People Who Take Everything Literally/Can't Think About Stuff

[Greenday]

Mainly what I'm talking about is when I make a typo and they have to say, "What does X mean?/What do you mean by X?" Christ! Just look at what I typed, see what doesn't make sense, then use your damn brain and think about it for five seconds as to that it could be a mistake and figure out what I meant to say. The response "Well, I'm/we're not mind readers" to me means "I'm too lazy to use my brain for a couple of seconds."

Example:

"ugh they are back to this casey anythong shit"
"and what is casey anythong? lol"
"casey anthony"
"oh"

There is no excuse for not being able to come up with that one letter typo. Especially for someone who works for a newspaper and probably sees this shit every day. Why is it so hard for people to put effort into thinking what a person could have meant instead of just taking everything literally when something obviously doesn't make sense?

[kiwi]

When I first moved to Canada I had to go by a monthly bus pass.

I asked for a monthly 1 zone bus ticket. The person selling them looked at me like I had two heads. It took a solid 5 minutes of explanation of the fact I wanted a ticket for the bus that was good for a month for 1 zone with me coming up with every possible word for month long bus blank...before the dim light above her head went on.

"ohhhhh you want a bus PASS, you said bus ticket!"

*facepalm* no shit sherlock you couldn't figure that out from the fact I wanted some form of item that would get me on the bus that was valid for a month. Not the biggest stretch in the world. The worst part, she worked at a skytrain station that had a bus depot at the same station, it's not like she worked in an area totally removed from transit. She sold bus PASSES all freaking day long.

I really do wonder if people are deliberately obtuse or just really stupid.

[Andara Bledin]

To be honest, your example isn't very good. While I know of the case, the name "Casey Anthony" means exactly jack squat to me, and likely the majority of other people without further context. Plus, "anythong" is a damned funny typo.

Besides, as has been mentioned in other threads, other people don't read minds, and none of them are coming from the same point of reference as you, so what you think is obvious means pretty much nothing.

I had a GM who had laid out a game plan and littered it with what he thought were blindingly obvious clues to get the players moving in the right direction. It took five full sessions before he had to add a plot device to push us in the right direction because what was obvious to him, who has all of the data, meant absolutely jack squat to any of the six other people who were trying to figure it out.

You know what you're trying to say. You shouldn't expect other people to know what you're trying to say when you fail to take the care to actually say it correctly. As one of my bosses likes to spout, communication is the responsibility of the sender. While I don't fully agree with that, that's where it starts.

Other situations, where you swap out for a similar verb, or you typo a common adjective, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

"ohhhhh you want a bus PASS, you said bus ticket!"

Could also be a bit autistic. How you say something can make a huge difference, even when it's just one word that should be fairly obvious.

^-.-^

[kiwi]

I find it hard to believe that someone who works at a transit centre where their job is selling items relating to transit all day everyday who is asked for something Bus related can't figure out what I was asking for. I used the key words bus, monthly, 1 zone everything but the word Pass.

If she couldn't figure it out from that, she shouldn't be working there. It's not like I asked for a bus pass and she was working at a Zoo in a town with no bus system.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't. I once watched a woman (heavily autistic, but functional) take nearly 30 minutes to stop trying to pay for something that was being given to her for free. I've always wondered if she'd have been good if he'd just told her it was $0.

^-.-^

[Imprl59]

I have a very good friend like this. Whatever is written is taken literally and he has no ability to figure out what was actually meant. He's an extremely intelligent guy and this drives me nuts too. He's always e-mailing me things to tell him what they really mean. Calls me his red neck to north eastern translation service.

[Boozy]

I run into literal-minded people all over the Internet, and rarely in real life.

I recently had some pedantic little prick strike up a conversation with me at work. I asked him if he was active on any Internet forums. He named half a dozen.

Something about the Web makes people act like this, or perhaps appeals to those that already do.

Of course, I like the Internet too, and I don't feel that I'm like that. Just seems more common here than in real life.

[Andara Bledin]

One of the things to remember about purely textual conversations is that it's infinitely more difficult to gain insight into how other people mean what they say than in person. You lack any visual or auditory clues to the meanings behind the words they're using.

Sometimes it's necessary to ask what seem to the original author to be stupid questions in order to avoid a misunderstanding on the part of the person asking the questions.

^-.-^

[kiwi]

I don't. I once watched a woman (heavily autistic, but functional) take nearly 30 minutes to stop trying to pay for something that was being given to her for free. I've always wondered if she'd have been good if he'd just told her it was $0.

^-.-^

I think that is really projecting. Just because their may be people who have functioning autism doesn't mean in my example the person I dealt with did. There are people out there who are just space cadets or who just don't think. Not everyone who is frustraing has something wrong with them.

[Andara Bledin]

All I said was that it was possible and that I had no trouble believing in the possibility. You're reading far too much into things that weren't stated.

^-.-^

[Dreamstalker]

I'm 'supposed to be' extremely literal-minded...whoever came up with that couldn't be more wrong. What ticks me off is people (my mom does this on occasion) who think I need every idiom or decision explained in detail.

I have a button somewhere that reads "Can you imagine a world without hypothetical situations?". That has broken many a brain over the years (I'm not apologizing for it).

[Miss_Maple_Leaf]

I have a button somewhere that reads "Can you imagine a world without hypothetical situations?". That has broken many a brain over the years (I'm not apologizing for it).

That's awesome! I'd love to have that button myself.

I sometimes have a tendency to be literal-minded myself. Usually I'm pretty good, but every once in a while my brain crosses wires or something and I either end up confused by something or end up giving a dumb response because I interpret the situation literally and can't see what's intended until it's pointed out to me.

I've gotten better about it as I've gotten older, but I still have my moments now and then.

[DrFaroohk]

If someone genuinely doesn't understand, that's fine, but some people do that just to be difficult.

I was talking with someone about WoW, and the Random Number Generator, and I compared it to dice rolls. He says "there's no dice in wow, dude." yeah, seriously. he knew what I meant.

I get it a lot when I use an example, too. I'll say "Well how would you feel if I crashed YOUR car and didn't pay for it?" To which they reply "I don't have a car." THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!!

[telecom_goddess]

I sometimes have a tendency to be literal-minded myself. Usually I'm pretty good, but every once in a while my brain crosses wires or something and I either end up confused by something or end up giving a dumb response because I interpret the situation literally and can't see what's intended until it's pointed out to me.

This...right here....I am very literal minded and I expect people to say what they mean precisely. My job kinda depends on that kind of thinking..and it drives me nuts when people just throw around words that don't apply and call things names that aren't accurate.

Or when they do it in other areas of life...calling margarine or the like butter...it's NOT butter. Or calling tortilla chips corn chips...it's not the same thing.

Be precise and accurate it isn't that hard.

[Greenday]

Or when they do it in other areas of life...calling margarine or the like butter...it's NOT butter. Or calling tortilla chips corn chips...it's not the same thing.

Because being so accurate with their words on this kind of thing really matters so much.