Where to start? I frequently am quite confused. I have recently learned that this may in fact be due to being a high functioning auistic. I cannot understand people except in the literal sense of their words. If the literal sense of their words is non existant, or vague, I have no idea what they are talking about. Being a computer person has made it worse because now I have a new vocabulary - that of the techie. I have been taught that those words have precise and specific meanings. However, non computer people frequently use computer language, incorrectly, to describe their computer problems which leaves me completely confused and frustrated.

For example: A common complaint is "I can't log on to my email." This has no meaning to me whatsoever. You don't log on to email. You log on to the computer. So, do they mean they can't log onto the computer, and thus check their email, or are they having some problem openinging outlook, or something entirely different? In my experience, this phrase has turned out to mean the following: The user can't log on to the PC, the user is getting various error messages opening outlook, the user can't get on to the internet, the user can't get to the share drive, and the user can't turn on the computer.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How the heck am I supposed to fix their problem if they can't even describe it correctly? And if I ask for more information, then they get confused and say something to the effect of "What do you mean, what do I mean? I mean what I said! I can't log on to my email!"

And can somebody please tell me how so many people can misuse techie language in exactly the same way, yet mean entirely different problems? Weird! and confusing.