• Keilik
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      4 months ago

      Recognized, as in it was easy enough to tell she was autistic it was like looking at a clock to tell the time.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        I always thought it came down from radar/sonar terminology, e.g. “I got a bogey at seven o’clock” where the radar dial is compared to an analog clock dial. So that “clock” became “notice, or see something, especially something hidden.” And in my mental canon, trans and/or gay (See also: “gaydar”) military personnel and veterans took it to the streets. Whereupon autistic people who were also passing embraced it. But that could all be in my head.

        • Keilik
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          4 months ago

          That’s absolutely the original usage but that also died down as military vernacular (and analog clocks) became less and less prominent in the public.

          These days I usually see the “newer” usage, maybe because digital clocks are not only easier to read but also they are also far less useful as a navigation and positioning aid. Who knows?

          • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            Yeah I blame the digital clocks for a lot of things. Like, they pretend to be super accurate, but if they aren’t talking to a satellite the numbers they’re showing aren’t any better than “around twenty past.”

            And if you’re going to allow 45 minutes to do something, starting at 11:37, you have to do math or set a timer rather than glancing at the wall clock and eyeballing three quarters to see 12:22.

            I’m not going to say we need to bring back measurements like the hogshead, but I do think it’s sad that kids no longer read analog clocks enough that it becomes an instinctive and useful analogy, for their place in the day and the world.

      • sinwell@infosec.pub
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        4 months ago

        like looking at a clock to tell the time

        lol this etymology is way cooler than cop radar. It is now canonical to me.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        “Clocked” can mean you noticed anything unseen by others, whether autism or transgender or a closeted gay person or an affair or a plainclothes detective or combat veteran or grifter. And it’s often because you noticed similarities to yourself, whether you too are hiding that part of yourself or open about it. You’re right that it’s used by transphobic people as well, although I bet they get it wrong as often as right.

        • lyralycan@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          Ah, thank you; my definition was only how I first learned the term, the desire to find trans friends but not want to make them feel they weren’t ‘passing’ ehe

          It makes sense that it’s also used in other contexts!

  • TwoBeeSan
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    4 months ago

    If only she had done her best train horn impression.