I'm sure many of you would at some point in your life spot imaginary figures or faces in everyday objects around you, whether in clouds, water or anything else. This phenomenon is called pareidolia and it is my new buzzword, especially after I spotted a face on the margarine of my McDonald's breakfast this morning.
Since young, I've always been a bit of a connoisseur in pareidolia. I often see things as how I see and not as how they are, which really scared the crap out adults at times. They would wonder if I'm seeing things. I would see a bubbly elephant in the pattern of the window panes, various faces on the textured walls, figure outlines on the crumpled cloth etc. I would talk about "that little human" in the toilet when it was actually just the part of the pipe looking like an oddly-shaped human.
When I grew older and became short-sighted, it scared the crap out of people even more. There was an occasion when I asked the hubby about a person sitting at the back of a lorry which was driving in front of us and he questioned me uncertainly, "Erm... What people?" It turned out that the objects loaded on the lorry somehow had the shape and form of a person crouching which he took a very long time to see it in my perspective. More recently, I scared the crap out of myself when I thought I saw a phantom's hollow eyes flashing for a split second on my laptop when it was actually just a picture of 2 coffee cups flashing on my Windows 8 picture folder.
On a lighter note, let's look at some really cute faces in everyday objects. I've picked my favourite 20 to share here. You could go to this page for more photos.
Evil Boxes Plotting Something Sinister
Petrified Peppers
Come on baby light my fire!
“I Believe I Can Fly”
Om nom nom nom
Maniacal Moccasin
Three Wisemen
Holy Sh*t it Looks Like a Woman!
The Chicken Church
Chocolate Moai
Drunk Octopus Wants to Fight You
Sad Monkey :(
Say Cheese!
Droooool
"Hehehehehehe..." went the sinister swivel seat.
Pleasant Pots
The man in the snow
Cookies, anyone?
The OMG Wall
Wall-E Says Bye!
Are you also a connoisseur in pareidolia? Share your pareidolia experience with me! I would love to hear them and find many other like-minded people!
Lol Jo, I get you! I often have the same "trouble", but in a different way, when Im bored and Im outdoor I like to play on what the things around could look alike, always finding new and different shapes. Your finds made me so smile! Kisses! xo
ReplyDeleteYours is a fun kinda trouble, sweetie! Thanx for sharing.
DeleteThis happens to me too, but rarely when I try to make it happen...and it doesn't happen to me as often as you (especially in my old age). I didn't talk about it when I was little. It was just my own secret thing to smile about.
ReplyDeleteThat's just like you to smile secretly about your little discoveries. Thanx for sharing your pareidolia experience with me.
DeleteHAHAHA Jo! NOW I know the name for it! I see things all the time. This was a great post!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.averysweetblog.com/
I never knew this had a name till I came across a page that my friend shared on Facebook. I love that this has a name.
DeleteWhat an intriguing post! I had no idea this had a name. And I absolutely love the photos you shared, particularly the plotting boxes, the bird church, the man in the snow, the OMG wall, and Wall-E. It's always so interesting to look at things differently. It reminds me of optical illusions, like the famous duck and rabbit one. I personally wish I could see things this way! It seems so cool, albeit unnerving.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
www.imperfectidealist.com
I never knew this had a name till I came across a page that my friend shared on Facebook. I love that this has a name. Ah, the famous duck and rabbit, horse and frog... all those I could easily see them when I was a little kid. Thanx for reminding me.
DeleteThis is so funny. I did not know this had a name for it. I am trying to pronounce it. Ha ha..Love the green pepper one the best.
ReplyDeletewww.thoughtsofpaps.com
I never knew this had a name till I came across a page that my friend shared on Facebook. The green pepper one is really hilarious!
DeleteHey! I'm back to the blogging world! I've been MIA a bit for the past few months but hopefully I'll be blogging more often now :) Perhaps 1 post a week (cross fingers). Haha, its cool how we follow each other on instagram and I love your food adventures :)
ReplyDeleteHappy CNY! I think it's already CNY eve for you already if not in a few hours!
You're finally back, Grace. I must go check out your blog real soon! A post a week is cool. I used to be able to keep up with that. Now I cant. Happy CNY to you and yeah, you got the timing right!
Deletehehehe! this is hilarious jo! :) and its my new word of the day- "Pareidolia" :D
ReplyDeleteI really love that this had a name. =)
Deletehappy chinese new year jo!! omgosh i didn't know that it had a word to describe it!! learn something new everyday :)
ReplyDeleteis it weird that i freak myself out because i "think" i see things out of the corner of my eye all the time......
moving on hahaha
that monkey/plant one is soo lifelike!!
the taiwan pictures are from my trip in dec lol! i'm just still getting around to it.. it got interrupted by my paris trip.. and i'm trying to simultaneously edit both trips at the same time haha.
It's great to learn new things every day! And yes, I do always see things from the cornet of my eye. I always feel it's coz of my short-sightedness that made it worse. I hope you enjoyed your CNY!
DeleteI never knew that this had a name, I do this all the time too! It's really hard to 'unsee' the face once you've seen it!
ReplyDeleteCorinne x
www.skinnedcartree.com
I agree with your last line. The first look is always the one that is difficult to unsee even if you managed to see the other perspective.
DeleteMy favorite was the OM NOM NOM helicopter!
ReplyDelete7% Solution
I just saw a real life nom nom nom helicopter last weekend!
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