Re: those odd literal signs

April 20, 2008

Hi Sondra,

That sign would likely have been confusing for anyone who did not

know that there was an agency for the blind nearby. Personally I

would have assumed it meant that it was a blind intersection, so to

be extra careful for other cars you may not see or who may not see you.

I guess it's just habitual exposure to these road signs that helps us

discern the meaning. Sometimes I have fun interpreting the signs in

alternate ways. There is a lot of road construction going on in my

neighborhood now, so signs are everywhere. Sometimes I have to wait

several minutes while they alternate opposing traffic while only one

lane is open. I dread that " Prepare to stop " sign. I waited a

particularly long time recently and after finally moving, I was met

with the sign " End construction " , having reached the end of the

construction zone. I chose to think of it as a protest sign, and I

leaned out the window and shouted to the orange-vested Cal-Trans

worker nearby, " I agree.....end construction NOW! " lol

> I to wonder how does those on the typical end

> understand when words are to be taken litterally and when they are of

> not?

>

April 21, 2008

I remember when I was little being confused by the " Do Not Pass " signs. My

mother explained that it meant not to pass other cars but that didn't end my

confusion because she didn't explain that it meant going around cars in your own

lane. I couldn't understand how one could get anywhere since cars were always

passing in the other direction.

sondra wrote: A few weeks past been to drive of

the son home form work and in the

inner city part of our down town is a place called the short north

and so sitting at a intersection waiting for the light to turn of

green noted a sign by the lights saying " Blind cross here " was

thinking because I to never or rarioly ever get such literal phrases

I to wondered what does this mean and began to wonder what a blind

cross might look like thinking it was of a physical cross of some

sort? but this had been of to puzzle be and to not appear of stupid

did not verbalize of this just wondered to it and then a few days of

seeing this sign and not getting it realized the sign was of not an

idiom at all but is to be taken literally because past the

intersection slightly was a agency for the blind; so it truely meant

that people who were blind were of known to cross at this

intersection.... I to wonder how does those on the typical end

understand when words are to be taken litterally and when they are of

not?

I to been of trying so much to not take things literally and yet

things like this just complicate of it for me. so for me words that

are to be taken literally I to not and those that are not meaned of

to be literal I to take them as such. this does seem to follow my

processing though as often reverse of things and not understand why

my brain does this either.

Change of topic been wondering where Kassi and the other spectrum

females have been?

Sondra

April 21, 2008

cathy that is of my youngest AS son who can turn words into other

meanings rapidly by using the literal terms of the words he loves the

one that says Stop a head and he always shouts mom Stop A head in

humor. he is of good woith what is of known as puns and some idioms

that he has learned. soem with AS can be of this and I to admire of it

in them.

Sondra

April 21, 2008

That's a great question about how we know literal vs. figurative. I

think a lot of it is experience of learning from our parents what

things mean.

My favorite sign is, " SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING. " I used to think it was

kids who weren't very fast. My neighbor's mother used to say, " Those

poor children, they can't help being slow. " She was pretending it

meant cognitively slow kids. What it really means is " Drive slow

because children are playing. "

Debi

April 21, 2008

Sondra, yes it is very confusing at times. We have some in our areas of

town that say " Deaf Children at Play " or " Slow Children at Play " . While the

first is to warn you that there are deaf children playing in the area that

cannot hear your car coming, the second is to warn you to slow down that

there are children playing in the area. It is very easy to see that these

information signs are meant to help you to keep from hitting a child with

your car, it can be very confusing for us to know just what they mean.

From the non turn signal using (trying to do better)

Dianna

-- those odd literal signs

A few weeks past been to drive of the son home form work and in the