I truly live in a Literal World. My hubby is a ‘literal’ person, and my Darling Daughter also exhibits literalism herself. Case in point: I sent my hubby to the local grocery store one night in need of a few items to round out our Pizza Party…on the list I simply wrote ‘pineapple’. My thought process is Pineapple for Pizza would mean either Pineapple Slices or Pineapple Chunks…what did hubby bring home? A fresh, whole Pineapple! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the ‘freshness’ of the Pineapple, but in the hurry and scurry of a slew of people in our kitchen making their own fresh pizza’s, the extra ‘work’ of cutting up said fresh pineapple wasn’t something I appreciated… I have learned that I must put myself into a ‘literal’ mode to communicate effectively with my husband, and follow general comments with ‘Not literally speaking’ just to make sure my point gets across the way it’s meant, not the way it may be ultimately taken.
My Darling Daughter also has that ‘literal brain’; she is her daddy’s daughter to the max! I will get corrected quite often in general statements…for instance, I referred to “101 Dalmatians” the ‘Americanized’ way of ‘A Hundred and One Dalmatians’, to which she insisted: “It’s not ‘uh-hundred and One Dalmatians’, Mama, it’s ‘ONE Hundred and One Dalmatians’!” I responded: “I stand corrected – you’re right!” Her response? “You’re not standing, you’re sitting…so you’re sitting corrected, not standing corrected!”