On-the-spectrum

Question

Hello,I came across this sentence and could not figure out what "on-the-spectrum" means:"He had a strange, on-the-spectrum inability to see when he was becoming boring or demanding."Thank you

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It is oddly used there and difficult to interpret.  'On the spectrum' usually means 'more or less' or 'within a/the range of possibilities or gradations', but only context will reveal whether it means a lot or a little, relatively.

SuperESL · Answer

Thank you.

By the way, the sentence was taken out of the following passage which is a part of an essay on Julian Assange:

"His relationship with the New York Times was every bit as toxic. He believed its editor, Bill Keller, was determined to treat him as a ‘source’ rather than a collaborator – which was true – and that Keller wanted to hang him out to dry, which was not true. Keller wrote a long piece in his own paper saying Julian was dirty, paranoid, controlling, unreliable and slightly off his head, which naturally made Julian feel his former collaborator was out to get him. But both newspapers, in concert with others, had given over vast numbers of pages to the leaks and given WikiLeaks top billing in bringing the material. I always felt the involvement of the New York Times would save Julian from prison, and I still believe that. Even the US authorities see that it would be impossible for them to convict Assange without also convicting Keller and Rusbridger. But instead of seeing that, Julian could only see the men in personal terms as dissemblers or something worse.

He had a strange, on-the-spectrum inability to see when he was becoming boring or demanding. He talked as if the world needed him to talk and never to stop. Oddly for a dissident, he had no questions. The left-wingers I have known are always full of questions, but Assange, from the first, seemed like a manifestation of the hyperventilating chatroom. It became clear: if I was to be the ghost, it might turn out that I was the least ghostly person in the enterprise."

CalifJim · Answer

SuperESLon-the-spectrum inability

I interpret this as "noticeable inability"; "obvious inability"; "perceivable inability".

I believe the spectrum of visible light is the reference that supports the metaphor. Electromagnetic radiation occurs in all frequencies, but only a small band of frequencies is perceived as light. This band of frequencies used to be "the spectrum" before subsequent discoveries in electricity and magnetism expanded our idea of what the spectrum was.

So this inability that he had was not just in the outer reaches of "the (imperceptible) frequencies", but on the (visible) spectrum, where everyone could see it.

CJ

SuperESL · Answer

Thank you so much. Your explanation makes sense.

Would you say most literate native speakers would have no problem understanding the meaning of the phrase? Or would you say this is an idiosyncratic phrase that would give most people pause?

Thanks.

CalifJim · Answer

SuperESLWould you say most literate native speakers would have no problem understanding the meaning of the phrase? Or would you say this is an idiosyncratic phrase that would give most people pause?

The latter. Idiosyncratic.

CJ

On-the-spectrum

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