Sarcasm is a One Way Street

The concept of sarcasm took me a while to understand. It was a part of language that I had not been on top of from an early age. I can recall someone saying something to me and then doing what they asked and them yelling at me for it. I did not pick up the most important part of what they were saying until I got older.

The tone of voice they used, very different from the way they said most everything else, was not something I could distinguish right away. It took a lot of me feeling stupid to figure it out. I still have to think about the message people are trying to get across and whether it makes sense in the context they are using it. That is the only way I can pick up sarcasm; by thinking about it, and sometimes it takes a little longer than they would like.

I myself am able to use sarcasm pretty well, but understanding it is a different matter. The subtlety is what plagues me. All those little nuances have to be interpreted by my brain and that takes a toll on me. You could call sarcasm a one way street for most people on the Autism spectrum. As far as reading between the lines goes, I'm at about the point that I was with sarcasm early on. Some skills, that other people take for granted, have to be learned over time by people like me. It should be easily understandable that I prefer people who use the least amount of sarcasm possible, or sometimes no one at all.

Questions or comments?