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YO!

48 (19%)

I suspect I am, but am not diagnosed as such.

32 (12.6%)

NO!

164 (64.8%)

I've been diagnosed as such, but suspect I am not.

9 (3.6%)

Total Members Voted: 252

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I've been hearing a lot of stories about people barking at each other from cars lately. I think the world may be going (more) insane.

[Felsic]

My dad used to deliver newspapers back in the day, and he recounts not one, but two cases when he was being barked at by someone other than a dog. Both times it was drunks though, and it's pretty sad when that's all the creativity you get by combining people with alcohol.

Regarding the topic, I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was 16, when I got myself admitted into a psych ward because of depression that led me to drop out of school. I guess it has helped me clarify some issues I have with myself, although it's mostly been just frustrating, especially since some other bad things have happened since then. But I've also been pretty fortunate to make some actual friends, and I even fell in love with a wonderful person.

I do admit that I wasn't that concerned or convinced with the diagnosis at first, but it's probably due to the generally negative attitude towards mental illnesses and developmental disorders (and differences of any kind) in my country that I've grown up with. Luckily my family has mostly been understanding and helpful, even though we haven't discussed the subject that much. I would like to, but I'm overall rather uncomfortable in such situations, even with people I know and love.

Even now I'm pretty uncomfortable since I've been meaning to post for months now. It's hopelessly irritating to deal with such deep-rooted timidness if you still know it's not such a big deal once you get around to it.

[Starver]

My dad used to deliver newspapers back in the day, and he recounts not one, but two cases when he was being barked at by someone other than a dog. Both times it was drunks though, and it's pretty sad when that's all the creativity you get by combining people with alcohol.

To be honest, having been (for reasons that some might consider interesting to go into, but too long-winded to bother with right now) someone who has been at the receiving end of all kinds of things being shouted from car windows, there are very few intelligent comments about a situation that can expounded from the window of a moving car in the short time available to one.  This necessarily includes the thinking time needed for "Oh look, someone is by the side of the road and I wish to pass on a comment or make my own cogent argument about a situation that this person might well be involved in.  However, even with a significant retardation of my forward movement (which I, or the driver, may or may not be willing or able to temporarily execute) my available communication time is significantly restricted and I must therefore necessarily eschew verbosity in my evocation of said message.  Now, I wonder what the wording should be, especially if I must take into account any significant amount of Doppler shifting[1] due to our relative motions?"...

So, one to three words tend to be the most usual output, in my experience[2].  Or at least just that many finding their way to the ears of the stationary listener, and (even then), one to three unintelligible words is the norm.  When the sensible motoring-commentator realises this fact, woofs, barks, and the like are among the obvious remaining available options as fairly error-immune communication protocols.  Possibly (for the more intelligent ones who have realised that the aforementioned Doppler effect is in... well... effect) even a cat's "meeeeeeeeooooooooowwwwwww".



[1] And possibly even relativity, for some of the more velocitous adherents to this form of communication.

[2] On one vaguely memorable occasion, a van zoomed three times around a traffic island, by which I was located, and shouted three or four words each time round.  I still didn't understand anything.

[ChairmanPoo]

maybe they were werewolves

[Felsic]

My dad used to deliver newspapers back in the day, and he recounts not one, but two cases when he was being barked at by someone other than a dog. Both times it was drunks though, and it's pretty sad when that's all the creativity you get by combining people with alcohol.

To be honest, having been (for reasons that some might consider interesting to go into, but too long-winded to bother with right now) someone who has been at the receiving end of all kinds of things being shouted from car windows, there are very few intelligent comments about a situation that can expounded from the window of a moving car in the short time available to one.

That's for sure, but they were on foot at the time, which lessens the excuses for such behaviour (even though it's no less excusable in any other situation). Not that there's much to be done about it anyway, since it might usually lead to nastier confrontations, but at times like that you'd almost wish they (or you) occupied a fast moving vehicle instead of the street corner where they might keep yelling/barking/meowing at you for who knows how long.

[MorleyDev]

I do have to wonder about all those people yelling out van windows at people. I mean really, how sensitive must these people be to be so bugged by a thing to open the window and shout at passing people about it?

[alway]

"Just guys out being stupid?"

Is this a hobby?

I am so confused D:

It's usually more of a lifelong career path. It takes years of training and dedication to remain that stupid.

[Starver]

In a weird reversal, this morning I yelled out of my car window at somebody.

A cyclist (or, to be more precise, a man[1] on a bike) basically bunny-hopped his machine at a retrograde angle across the road in front of me, on the brow of a hill, and already causing me to slow down (although he was nowhere near being knocked over by me, I wasn't going to steam onwards) I made a split second decision that I could as well come to a stop[2] and shout "You're an idiot!" out of the conveniently open window as he got himself onto the correct side of the road to legitimately travel in the opposite direction.

True to form, he didn't catch appear to catch what little I had said, turned in the road and shouted an agresively enquiring "What?!?".  I repeated myself (knowing full well that he might have heard me, but was just upping the ante).  Now stationary (and inadvertently, albeit appositely, having hit the hazard lights switch while muting the car radio[3]) I said something a bit more convoluted along the lines of "As a cyclist myself, you're giving us a bad name, riding like that".  He replied with something to the effect I was ugly, as if that was somehow relevent.  I very much wish I'd come up with something better to reply than "You're one to talk!"[4].  But there really seemed no more to be said, and so we parted ways (not sure who did what first, but I don't think whichever one was moved away from would have wanted to have attempted pursuit).

Anyway, it was never going to be a stimulating conversation.  I had the advantage of being in a car, he had the advantage that it was me in the car (strictly sticking to the speed limit and driving safely, and not likely to go all Pulp Fiction on him with the vehicle, in hot blood), although that latter is a happy accident (or a happy non-accident, as the case may be).


[1] Best guess, mid to late 20s.  Expensive looking mountain bike, and my first assumptions, based on his clothing and being obviously at leisure at that time of day was he was probably not employed (rather than off work) but had cash to spare.  Might have struck a nerve there, in a way that a teenager messing about would have just gotten me grumbling, not reacting.

[2] Diverting from the aforementioned modus operandi in that one key aspect

[3] I'd stopped before the brow, and was visible for quite a way off.  There was no more traffic, but it shouldn't have had any difficulty spotting me with everything flashing like that, anyway.

[4] I think I should have said something at least with the gravitas of "You're no oil painting!", but "Don't worry, I'm not asking you out on a date" might have worked on a different level.  He seemed like the kind of bloke where such a confusion of sexuality (I'm comfortable enough with being plain hetero[5] but don't really care what random strangers think about me) could have niggled him more than anything else I could say.  A snap retort just can't get be given the speech-writing prowess needed to fine tune the come-back, though, and I'm still not sure that what I belatedly came up with has quite the right sentiment and tone.

[5] Within standard deviation.  (<=Mathematically speaking, that is.  No grossly bad and/or homophobic pun intended.)

[NewsMuffin]

I'm going to go off topic by being on topic.
The internet is weird like that.

I have been told that I have Aspergers, and I did not believe them until just now, when thinking about it.

