03 September 2009

"Weeping" glacier


Photograph taken at the Austfonna ice cap in the Svalbard archipelago, published in the Daily Mail. Alex at Neatorama points out that this is an excellent example of pareidolia:
Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- ("beside", "with", or "alongside"—meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong (as in paraphasia, disordered speech)) and eidolon ("image"; the diminutive of eidos ("image", "form", "shape")).
Photo credit Michael Nolan/SpecialistStock/Barcroft Media.

1 comment:

  1. I wonder how long it will be before someon says, "Look! It's Michael Jackson!"

    Besides me, I mean.

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