Monday, April 18, 2005

The Eye Is Quicker Than The Brain

You know how you glance at something, then you have to have another look because what you thought you saw and what you actually saw were two different things? What you thought was a fifty-cent coin on the ground was, in reality, just a piece of lolly wrapper. That sort of thing?

With me, it's generally words. Last week, I was rummaging in the pantry cupboard for something, and I glanced over a packet of "breakfast muffins". I read it as "breakfast coffins". Naturally, somewhere in the logic department, that didn't compute, so I had to double check what I had read. I mentally shook my head at the literate faux-pas, and continued on my search.Mind you, considering some of the crap that is pumped into those things, I do wonder if "coffins" might not be the correct description.

Another time, I was shopping and picked up a bottle of Listerine (For those who don't know, Listerine is a brand of mouth wash). There was the name, Listerine, in big bold letters on the label. Underneath was what I read as "with coolant". Doing a double-take, I re-read it. What it actually said was "with coolmint". I had a chuckle to myself, but having tasted the stuff, I sometimes think I got it right the first time.

You know what they say about first impressions.

1 comment:

Gina E. said...

This reminds me of something that happened in our household in the 1950's, when Mortein flyspray came in a glass bottle. You had to transfer the contents into a hand pumped metal spray contraption. As it happened, Trix dishwashing liquid came in a bottle of similar size and shape, as well as both labels being predominately red and yellow. It was my older brother's turn to wash the dishes that night, and as he had more important things to do, he rushed through the chore in a great hurry. It was some time later that Dad, passing through the kitchen, noticed the extremely strong smell of flyspray. On closer investigation, he found the dishes in the rack were smeared with a yellow slime that smelled of Mortein! Bryan was promptly recalled to wash the dishes again in the correct detergent!!