid 'black and white' type, where if you say something - it can ONLY mean that and nothing else and if it doesn't happen that way they become agitated and stressed. For example: "We're having dinner at 8" ... it means it should be ready at 8 and if there's deviation then it causes distress. People on the ... I don't know how to put it... milder side of the spectrum? More self-sufficient side? ... don't seem to have such sets of rules - we're more flexible in our approach, both in speech and occurrences in life.

 

[Streetwise]

I'm sorry for posting multiple times in a row, but I have trouble keeping it all straight if I try to do it in one post! (I got in trouble for this once on another forum.)





Thank you! Yes, NOW I understand why he finds it funny! I feel the same way about a lot of modern art.

I don't like that saying, either, or the "you get under my skin" one. It gives me the heebie-jeebies. Any of them that have some bizarre, literal, physical meaning will usually disturb me.

My mother has a number of sayings that involve urine, though, that make me laugh and my husband cringe, like "I have to pee so bad I can taste it" and "I have to pee so bad my eyes are yellow." Like the body has become nothing but a container that holds urine. I've felt like that before.



Actually, my husband told me that he does not get the literal visual when he hears these sayings. He was very surprised to learn that our son and I do!

You sound similar to me in that we're verbal enough to logic our way through many of these. With metaphors, I can at least usually figure out that it wasn't meant to be taken literally, and that's why I didn't even realize that I was taking things literally at first.

for me because I come from the north-east of England ,which still uses language that is not used in the south of England ,even though I can't fully understand it , even then it's so much part of my upbringing that I find it strange that other people don't comprehend it the way I do it just amazes me that people don't remember what I remember ,even younger people who live where I live !are like another species !

 

[Tom]

Wheelbarrows. Mounds raised over buried wheels.

 

[Pats]

I kind of thought the same thing about being literal when first reading up on autism, too. But after 60 years of hearing the same expressions - I would hope I would know what they mean. lol But then I remembered a couple times when it was 2 days later I finally 'got' the joke and would laugh and anyone around wondering why I was laughing. And when I was younger, people would have to explain to me what they meant when they said "you can lead a horse to water" or "don't count your eggs before they hatch", etc. So just because I learned the meanings of these things, doesn't mean I still don't take things literally - at least, at first then maybe after thinking about it, may figure it out.
Just have to throw this story in here - it's not really taking things literally, but rather picture 2 people, both possibly on the spectrum standing in a store. One looking for plastic food containers. She picks up a set and says, "These are vented. Why would they be vented?" Other, "I don't know." Both stand there thinking and second person pops up, "Oh for the microwave." Both excitedly decides they need them. Maybe - it was an age thing. lol

 

[JDShredds]

But then I remembered a couple times when it was 2 days later I finally 'got' the joke and would laugh and anyone around wondering why I was laughing.

Lmao, I do that way too often.

 

[inkfingers]

I think very literally as well. I can hardly ever tell if someone is joking. And by the way, I'm pretty sure there are knitting needles as big as a sapling's tree trunk. I've seen pictures, but I don't know how people manage to knit with them. They make really huge chunky blankets.

 

[Anarkitty]

And by the way, I'm pretty sure there are knitting needles as big as a sapling's tree trunk. I've seen pictures, but I don't know how people manage to knit with them. They make really huge chunky blankets.

The picture in my head was hundred year old oak trees, and just as tall. I've seen books on finger knitting recently that use really thick yarns to knit chunky items without using knitting needles.

There's an expression that NTs use a lot to describe the "typical" autistic child--a small boy sitting in the middle of the floor spinning wheels. For many years, I've had a picture of a little boy spinning a wheel from an actual automobile. This is one of the rare times when the picture in my head is vivid enough that I thought it was something I'd actually seen, except that I recently realized what I was picturing and recognized the absurdity of it.

My husband says he doesn't get the mental imagery for idioms and metaphors in his head, and he says he doesn't notice all the patterns on floors, ceilings, etc., when we're out and about, and that just feels so odd to me that someone walks across floors without seeing the lines between the tiles and the tiny little squares on the glass of water at a restaurant. I always assumed everyone did these things until I started reading and asking my husband, "Don't you do this?"

Speaking of my husband, last night he looked at me seriously and gently placed his hand on my arm and said, "You are a stubborn pain in the ass, and when we figured out that you're autistic, all I thought was, 'Oh, THAT'S why she's a stubborn pain in the ass.'" So that was our sweet and tender moment for the month.

 

[Clueless in Canada]

I have this problem to the point where I believe everyone who uses non-literal language is just wrong.

Even when I learn the meaning of some of this nonsense, like "tongue in cheek," my brain won't retain the information and I keep learning it again and again! I have no clue what "tongue in cheek" means and I ain't googlin it again.

ERMAGERD I BROKEN

This is the part where I run in circles.
*does that*

The more I read your comments here, the more I think that I really want to hang out with you because you make sense to me AND you make me laugh.