Oh, I’m notorious for not recognizing people (literally, not figuratively) out of context. Even my own sister has come up to me in public waving a hand right in-front of my face before I recognized her. Probably why I’m reluctant to yell hello or wave to people out in public most of the time – too many times have I been mistaken.
This comic came to mind in a discussion with my friends yesterday. We were looking at a fashion magazine, and there was a part of it advertising jewelry. In the black-and-white photo, the models were topless, and leaning against each others’ naked breasts, looking luxuriously aroused. My male friend said that it was pornographic, but my female friend thought it was “classy,” whereas porn to her is “gross.” I guess it all depends on the setting…the contents of the other pages. Clothes…or….no clothes, I guess.
Interesting! I wonder how much of that was intentional, the advertiser wanting to give the men reading a sense of sex, and the women a sense of class and elegance.
This happens to me particularly with people I’m used to seeing from the waist up only–behind a counter in a shop or the bar in a coffee shop or restaurant. Take the white coat off our local pharmacist and I can walk past her on the street without blinking. I am forever being greeted with a smile on the street by someone I can’t place…until I mentally cut them off at the waist, and then think, “Oh, that’s Jack the Newsstand” or “Lisa the Coffee” or whatever. I have learned to smile, be pleasant, and answer when spoken to. If the person asks me a question, then I often realise who it is.
I tend to recognise based on certain ‘keys’ that differ from what many people use, and often it doesn’t quite match… Certain facial features, sometimes hair colour/style, sometimes clothing, sometimes height. Radical changes in hairstyle, complete makeup changes, and drastic clothing changes throw me. Some people recognise by scent; that is completely unusable for me. As I have few or no ways to change the ‘keys’ and consider many of the alternatives more transient than the ones I already use, I just go on with it… Context helps, but often that’s one of the most transient ‘keys’ to me.
Oh, I’m notorious for not recognizing people (literally, not figuratively) out of context. Even my own sister has come up to me in public waving a hand right in-front of my face before I recognized her. Probably why I’m reluctant to yell hello or wave to people out in public most of the time – too many times have I been mistaken.
Me too. It can be embarrassing.
This comic came to mind in a discussion with my friends yesterday. We were looking at a fashion magazine, and there was a part of it advertising jewelry. In the black-and-white photo, the models were topless, and leaning against each others’ naked breasts, looking luxuriously aroused. My male friend said that it was pornographic, but my female friend thought it was “classy,” whereas porn to her is “gross.” I guess it all depends on the setting…the contents of the other pages. Clothes…or….no clothes, I guess.
Interesting! I wonder how much of that was intentional, the advertiser wanting to give the men reading a sense of sex, and the women a sense of class and elegance.
This happens to me particularly with people I’m used to seeing from the waist up only–behind a counter in a shop or the bar in a coffee shop or restaurant. Take the white coat off our local pharmacist and I can walk past her on the street without blinking. I am forever being greeted with a smile on the street by someone I can’t place…until I mentally cut them off at the waist, and then think, “Oh, that’s Jack the Newsstand” or “Lisa the Coffee” or whatever. I have learned to smile, be pleasant, and answer when spoken to. If the person asks me a question, then I often realise who it is.
I tend to recognise based on certain ‘keys’ that differ from what many people use, and often it doesn’t quite match… Certain facial features, sometimes hair colour/style, sometimes clothing, sometimes height. Radical changes in hairstyle, complete makeup changes, and drastic clothing changes throw me. Some people recognise by scent; that is completely unusable for me. As I have few or no ways to change the ‘keys’ and consider many of the alternatives more transient than the ones I already use, I just go on with it… Context helps, but often that’s one of the most transient ‘keys’ to me.