Question for those with ASCs and those without about idioms...

[LambChopAndAsparagus]

One of the things we are often told is that people with ASCs dont use or understand idioms and metaphors because of our literal nature.

I do use them because I have come to understand what they mean but I have a very strong mental image of what it would look like.

For example, I know that 'raining cats and dogs' means very heavy rain but I have a strong mental image of cats and dogs falling from the sky when I hear it. That's what I see.

Likewise when someone is described as 'tying themselves up in knots'. I understand what it means but whenever anyone says it, I see the person literally tied in knots.

I can't think of any more at the moment.

I just wondered if anyone else does this. Whether it's how other apsies etc see it or whether NT people do that too.

Just curious really!

ASC?
I have old school Asperger's and I understand a metaphor perfectly well. I also imagine these sayings in my mind's eye; I think that's the point. I did have a friend at school who was way more literal, so "pull your socks up" was interpreted as a command, not a saying!

I don't have mental images when I use idioms, but I don't really have mental images much at all. I know many idioms and use idiomatic/colloquial language because I have read so much. I have two children with asd, and one uses far more idiom, but that one is a prolific reader too.
I notice when my other child has read something, phrases from that creep into her speech (so, for example, when she read the Chalet School books, her vocabulary increased noticeably, and she would use phrases the girls used).

I think it's too long since I learned much of my language for me to remember what I thought or what mental images I had at the time!

Yeah i have old fashioned aspergers too. But some people prefer the term autistic spectrum conditions. Also it encompasses anyone who has a diagnosis that isn't aspergers.

I just wondered if people see idioms in the same way. Or whether they just hear the words.

I was just curious.

DS has what would have been described as Aspergers. He picks up phrases including idioms, then uses them liberally for a while but can struggle with nuance on when a synonym works or doesn't. At the moment he's ising "upper hand" as synonomous with "advantage" but it's not a complete subsitute and he often uses it where it jars.

He also picks things up from youtube and they don't necessarily sit quite right. It's not that American English is "wrong" it's just that we predominantly use British English.

We had a discussion/ disagreement about "so near but yet so far" yesterday. I said it as he reached up into the fridge and brushed his fingertips on the yoghurt he was aiming for but couldn't grip. I then had to explain what it mean (you were so near that you could touch it, but it was as useless as being far away from it because you still couldn't reach it) but he started repeating "so near and so close"

He also has dyslexia that affects his sense of language.

I don't know if he does visualise language literally though...
I can as a concious choice, but it's not an automatic reaction.

I remember my dance teacher saying things like imagine being pulled up from your head by a string and they weren't easy to translate into posture. That's become easier with age.

I have ASC and like you am able to use idioms etc but will get a very visual picture of the literal interpretation.

I have asd but don't see idioms like you describe, for it's raining cats and dogs I just have a mental thought of a storm and raining lots