# Who's that strange looking fellow? Oh, It's me. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878 "2005-05-14T23:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/1 "2005-05-14T23:09:59Z")
Ever looked into a distant mirror without realizing it’s a mirror, and seeing a strange person looking back, only to realize half a second later that the strange person looking at you is you? I did once. On a boat. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/2 "2005-05-14T23:13:18Z")
Once it happened when I was sick and tired and generally not having one of my better-looking days. “Who’s that ugly chick over there, and why is she staring at me?” Oh. Well. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/3 "2005-05-14T23:13:21Z")
I do whenever I dye my hair something new. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/4 "2005-05-14T23:14:53Z")
Yeah, after one of my biannual haircuts. ---
**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/5 "2005-05-15T02:20:38Z")
I’ve scared the crap out of myself like that in a dark house at night. (_Who’s that backlit figure in my bathroom?_) Also in public, but I try to act cool… ---
**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/6 "2005-05-15T02:21:45Z")
Who dropped this “/”? Oh yeah, me. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/7 "2005-05-15T02:32:58Z")
Er, every time I look in the mirror. When I do, I find that I don’t look anything like my internal conception of me. I find it peculiar, to be honest, that people talk of recognizing themselves in the mirror; I don’t think, if I ran into my hypothetical twin, I’d recognize him at all. The back of my hand, on the the other…er, hand, I’d recognize in a split second. But face…nah. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/8 "2005-05-15T03:18:08Z")
I did that when I got really fat. I hated to go to the mall; there were mirrors _everywhere_. Now that the extra weight is halfway gone, I am starting to recognize myself again. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/9 "2005-05-15T03:29:46Z")
I walked around a corner at a JC Penney store and said “excuse me” to my reflection in a mirror. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/10 "2005-05-15T03:44:50Z")
Ha! I did that at a Hecht’s once. I think the mirrored pillars need to go. ---
**Author:** ![AThingWithFeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@AThingWithFeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AThingWithFeathers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/11 "2005-05-15T07:06:45Z")
When I dye my hair, when I once cut about forteen inches off, and if I forget I’m wearing a particular outfit or glasses, I forget myself. I’m a very forgetful person. ---
**Author:** ![EssOEss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6bbea6/32.png) [@EssOEss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EssOEss)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/12 "2005-05-15T07:10:46Z")
I was on a ferry once and walked about 10 meters to the exit from the room I was in, trying to evade someone who was walking towards me. He kept shifting right at the moment when I also did it. I only clued in when I hit the mirror with a big thump :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/13 "2005-05-15T07:52:51Z")
I did once, but only for twenty minutes. Ow! Stop throwing things! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/14 "2005-05-15T11:11:25Z")
I always get the strange feeling of amazement that there’s a connection between the thinking personality that is me, and what I see in the mirror. I _recognise_ myself, but it’s kinda like I’m just a very close friend of the “me” in the reflection, and there has to be a bit of readjustment of the ol’ recognition system. Dunno how else I’d look, though, if I didn’t have this bod and face. Anything else, I’d probably be scared half t’ death and expecting a scene to begin from _Bodysnatchers._ ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/15 "2005-05-15T12:31:47Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Er, every time I look in the mirror. When I do, I find that I don’t look anything like my internal conception of me. I find it peculiar, to be honest, that people talk of recognizing themselves in the mirror; I don’t think, if I ran into my hypothetical twin, I’d recognize him at all. > > The back of my hand, on the the other…er, hand, I’d recognize in a split second. But face…nah. > > Stranger I second that. I have no idea of what I look like; describing myself to strangers, I come up with very superficial descriptions. Startled the hell out of myself a couple of months ago, when I shaved off my moustache, and then went into a darkened bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/16 "2005-05-15T14:49:09Z")
I was in a nightclub that was set in an old building and had lots of arches all around (Po na-na in Norwich), most of which were just blank archways where you could see through. Unfortunatly some where mirrors. On several occasions I looked round and thought ‘he looks like a complete tosser, oh wait, hang on…’ ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/17 "2005-05-16T07:35:42Z")
> [@Tuco](#): > > Unfortunatly some where mirrors. On several occasions I looked round and thought ‘he looks like a complete tosser, oh wait, hang on…’ Heh. What I find interesting is when you suddenly come across a mirror in daily life and realise what kind of expression you are wearing. I did that today - had a job interview, kind of stressed, got in the (hopefully future employee’s) building’s lift, which had a mirror on its back wall. A rather stern-looking young woman stared back at little old harmless me - did I do something wrong? Do I need a security pass, or something? Oh, it’s me with my Anxious Face. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-that-strange-looking-fellow-oh-its-me/303878/18 "2005-05-16T07:41:12Z")
Not in a mirror, but in a video of a friend’s wedding. We were watching the video a week or so after the wedding, and at some point the camera panned over the group I was with. I pointed out the big nose on one guy, and then realised it was me :smack: