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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Own-Alternative-6942 on 2026-02-27 23:25:46+00:00.
I (40F) am a big fan of the Smosh Reads Reddit Stories podcast. I listen every week and sometimes stick old episodes on in the car during the school run.
My son is 7 and autistic. He’s mostly non-verbal, but every now and then he’ll repeat a word or short phrase he’s heard somewhere. I’ve been playing the podcast around him for months without really thinking about it. I genuinely didn’t think he was paying attention.
Turns out he absolutely was.
A few days ago we were in the car and I noticed him giggling to himself after an episode finished. I signed to him, “What’s funny?”
Clear as anything, he says:
“You the asshole?”
I was shocked… and, I’ll admit I laughed for much longer than I should have! It was so unexpected. But I assumed it was just a one-off bit of echolalia and thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward to today. I get a message from his teacher asking if we can have a chat about his “new vocabulary”.
Apparently he has been confidently shouting “ASSHOLE!” at other children. And at staff. Just… whenever the mood takes him.
They’d quite like to know where he’s picked it up.
So now I get to explain that my mostly non-verbal child’s clearest, most enthusiastic spoken phrase to date comes from a Reddit judgement podcast I’ve been casually playing in the car.
I am equal parts mortified and impressed.
TL;DR: Didn’t realise my autistic 7-year-old was listening to my podcasts. He was. He’s now calling everyone an asshole at school.