Quote:I totally understand these:

 

Raining cats and dogs

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed

Turn the lights out

The cat is out of the bag

Feeling blue

Under the weather

Kick off (outside of football)

Life threw a curveball? Something like that.

 

I need explanations for:

 

Tickle me ivory

Knock on wood

Tongue in cheek

 

 

Having AS causes me to not always recognize the negativity in a word, phrase, or sentence. For example, once I asked a person whose pets just died when it became "obviously sick." She was mad about that and left the room.

 

If these are diagnostic of AS, then, I must suffer too because I have no idea what "tickle me ivory" means.  I also once commented to a friend's mom (a middle aged lady at the time) that she'd dyed her hair which seemed perfectly obvious, but which I quickly learned can be offensive to women of a certain age.  The first time I heard the phrase "six on one hand, half a dozen on the other", I was utterly flummoxed.  Another example, when somebody says they'll call me back in "a couple of minutes", I'm nearly always surprised when they take 5 or 10.

 

I guess the point is, I don't believe I have AS, I just think learning non-literal phrases and non sequitur expressions takes experience and doesn't come naturally for most people.

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