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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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Understanding the intent of the question *and understanding why it could be interpreted differently *\and understanding why is it is a poorly phrased question are not related to autism. (In my case)
I want to wash my car. No location or method is specified. No 'at the car wash'. No 'take my car to the car wash' . No 'take the car through the car wash'
A car wash is this far. Is this an option? A question. A suggestion. A demand?
Should I walk or drive? To do what? Wash the car? Ok. If the car wash is an option, that seems very far. But walking there seems silly. Since no method or location for washing the car was mentioned I could wash my own car.
Do you see how this works?
Yes, you can infer what was implied, but the question itself offers no certainty that what you infer is what it is actually implying.
Look, human conversations are full of context deduction and inference. In this case "I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?" states my random desire, a possible solution and the question all in one context. None of these sentences make sense in isolation as you point out, but within the same frame they absolutely give you everything you need to answer the question of find alternatives if needed.
Sorry for the random online stranger diagnosis but this is just such an excelent example of neurodivergent need for extreme clarity I couldn't help myself.
I agree that it should be able to infer the intent, but I stand by that it remain somewhat unclear and open to interpretation. Eg, If such language was used in a legal contract, it would not be enough to simply say, well, they should understand what I meant.
The people doing this test, I'm sure, are not linguistic masters, nor legal scholars.
There are lines of work where clarity is essential.
And what if my question actually was asking, should I just go for a walk instead of driving that far?
I know the answer. But as 30% demonstrated, clarity IS needed.