I have a lack of empathy, ethics, or morals. What ever I do is for my own benefit, 99% of the time.
I am not a social person at all. It is a miracle that I have a girlfriend.
Apparently, I am very smart. My grades in school show otherwise.
I don't make eye contact with anyone for more than a half a second at a time.
I spew insults at people because I talk without thinking quite a lot.
My friends friends believe that I am not very bright because I act and talk without thinking, and I have a hard time saying sentences that make sense without spending a long time on them.
I love run on sentences, as you can tell.
My face does weird things when I'm not paying attention, and I find myself comfortable in positions that don't make sense to most people.
I get very focused on things and do everything within my power to keep doing them, even if it isn't very interesting and I could be doing better things (like sleeping).
I know quite a lot about a few subjects (computers, video games, dinosaurs (I'm not good at forgetting things), and to a lesser extend fire arms and motorized vehicles), and I like to go on and on and on about them while pretending the other person is listening (kind of like right now!).
I have horrid hand writing, and below average hand-eye coordination. This is said to be related because my mind focuses on more intellectual things rather than physical.
I often type in a more formal tone for essays and many forum posts.
I can't bear to have a spelling or grammatical error while typing or writing.
I've been told I'm rather 'clever,' in the sense that I find non-conventional ways to solve problems.
I've been told I'm very persuasive and manipulative. I find that I agree.
I'm not physically fit, in an unhealthy-sort-of-thin way as opposed to overweight.
I find an interest in Pen and Paper roleplaying games because they require more thought than video games. This is probably unrelated, or caused by other symptoms that I have.

I've come to the conclusion that I either have Aspergers, or that I am a dick. Probably both.

[Kay12]

Me a year ago: Lots of very good friends I praised a lot, lots of humor, joyful view on life

Me today: Lots of friends who have common academic interests with me, other friends seem naïve or childish, somewhat fatalist (but not sad or depressed) view on life, no emotional ups or downs


If this is because of Asperger's, I must've caught that in the army. Or then it's just Vonnegut getting in my brain...

[Reudh]

Diagnosed recently. Was depressed for many years, am now on the tail end of it.
Fairly blank emotions, struggled with social behaviours. The lot. Not horrifically aspergersy but relatively middlingly aspergersy.

[TheMasterTurtle]

I don't believe I have asperger's but I do have a few 'disabilities'. Namely, I have a hand eye coordination disability and I have some thing that does not allow me to organize my thoughts properly. Making me terrible at 3D geometry (Curse you! 3D Geometry). I am very physically fit but because of hand eye coordination problems I am not good at most sports (Although I can get okay with effort (obviously) 

I find I preform exceptionally in social situations due to my policy and kindly nature, although I am not particularly social outside of environments were it is required. I find myself very persuasive and perfectly adequate at reading expressions and body languages (This allows me to OWN at card games, I can usually tell what card people are going to pick and by there expressions what is in there hand)

I don't know what the point of this was
 

[DrPoo]

Eh i rated NO! of sheer confusion.
I got problems with facial expressions, though, i cant control my own and i am somewhat stunted at reading other peoples body language, however that is just adapting to the enviroment.

I have been through many special education schools for anything from NLD, Autism, Nonexistant decipline, behavior dysfunctions, and lately a school for people who are "challenged with family and/or severe psychic/mental trauma. I havent had anything of it, but i eventually adapted to this enviroment of emotionless, dedicated and violent kids, so i became a emotionless, violent but dedicated kid, now i am somewhat emotional, somewhat mentally stable and VERY dedicated to music and computers.

I guess i could be diagnosed aspergers, but the treatments would not be right. I have been through too many do-nothing schools for that..

[Reudh]

lolnope

[eataTREE]

I have Asperger's. Officially diagnosed and everything.

When I go to say something in real life, I mentally run it through a couple of filters.
Ie. "Is this comment liable to offend the majority? Y/N"
then "Is this comment liable to offend the target of this conversation, ie. the previous speaker? Y/N"
and so on until it's satisfied the majority of filters.

Yes, that's basically how I do it. Along with a whole lot of "Knowing what I know about this person's goals and desires, what are their most likely motivations and how should that affect the way I interpret what they just did/said?" I'm pretty good at it except that the whole process is so very, very tiring -- I can only deal with an extended social situation (crowded parties and the like) for an hour or two, and afterwards I feel like I just ran the marathon. I also find that in order to maintain my sanity I need periods of "down time" where I'm either mostly or entirely alone. The Spouse hates this about me.