Are we "On the spectrum" or "Under" it?

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I notice some people use the phrase "On the spectrum" to describe a person who has some variant of Autism. Others say "Under the spectrum". Which do you use?

its an AS feature to get caught up on meanings and definitions.
whiile you can spend time deciphering if your on or under the spectrum.
it doesnt matter in the big scheme of things, it is however important and normal for you to expect an answer.

so i consider myself to be on the spectrum. but i have never thought about it that much and while i spend too much tume thinking about a lot of irrelevant material, i havent ever thought about an answer to your question.

thanks for asking learn not to worry too much about definitions.

Ummm, thanks? I'm not particularly worried, just curious about which usage is most common. Thanks for responding.

On the spectrum, under the radar, off the charts and over the rainbow.


M.

I've never heard "under the spectrum."

In English, it's common for certain words to become associated with a particular locative case for seemingly arbitrary reasons. "On the sidewalk" and "in the street" are both generally accepted as grammatically correct, while, "in the sidewalk" generally is not.

Shouldn't it be "within" the spectrum, cause the other terms make it sound like we exist outside the spectrum.

Over here they call it "the autism umbrella" so.. I guess it would make more sense to be under it.

Then you have the debate of "on line" versus "in line."

In New York, to say you are "on line" does not necessarily mean you are surfing the Internet (which would be spelled "online"), but could mean that you are waiting on a line at a store or someplace. Apparently this is not the case in the rest of the country though, as my college friends used to tease me and say, "It's 'in line' not 'on line'!"

The only time I would really say "in line" would be if I were in a car waiting in line (for instance at a tollbooth).

Last edited by LostInSpace on 21 Sep 2008, 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I could see saying "under the umbrella of autism," but if I were to refer to the spectrum, I would always say "on the spectrum."

Yes, thank you, I think I am all of the above.
You forgot "around the bend," and "in a state" and "wacked-out."

over the moon, me

anyway: the matter seems point-of-view related

from the psychiatric-diagnostic perspective,
we come/fall UNDER (or IN) the category of autism

from our perspective, that must mean we are ON the spectrum;

whether we are IN the spectrum to me is less sure, but i think the same applies, because i think the perspective of IF is much more as-seen-from-without (yeah..., i'm sure... methinks)

Prepositions are always interesting stuff, especially in other languages than your own.

I've only seen "on" the spectrum, around here, never "under".

A funny little story about prepositions:

In an English lesson in what is equivalent to high school in Denmark, the teacher once asked me what it was in English to get angry with somebody (she asked me in Danish). I wasn't sure about which preposition to use, so at last, although I thought it sounded wrong, I made a literal translation from the Danish and answered "get angry on".
Then the teacher (a tiny little lady with a great temper) went up on the chair and said: "I get angry on this chair, but I get angry with you!"
I never, ever forgot that...

...down and out, and up in arms, apparently! *laugh* I'm through, or at least beside myself.


M.