# Things you notice that others don't. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439 "2009-02-04T17:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/61 "2009-02-08T05:31:31Z")
> [@KnitWit](#): > > And **gaffa** must be a New Englander as well. Huh? Nope, Midwestern born and bred, Kansas City and Chicago. What makes you think that? I did spend six months in the People’s Republic of Cambridge, just off Harvard Yard, but I don’t believe it had enough impact to change my basic make-up. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/62 "2009-02-08T05:38:59Z")
I notice that hardly anyone looks around when they are walking. Actually, crossing the street is an exception, and in many cases the only time they look to the sides. Most of the time people walk with their heads locked looking straight ahead. For some reason I am always looking all around when I walk, and I’ve noticed how unusual that is. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/63 "2009-02-08T05:59:14Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > And ditto to the above: I always look both ways when crossing a one way street because I’ve personally driven the wrong way on too many of them. I knew a guy in college who grew up in Manhattan, he said his mother taught him before crossing the street, look left, look right, look up. A few years later, still in college, I was on a first date with a soon to be girlfriend, in Manhattan. Damned if a pigeon didn’t crap on her while we were crossing a street. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/64 "2009-02-08T11:00:00Z")
I also notice when people are left-handed. SO since all of us lefthanders apparently notice when others are also lefthanded, does this mean that it’s something _most_ other people don’t notice? +1 on lefties being hotter girls as well. It’s inconceivable! Also, what else do I notice that no one else does? The Wilhelm Scream. ---
**Author:** ![KnitWit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@KnitWit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KnitWit)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/65 "2009-02-08T12:22:13Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Huh? Nope, Midwestern born and bred, Kansas City and Chicago. What makes you think that? I did spend six months in the People’s Republic of Cambridge, just off Harvard Yard, but I don’t believe it had enough impact to change my basic make-up. Oh! So sorry to categorize you. I thought that because you dropped the “r” from gaffer. Right? Or is it really a gaffa? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/66 "2009-02-08T18:31:11Z")
> [@KnitWit](#): > > Oh! So sorry to categorize you. I thought that because you dropped the “r” from gaffer. Right? Or is it really a gaffa? Nope, the song. The actual meaning of the term “gaffa” is something that tends to launch flame wars in Kate Bush fan circles. Some insist that it refers exclusively to “gaffer’s tape”, while the song lyrics are about mistakes and errors - or gaffes, and that the word “gaffa” is a puralization of the word “gaffe”. This is the sort of thing that occupies one’s time when an artist takes 12 years between album releases. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439/67 "2009-02-09T15:05:41Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > For some reason I am always looking all around when I walk, and I’ve noticed how unusual that is. I continuosly look around me wherever I am,whatever the time(Though I try to do it subtly so that people dont think that I’m deranged). Also dislike sitting with my back to a door or window. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-notice-that-others-dont/484439.md?page=3)