An Autistic Interpretation of Metaphors and Sayings

By Dana Trick

Sinking like a stone—

You’re human,
Not a rock,
And you have the limbs to
Swim towards the surface.

Curiosity killed the cat—

There are trillions of things that could have
Killed the cat as well as you.
Why do you promote foolish ignorance
When knowledge is essential?

Blind as a bat—

Actually, bats do have SIGHT (though its’ poor)
As well as excellent hearing.
So when your eyes fail to understand,
Use your ears.

It’s a piece of cake—

No, it’s edible chemistry
And chemistry is extremely hard
unless you dutifully follow the recipe
or you’re a professional of knowledge and confidence.

As busy as a bee—

As much work is necessary for getting daily supplies,
You need a little time to enjoy the flowers
And whatever else you love.

Birds of a feather flock together—

It is physically impossible for birds
Fly with a conjoined feather or wings.
Somehow, the unpredictability of human nature
Allowed for friendships, relationships, and families.

As cold as ice—

A corpse doesn’t move and talk
And I bet if we could touch their hands,
I bet they’re still warm
And their hearts are still beating.

Flying over their heads—

Birds fly in the sky,
People duck at things thrown at them,
But you’re definitely telling me
these weird comparisons and phrases
At me.

Dana Trick headshot

Dana resides in Moorpark, California. She spends too much of her time reading books (fantasy, fiction, history, poetry, comics), drawing weird things that suddenly appear in her head, writing stories and poems and listening to a strange assortments of music genres that she isn’t sure what type of music fan she is.

One reply on “An Autistic Interpretation of Metaphors and Sayings”
  1. says: Christo

    Thanks Dana, for reminding me that my daughter does not think the way most other people do – she is VERY literal. In fact I found the above to fit in perfectly with what I have always thought of as “my sense of humour”. It is one of the reasons I love the work of Terry Pratchett, which often takes things as they are said and interprets them as literal.

    You helped me see things with new eyes,
    but my eyes did not actually change,
    so I guess you changed the software in my head,
    to look at data differently instead.

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