#20 Correcting

Written by SAPL on September 3rd, 2008 in Socialization.


Vesentico/Sento on Flickr

In the world of Aspergerness, there are usually 2 colors: Black and White. It’s either right or wrong, with no possibilities of shades in between. However, for many Aspies, the color palate can be expanded slightly to allow for times when others forget what colorĀ an issue should fall under: That color is red-for correction.

Aspies love to correct, both people and inanimate objects. It is an innate tendency that they attempt to conceal though numerous methods-biting the tongue or lip, pretending not to see or hear the mistake, or maybe convincing themselves that there really is another way of looking at it. But sooner or later, a huge volcanic-like reaction will occur in their bodies and minds, forcing them to tell the world just how things really should be.

This is helpful at times. We’d all like to know when there’s spinach on our teeth. If you hire an Aspie as your personal assistant, you ensure you’ll never be in the presence of your future in-laws with an unzipped fly. Ditto for bad grammar, incorrect or twisted facts, mispronunctiations, and your tendency to strech or leave out parts of a story. “There aren’t 12 monkeys at the zoo. Three of those are actually chimpanzees.

A tender moment between a couple can quickly be ruined by the Aspie’s need to correct. “You’re eyes are as blue as the sky,” will quickly be followed by, “The sky is more cyan than regular blue. If you think my eyes are cyan, that’s fine, but blue isn’t the best descriptive word if you’re going to be using the sky as a simile.” This same partner was rebuked last week for writing a love letter rife with spelling errors that the Aspie circled in red and returned.

A lover who finds him or herself in this situation can be redeemed by the all time symbol of couple apology and makeup: Buying a gift for the Aspie partner. Red pens and white out make good stocking stuffers as well as books containing titles like, “Myths Uncovered,” “Secrets Exposed,” and “The Truth About,” as they give the Aspie the reassurance that you agree upon the core values of any good relationship: trust, love, and a strong sense of telling each other and the rest of the world how everything that comes out of their mouths or is written by their hand is completely screwed up.

If you’re an Aspie and think something in this post is amiss, please correct it by saying something in the comment box.

7 Responses to “#20 Correcting”

  1. jana Says:

    “to allow for times when others forget….”

    hysterical!!!!!!!!!

  2. Stuff Asperger People Like » Blog Archive » Asperger People In The News: Bram Cohen Of BitTorrent Says:

    [...] programming field, but got annoyed when people wouldn’t listen to him and do things the right way. So he decided to start his own company, BitTorrent, a brainchild born from nine months of him [...]

  3. That Dork Says:

    Really? Nobody’s called you on “mispronunctiations” yet?

  4. petitvulcan Says:

    And “strech”. Don’t forget that we correct ourselves plenty of times, when other people could care less. Actually, in our opinion, they could care more.

  5. petitvulcan Says:

    And “you’re” – in place of your – pet peeve!!!

  6. Sue Says:

    See? This is why we make such good editors and proofreaders.

  7. jack Says:

    knew that there was one character out of place in 23,000 lines of code.
    took 18 hours.
    found it.
    works.
    yeah!

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