An Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions

[baratron]

I discovered this book while trying to find out whether a particular idiom was British or American in origin, and thought it might interest some people here. An Asperger dictionary of everyday expressions.

This revised and expanded edition has over 5000 explanations that help unlock the meaning of everyday idiomatic expressions and dispel the confusion that arises from the misinterpretation of language. Both informative and entertaining, the book addresses an important aspect of social communication for people with Asperger Syndrome, who use direct, precise language and 'take things literally'. Each entry is clearly explained, with a guide to its politeness level and suggestions for when and how it might be used. The book covers British and American English and includes some Australian expressions.

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

That's a really interesting idea.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

I wish my doctor would remember I'm an Aspie when talking to me. I do a sufficiently good job of pretending to be normal so much of the time that he forgets, which leads to things like Friday's fail:

Him: You shouldn't just come off anti-depressants cold turkey.
Me: I didn't, I tapered down, cutting pills in half, etc.
Him: I don't trust you an inch.

[fx: long shocked awkward silence in which I can't work out what on earth to say in response, so don't, because if my doctor doesn't trust me not to do something stupid there's not much point. Eventually, I suppose he recollects I'm an Aspie and might actually have taken him literally ...]

Him: Of course I trust you, I was just being facetious.

I'm still left with a lingering slightly awkward feeling :-(

[redbird]

I'm not an Aspie, and what your doctor did would also have been inappropriate with a neurotypical patient (possible exception: one with whom there was a long back-and-forth history of that sort of bantering). If a doctor tells a patient he doesn't trust her, she's likely to believe that, at least in part, and it may affect every interaction thereafter. If my doctor doesn't trust me, can I expect my symptoms to be taken seriously? Will they believe me if I say "I can't take that drug, I had bad side effects from it before"? or that a drug isn't working, or will they assume I must not be taking it.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

one with whom there was a long back-and-forth history of that sort of bantering

This here is probably the problem. If he weren't my doctor we'd probably be friends; he's certainly not exactly thrilled that I'm scared of him simply because he's a doctor ("doctors are people too!")

(I'm scared of doctors because of some very bad experiences of not being believed, being fed placebos instead of what I believed I was being given, being categorically lied to etc. I do have to keep reminding myself that this is a different health authority from the one I grew up in, and where my father was recently sectioned for very little reason at all other than not wanting to sit around in a hospital bed all week waiting for tests that never happened ...)

[firecat]

That's pretty cool. Although I find myself disagreeing with some of the assumptions about which phrases "might" or "will always" offend.