Someone Who Takes Things Too Literally

What do you call someone who takes everything literally?

For someone who takes sarcasm literally, you could say they are sarcasm-impaired. Wiktionary defines it as “Unable or deficient in recognising or understanding sarcasm.”

What does it mean when a person is too literal?

A literal person will interpret a statement literally. This means that if they have a visitor saying ‘I’m thirsty’ this, to the literal person, is simply a statement about thirst. The inferential person will infer meaning into the statement and make an assumption about the meaning behind what is said.