Well, they do sound alike... You could explain to her the misunderstanding and everything may be cleared up.

Well I think OP isn't the brightest star in the universe. Why would anyone miss work because their child is artistic? OP should have figured that one out even if the interviewee did pronounce the word incorrectly.

See, if you guys still spoke the Queen's English you wouldn't have that problem. Totally different sounds (kind of "ort" vs "art")... A belated happy 4 July to all! ;)

Look at their name. I'm pretty sure they have a hearing problem of some sort, so they may have misheard the women he/she was interviewing.

Sorry! I completely misread the comment. Ignore that.

Just remember what country beat your tiny island on that day, #14 ;)

We didn't beat their "island", we used guerrilla tactics to win a war on land against a military that excelled in naval combat. If we had actually attempted to besiege the British kingdom, we would have quickly been decimated.

Think before you speak. Especially when you sound like an ignorant fool.

Downvoted maybe but citygirl does speak the truth... They're much more different in an English accent.

Did anyone else immediately think of 21 a Jump Street?

The standard American accent is actually closer to what English people would've sounded like in those days, Queen's English actually came into use after America was colonised. The more you know.. :)

#14 so you think an entire country should aquire a British accent? That's brilliant. I wish we thought of that sooner. Point goes to the country with the whitest teeth: Britain! oh wait...

You could see that one coming.

But apparently they couldn't hear it :(

this reminds of a previous FML, when the guy was trying to ask the girl he liked of she was artistic in an attempt at flirting, but instead said autistic. it happens to the best I guess

Yeah, it's a very common mistake. I was in this team that combined different arts together and did shows for other schools. Since the team's name is an acronym, the principals always said the full name, which sometimes lead to us being the "Students Working Autistically Together" team instead of "Artistically".

Ohmygoodness, sucks for you. Lol.

Ohmygoodness, sucks for us that we have to deal with your inane comment when there's a button that says what you just posted. Lol.

renee, you're not showing much love for charchar are you?

you should use your logic 11

Haha, no, I guess I wasn't, 32.

That's why their story is on this site...

Hopefully she understood that you weren't trying to make a joke. It must be hard enough raising kids with birth defects without having people make jokes about them (intentionally or otherwise).

I don't get how Autism is a birth defect. While it does make the brain behave in a different manner, it actually causes the brain to centralize thoughts. It is more of a beneficiary evolutionary trait than a defect.

Honestly if you had autistic children you would understand. People who are mildly autistic aren't severely hindered and their brains actually work better in some ways. People with sever autism may never once show their parents love and it is difficult, if not impossible for them to function in society. My cousin has moderate autism and while he can get simple, stress free jobs it is very unlikely that he will ever be able to live on his own. At 23 he still lives with his mother because she needs to help him with social interactions.
Another friend of mine with two children who are severely autistic can barely cope because her children, at the age of seven have never once told or showed her that they love her because they simply cannot. She tries so much to help them as best as she can but there is only so much she can do.

Autism affects different people very differently. One person might be a socially awkward genius while another might never speak in their life. It really depends on the person. What they probably meant as an advantageous trait was the former.

The only birth defect I see on this fml is the one calling autism a birth defect...ffs...learn something before posting ignorant rambling!

Downvote me all you want...this person dares to call autism a birth defect...my son is autistic and in no way, shape or form is autism a birth defect..saying that is just pure ignorance!

Whoa, that was in no way meant to offend anyone. And that doesn't mean anyone with a birth defect is incapable or incompetent. Being born without an arm is a birth defect, yet there are amazing people like that that live with their situation everyday. Stop thinking everyone is attacking you because that's not the case.

Glad you feel that way..b/c before his autism diagnosis he was called a birth defect...for being black...I always thought it was racism, now I know we just have dark birth defects, our skin! That makes the autism, racism, everything all ok..cause we live with it daily and it's really just all birth defects..thanks!

it's not actually a "defect". I'm an Aspie. it's just a different logic pathway in the brain.

I'm an Autistic Firefighter...

That is just a unfortunate and a terrible situation. Hopefully you got it all sorted out and she was understanding.

its a common mistake, the two words sound a lot alike.

especially if you have an accent that contributes to that.

Can't entirely blame you there if she mispronounced it, unless you misheard.

Still, instead of making a joke about it, you could have asked her to repeat herself.

OP thought she said "artistic," so he/she wondered why the person they were interviewing would have to take time off work because she has an artistic son, when really she said "autistic."

the OP thought they knew what she said. why would they ask for clarification if they didn't know they had misheard her?

Op didn't ask for clarification, the lady corrected him.

@19 Why wouldn't you ask for a clarification if you're confused over a statement that doesn't make sense.

Maybe you could relate to her and explain that you have a hearing problem. I'm sure she will understand and laugh it off. :) My family does and my niece is autistic.

Wait, how could OP relate to her having an autistic son?

I think she's saying relate OP's hearing problem?

Yeah I meant because he had a hearing problem :)
Who knows what problems OP had to overcome with his hearing disability. Thats why I thought he could relate :)

I hope you apologised

... I get that OP should say "Sorry, I thought you said artistic." But the way you accusingly commented that leads me to believe you think OP made that joke to make fun of autistic people, which they didn't.

I didn't read #10's comment as accusing? I just read it as a statement. Hard to read tones in text I guess. (Just to clarify my tone is cheerful)

15 - stop reading into things so deeply...

I feel as though i would have just assumed she said autistic, since having an artistic son wouldn't make sense in this situation.