# Right in front of your face: is there a name for it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 24, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658 "2015-10-24T20:42:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/1 "2015-10-24T20:42:20Z")
So my waking routine, get up, put the kettle on, get coffee and sugar from the cupboard…and I couldn’t find the coffee. It’s always in the same cupboard, but not necessarily in the same spot, as things get rearranged daily in that cupboard. Thus I have the sugar, and start pulling things out from behind other things searching for my precious instant caffeine, but no coffee. It’s just gone. Seconds from despair, I reach for the real coffee to brew a pot and LO…there’s my coffee, right in front of my bloody face. And it had been sitting there, staring at me the whole time. Yeah, I know everyone has done this, probably umpteen times, but I’d like to know if there’s a name for this phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Narce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Narce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narce)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/2 "2015-10-24T20:54:13Z")
My wife calls it Ocular Occultation - as in “Open your eyes, you dummy!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/3 "2015-10-24T20:59:15Z")
“Snake”… as in, if it were a snake, it woulda bit ya. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/4 "2015-10-24T22:06:58Z")
If pointing something out to someone in a similar situation, my parents would tend to say “What’s that then, Scotch mist?” So, “Scotch mist” it is. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/5 "2015-10-24T22:39:10Z")
I think of it as a black hole that moves around my house, sucking things in and then spitting them out, sometimes in places where I know I didn’t put them. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/6 "2015-10-25T02:03:33Z")
_jamais vu_ ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/7 "2015-10-25T03:27:49Z")
> [@yawuntz](#): > > _jamais vu_ While is might be a variant of jamais vu, I don’t think it quite fits the bill (as described by Wiki anyway). But thanks! I learned something new today! :)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/8 "2015-10-25T03:31:39Z")
> [@yawuntz](#): > > _jamais vu_ per the op, wouldn’t that be spelled jammy view?😃 I always called it “the best place to hide stuff from me” ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/9 "2015-10-25T06:07:00Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > per the op, wouldn’t that be spelled jammy view?😃 > > I always called it “the best place to hide stuff from me” Jammy view sounds BRILLIANT. Let you bet the first to coin it! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/10 "2015-10-25T10:19:27Z")
I believe the official expression is “hiding in plain view”; not quite the same as “hidden in plain view”, which means someone else has left it there on purpose, knowing that something in plain view will look more innocent and therefore less interesting than if it was hidden. > [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > “Snake”… as in, if it were a snake, it woulda bit ya. 🙂 In Spanish we’re lucky it wasn’t a dog, for it would have bit you, or a bull, for it would have run over you. A related phenomenon is “have you checked under the socks?” This is what happens when something isn’t found because it is in its usual spot but there is something in front of it; you know, just like when there has been a load of socks in the laundry and then suddenly the teenaged boys can’t find the rest of that drawer. > [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I think of it as a black hole that moves around my house, sucking things in and then spitting them out, sometimes in places where I know I didn’t put them. I call that one “visitors”. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/11 "2015-10-25T11:04:20Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I think of it as a black hole that moves around my house, sucking things in and then spitting them out, sometimes in places where I know I didn’t put them. Exactly! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/12 "2015-10-25T12:29:59Z")
“Can’t see for looking” is a common way to describe it here in the UK. No idea how regional, or indeed original that is. It’s like a trivial case of “can’t see the wood for the trees” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/13 "2015-10-25T12:34:11Z")
There is actually a formal name for it, but damned if I can find it (irony). It came up in a thread of mine a while back about training your vision to find specific things (in my case, coins) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/14 "2015-10-26T18:20:18Z")
Harvey. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/15 "2015-10-26T20:24:48Z")
There was a Twilght Zone or OuterLimits episode - someone managed to ‘step outside time’ - and it showed that between moments, there was entire crews moving things about to the next moment in time (think the way old animators would do each cell of an animation) - and the explanation there was that one of the crew forgot to put the keys where you just sat them, and then corrected minutes later. ‘Snake’ is what I often call it (re: post #3) - and one thing I have learned over the years - _ **No matter how hard I look for something - it will always be in the last place I look for it.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/16 "2015-10-26T20:43:40Z")
**Race to Escape** recently referred to this as “Inattentional Blindness”. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inattentional_blindness) defines inattentional blindness as, “the event in which an individual fails to recognize an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/17 "2015-10-26T21:25:12Z")
> [@simster](#): > > _ **No matter how hard I look for something - it will always be in the last place I look for it.** _ I’ve found something in the first _and_ last place I’ve looked. It wasn’t there the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/18 "2015-10-26T22:19:03Z")
> [@simster](#): > > There was a Twilght Zone or OuterLimits episode - someone managed to ‘step outside time’ - and it showed that between moments, there was entire crews moving things about to the next moment in time (think the way old animators would do each cell of an animation) - and the explanation there was that one of the crew forgot to put the keys where you just sat them, and then corrected minutes later. It was The Twilight Zone episode [A Matter of Minutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Minutes). This is what my wife and I always refer to when it happens to us. We blame it on the blue people. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/19 "2015-10-27T00:33:36Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I’ve found something in the first _and_ last place I’ve looked. It wasn’t there the first time. Blame it on the blue people. > [@Topologist](#): > > It was The Twilight Zone episode [A Matter of Minutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Minutes). This is what my wife and I always refer to when it happens to us. We blame it on the blue people. Thank you! I knew I wasn’t imagining it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658/20 "2015-10-27T07:38:07Z")
I found the thread I was thinking of earlier - [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=551388) - the (I think) opposite phenomenon to the one being discussed here is ‘priming’ - that is, when your mind is conditioned to notice or snap your attention to things that match a learned pattern. I think something related might be happening here - maybe the ‘pattern’ in your mind for the TV remote somehow gets corrupted and you fail to see the real object because it doesn’t sufficiently match the pattern. Or in some cases, the physical appearance/configuration of the object might not present as it usually does. I always put my keys in the same place on a small table. My mind is conditioned to expect my keys to be sitting in an exposed position on a bare patch of tablecloth. One time, the keys were obscured by a small piece of paper that was only just big enough to hide them (and didn’t even drape to properly cover them - and nothing much else was even on the table) - and my keys were ‘lost’. It took someone else to find them (and I looked like an idiot). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-in-front-of-your-face-is-there-a-name-for-it/735658.md?page=2)