Touch Of The 'Tism

About

Touch Of The 'Tism is a catchphrase and euphemism used online when saying that someone is "a little autistic" or has symptoms or characteristics associated with autism. The slang expression likely predates the modern internet, with the earliest internet evidence of the phrase being traced to a 2007 Rule 34 forum comment. After experiencing sporadic use on Twitter in the 2010s, use of the phrase "Touch of the 'Tism" grew exponentially after the 2020s, primarily due to its prevalence on TikTok.

Origin

The earliest known use of the phrase "Touch of the 'Tism" on the internet is an April 29th, 2007, comment reply left on an image posted to a Rule 34 forum. After a user posted a comment criticizing a gorey NSFW drawing depicting Steve Irwin and a stingray, another user suggested that he may have a "touch of the 'tism" (seen below).^[1]

The catchphrase "touch of the 'tism" also experienced sporadic use on Twitter from 2010 onwards, with Twitter^[2] user @Simply_Satin posting a tweet on March 18th, 2010 (seen below, left), and Twitter^[3] user @thesixler posting another tweet on September 21st, 2013, that read, "I for one suggest we start calling asperger's a touch of the 'tism," gathering over 20 likes in 10 years (seen below, right).

Spread

April 1st, 2019, marks the start of the Bronze Age Pervert's history of alleging that some animals have a touch of the 'tism (seen below, left).^[4] A July 1st, 2020 Facebook^[5] post by "Yeezy is the God Within My Religion" gathered over 5,000 reactions in three years (seen below, right).

In 2022, the phrase was then popularized on TikTok, with TikToker^[6] @sierrabagheera posting a video using it on April 11th, 2022, gathering over 35,000 plays and 8,400 likes in a year (seen below, left). On September 10th, 2022, TikToker^[7] @cptsdwhisperer posted a video about how they know they have what they call a "touch of the 'tism" because of how they sit. The video gathered over 57,000 plays and 4,000 likes in 10 months (seen below, right).

Criticism

The phrase "touch of the 'tism" has been criticized by some autistic people for misrepresenting the realities of living with autism, as well as for perceivably stigmatizing the word "autism" instead. Redditors on /r/fakedisordercringe often discuss the use of the phrase in a negative way, with a November 25th, 2022, post by Redditor^[8] Financial-Dealer-253 noting the term being used to diagnose Emma Chamberlain, a YouTuber who has never described herself as autistic (seen below).

On July 22nd, 2022, TikToker^[9] @wonder_art posted a video criticizing the use of the phrase, gathering over 348,000 plays and 10,000 likes in a year (seen below, left). A January 12th, 2023, post by TikToker^[10] @futuretown_ showed "touch of the 'tism" alongside other words they think are cringe, including "neurospicy." The post gathered over 100,000 plays and 20,000 likes in six months (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References