# What are your favourite effects-with-a-name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2015, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347 "2015-11-23T08:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/21 "2016-01-10T07:31:14Z")
The Coolidge effect. After a probably apocryphal story about Calvin Coolidge wanting a little more. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/22 "2016-01-10T08:44:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Absolutely. It just really needs to be a phenomenon with a specific name. Okay, then mine is [pareidolia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia). I first encountered this myself around age 4 when I noticed cars have faces. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/23 "2016-01-10T09:17:54Z")
Angular momentum, and the conservation thereof. Fun with tops and gyroscopes. Interesting to observe in vortices such as whirlpools and tornadoes. Used by athletes, dancers, engineers, and physicists. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/24 "2016-01-10T21:43:07Z")
The Fleming Effect , coined by Kingsley Amis , describes how Ian Fleming could force plausibility on the most improbable events by the use of authentic sounding background detail. From \* The James Bond Dossier \* ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/25 "2016-01-10T21:50:23Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The Hawthorne effect: [Hawthorne effect - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect). The effect of the observer on the observed. I was going to say that. We use it all the time in my work. As a young industrial engineer many moons ago, my boss told me to go walk around the factory five or six times a day carrying a clipboard. I asked how long he wanted me to keep that up. He said, “Until you become invisible.” ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/26 "2016-01-11T15:41:44Z")
[Wilhelm Scream.](http://www.wilhelmscream.net) [Sad Trombone.](http://www.sadtrombone.com) ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/27 "2016-01-11T16:17:28Z")
If I’ve anything from Rammstein, it’s that I have a case of [Sehnsucht](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sehnsucht). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/28 "2016-01-11T18:50:19Z")
Lake-effect snow. I just think the phrase sounds nice. I’d probably feel differently if I lived anywhere near where it was in effect. > **[Lake-effect snow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow)** > > Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colder air. The vapor then freezes and is deposited on the leeward (downwind) shores. > The same effect also occurs over bodies of saline water, when it is termed ocean-effect or bay-effect snow. The effect is enhanced when the moving air mass is uplifted by th... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/29 "2016-01-11T19:35:37Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > [Babinski reflex](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003294.htm) is fun to say and do and it works on zombies. It drives Pepper Mill insane that she tries to do this to me, and I don’t react. She insists it proves that I’m dead, although if it works on zombies, that can’t be right. I must simply be inhuman. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/30 "2016-01-11T19:46:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It drives Pepper Mill insane that she tries to do this to me, and I don’t react. She insists it proves that I’m dead, although if it works on zombies, that can’t be right. I must simply be inhuman. From the link: > [@](#): > > When the Babinski reflex is present in a child older than 2 years or in an adult, it is often a sign of a brain or nervous system disorder. So, if _she_ has Babinski reflex it means there’s something wrong with _her_! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/31 "2016-01-11T19:56:53Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **[The Cocktail Party Effect](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect)**. The ability to focus on one conversation in a roomful of them. Hmm, I do like this name, and I like it even more knowing that its definition is actually broader than just being able to focus on a single conversation among many. > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Lake-effect snow. I just think the phrase sounds nice. I’d probably feel differently if I lived anywhere near where it was in effect. > > [Lake-effect snow - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow) Yes. You would. -Live from Chicago ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347/32 "2016-01-11T22:08:57Z")
The **Heidi Effect**. The phenomenon of nearly every show following an NFL game starting later than the published schedule. It started in 1968 after The Heidi Game. [Heidi Game - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game) The network cut short the Raiders-Jets game’s coverage in the eastern half of the country to start the _Heidi_ movie on time. After the movie started, the Raiders scored 2 touchdowns in the final minute to win the game 43–32. Fans, and the NFL, were miffed, to say the least. Following the dustup, scheduling on game nights was often disjointed to make sure it never happened again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-effects-with-a-name/738347.md?page=1)