Sometimes I know it’s a joke or sarcasm but I pretend to take it seriously because it don’t know how to react to it otherwise.
“I can’t be autistic, I understand sarcasm.” Until I realised that I’m heavily context dependent and no I don’t understand sarcasm unless I know for certain that it is sarcasm.
I’ve done this my whole life. I think it’s a form of masking. You cover both sides. If it was a joke you are like yeah I was continuing it. If it wasn’t you just say you thought they were being sarcastic and misunderstood.
I’ve taken to deadpan saying, “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”
Doesn’t work well with strangers, but it works with people who know me and have some level of understanding of the whole thing.
I mean it only “works” in the sense of countering the awkwardness.
But sarcasm and subtle communication is an intentional risk. For one person to attempt risky communication (easy to misinterpret) and then for the other person to pick it up correctly deepens the bond between people.
That’s why we have sarcasm. It’s why we have subtle jokes. It’s a constant refinement of the communication channel via tighter and tighter tolerances being practiced.
When you say “I can’t tell if you’re joking” it’s great because it avoids the awkwardness, but the danger of awkwardness is the source of the benefit. So basically you’re saying “I’m not up for an adventure right now”. Which is “safe” in the short term, but it stunts the growth of the relationship.
Autist to autist, my recommendation is to go out on a limb more often and take a chance with committing to one interpretation. It’s a risk-reward thing.
“Notes”? Is this from Bluesky? Threads?
I do… after some kind people told me that’s the case.
You do realize, in order for someone to recognize something, they must have seen it once before, right?
I’ve not used Tumblr before in my life, and I don’t care to do so before I die.
lol
👍👍
i can’t find the exact post after digging through the users archive for a while, but this is definitely a tumblr post.
