# Do you feel physical pain when looking at these images of checkered tile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511 "2015-12-27T23:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/1 "2015-12-27T23:01:12Z")
I am not exaggerating. I get a palpable, actual, headache from just looking at almost all of these images. [https://www.google.com/search?q=victorian+kitchen&rlz=1C1CHWA\_enUS595US595&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcw\_yLkv3JAhUUWWMKHfu0CfsQ\_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=victorian+floor+tile](https://www.google.com/search?q=victorian+kitchen&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS595US595&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcw_yLkv3JAhUUWWMKHfu0CfsQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=victorian+floor+tile) How about you? Is this an extremely unusual reaction? The occasion of my asking was this: My wife suggested tilings like this for our kitchen to which my reply was the politest possible version of “no, not only hell but hell no,” which was fine. But I was really surprised she’d even suggest it. These literally _hurt to look at_! ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/2 "2015-12-27T23:07:19Z")
No. Some of them are a bit garish, but it doesn’t cause me pain to look at them. And I think they would look a lot better in reality than they do on a monitor. Have you ever walked into a room and gotten a headache from looking at the floor? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/3 "2015-12-27T23:09:07Z")
It’s such a mash up of patterns that it alllllmost makes me a little queasy. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/4 "2015-12-27T23:27:22Z")
I wonder if member trypophobes will be avoiding this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/5 "2015-12-28T00:09:09Z")
Aesthetically dismaying, but not painful. Do you get the same reaction when watching a swarm of bees or raft of ants or other busily moving chaotic patterns? I’ve sometimes found that watching ants or termites gives me a kind of mental “blind spot” effect, where I can’t really “see” what I’m seeing. The complexity overwhelms my vision. I get a little of that looking at the pictures of tile-patterns in the link. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/6 "2015-12-28T00:12:25Z")
No. Those are all actually quite pretty. Then again, I love tilework and geometric patterns. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/7 "2015-12-28T00:15:39Z")
After looking up “trypophobia” I’m now afraid to look at anything shown online. But, no, those patterns remind me of old houses and buildings I used to visit as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/8 "2015-12-28T00:44:10Z")
I’d prolly go a different way, but painful? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/9 "2015-12-28T00:54:21Z")
No. There’s a few that, at the resolution they’re shown on that search page, mess a bit with my perception, and seem to be moving, but none that induce any sort of physical response. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/10 "2015-12-28T03:18:15Z")
Thanks for the responses–it looks like I am extreme in my own reaction! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/11 "2015-12-28T03:28:01Z")
Just to be clear, you mean looking at the page with all the various images, not just individual pictures, right? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/12 "2015-12-28T03:38:25Z")
No, but there are patterns that can make me feel a bit dizzy. Those don’t qualify, though. They usually involve really bright complimentary colors. I also have a bit of a problem if a single color envelops nearly my entire field of vision. I can’t stare too long at the walls in my bathroom while using it for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/13 "2015-12-28T03:44:14Z")
Frylock, do you get migraines? My wife, a lifelong sufferer, recently had to return a nightgown because the pattern on it physically bothered her. There may not be any connection to you, of course, but that was something that never would have occurred to me before it actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/14 "2015-12-28T03:59:39Z")
My son, when he walked into the Smithsonian Palm Court, suffered a nearly-instantaneos migraine after looking at the black-and-white tiled floor.☹ He had to spend a couple of hours in a darkened, empty office before he recovered enough to take the subway home. Glad he didn’t have to drive. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/15 "2015-12-28T07:08:56Z")
There is an Escherish one in there that might make me dizzy if I tried to walk on it, and the combination of all of them on one page is a bit disorienting, but I don’t think most of them would bother me. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/16 "2015-12-28T07:13:34Z")
I don’t, but I’ve been drinking. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/17 "2015-12-28T09:25:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Just to be clear, you mean looking at the page with all the various images, not just individual pictures, right? Yeah, I’m just seeing a bunch of Victorian kitchens, nothing particularly garish or eye straining and nothing really fitting the description of “checkered tile”. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/18 "2015-12-28T09:36:04Z")
Could the tiles possibly trigger a fear of ghosts? Them see-throughs seem to prefer them. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/19 "2015-12-28T12:19:50Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Yeah, I’m just seeing a bunch of Victorian kitchens, nothing particularly garish or eye straining and nothing really fitting the description of “checkered tile”. Interestingly, I find each individual floor imaged on the following page to be both garish and eye straining, when looked at individually. I recognize that I am unusual in this, just registering the fact. [http://ipanemachallenge.com/floor/black-and-white-floor-tiles-victorian.php](http://ipanemachallenge.com/floor/black-and-white-floor-tiles-victorian.php) It literally, actually hurts to look at. This is interesting to me because I have never realized I could have that kind of reaction to visual stimuli (other than extreme brightness) before. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511/20 "2015-12-28T13:19:20Z")
Physical pain? You need to toughen up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-feel-physical-pain-when-looking-at-these-images-of-checkered-tile/741511.md?page=2)