I’ve mentioned several times that I tend to misread text. I’ve speculated that it may be some latent form of dyslexia, or maybe just a combination of carelessness and a twisted mind. After the picture I just saw on Facebook, though, I’m leaning toward the probability of a terminally twisted mind.
When I first saw it I thought, “That is a seriously weird picture. It looks like a little bald alien being throttled from behind by a gorilla”. Even after staring at it for several seconds, I still couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be.
At this point, I’ll offer my sincere apologies to the photographer and to whoever posted and/or enjoyed this on the internet, because it was actually a soft-focus silhouette of a mother kissing her child. Or chewing its throat out; it was hard to be certain. It was accompanied by a touching text on motherhood, so I presume it’s the former.
Anyway, that’s when I realized there’s a tiny possibility that my mind might be wired just a leetle differently than everybody else’s.
So I did what any self-respecting geek would do: quantify. I went looking for Rorschach inkblots on the internet.
And guess what I found?
A troll riding a chopped Harley.
Here he is, with his big ugly feet propped up on the highway pegs, his leather handlebar fringe flying in the breeze:
According to Wikipedia, this is a “nonstandard” response. Most people interpret it as a bear-skin rug or some other sort of animal hide. But it’s definitely a biker troll to me.
This one looks like two of Santa’s elves high-fiving over their recent foot amputation:
Though when I looked at it again, I could see two bears dancing upside-down on their forepaws while balancing a traffic hazard cone on each of their butts, squishing pomegranates with one paw.
When I read the first part of the wiki on that one, I thought I might be coming a little closer to the norm; it does actually mention references to blood.
But then they diverged into discussions of sexual overtones and though I pride myself on my dirty mind, that reference sailed right by me. It’s either dancing bears or elves, and neither of those makes my socks roll up and down.
The rest of the inkblot images are little more ambiguous, and apparently the final one gives most people trouble:
According to the wiki, “people who find it difficult to deal with many concurrent stimuli may not particularly like this otherwise pleasant card”.
Well, I can’t multi-task worth shit. I can’t even work on the computer and listen to music at the same time. I get intensely stressed when I’m in a situation where two people are talking to me simultaneously. Ergo, this card should bother me.
My immediate reaction: “I love it! It’s a happy little undersea garden with coral and seahorses and fish and blue crab-like critters, all tucked underneath the Eiffel tower.”
Go figure.
So I have to know: What do you see in these photos? (I won’t ask if you think I’m abnormal. I already know the answer to that.)
P.S. I just discovered that WordPress has been displaying ads here on my blog. I didn’t even realize it was happening because logged-in users don’t see them. Please accept my apologies – I loathe the thought that you’ve been ad-spammed on my blog! I just hurried off to pay the pound of flesh that will prevent WordPress from doing that again.
I don’t know what they might have showed you, but I definitely DO NOT endorse any product or service they’ve advertised here. I’m very sorry if it appeared that I did.
Grrr! *stomps off to read the fine print more thoroughly*
Author Diane Henders 
I looked at the pictures before I read your description. You were bang on with the undersea coral garden under the eiffel tower. Maybe they will put us in adjoining padded cells? And it IS a biker on a harley.
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Oh, good – at least if I’m crazy, I’m in good company! 🙂
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There is a crying need to have “Rorschach Test for Dummies” written for those of us who are inkblot-deficient.
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“What do you see when you look at this?”
“An inkblot.”
“And what does the inkblot remind you of?”
“Ummmm…. an inkblot…?”
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Ha Ha! I just randomly found your blog and it made me laugh and start to think there is a reason for it. My goodness, Santa’s elves high-fiving over foot amputations is right on!
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Hi Rhonda –
Welcome! I glad you found me and got a laugh. Thanks for visiting and commenting! 🙂
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I love the way your brain hears/sees things, Diane. That last Rorschach picture to me looks sort of like a wizard. I still can’t figure out what I think that photo looks like, although my first thought was that the shape on the left was some sort of mutant baby. The first Rorschach image looked like some sort of cartoony animal to me, with his legs out on either side like he was dancing. I didn’t really have any thoughts on the second one but I LOVE your interpretation of it. It really does look like two elves high-fiving each other!
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The wizard kinda makes sense to me. But if the grey part at the top is his pointy hat, then he’s wearing a fuschia robe with a blue bikini top, which, frankly, is a little disturbing. Beneath the bikini top, I see a pendulous, chalk-white belly, and I don’t even want to consider what the two little curly green things might be… 😉
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Ok here goes the first photo did look like a mother and a baby to me,but the baby look like it’s facing away from mom it looks vimpirish. The second one is so totally a troll on a HD. Third one looks like dancing bears,but I don’t see the pomegranates. Last one looks like a dancing Geisha woman with her arms out holding fans.
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That was what confused me about that first picture – it looks like the face is on the left. From there, the gorilla just seemed like a natural extension… or unnatural, depending on your point of view.
Now that you say it, I can sorta see a geisha in the last one, too, but that thing at the top just won’t stop looking like the Eiffel Tower to me. 🙂
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I think unusual responses are a sign of a creative mind.
And, er, all I could see in the photo was a toddler bent over a big dog. Ahem. And the ink blots were pretty much what you said 🙂
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Thanks, Jenny! Looks like we’re all, um… creative here… 😉 That’s a good thing, right?
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The silohuette lookes like somebody kissing the top of a head. First inkblot..harley dude, second: elephants dancing in front of a bonfire, third: Pillsbury dough boy on an acid trip….lol
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Elephants! I didn’t even think of that, but I can see them now. And the poor Pillsbury doughboy – talk about a bad trip. LOL!
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Saw the mother and baby right away, but am pretty close to your view on the first two inkblots: I believe it’s actually Gimli (I think that’s the name of the dwarf in Lord of the Rings) riding the Harley, and gotta go with garden gnomes in the second. Our views are pretty different on the third. To me, it looks like Genghis Khan (wearing headgear as portrayed in a bad “B” movie) wearing a bright kimono and doing a geisha dance. (However, if a “professional” ever shows me that third one, I will just smile politely and say, “Ooooh, that’s pre-t-t-y.”)
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Oh, good one! I didn’t recognize Gimli right away, but I believe you’re right. And good call on the polite smile for the last one. I loved your interpretation, but there are some things the professionals just don’t need to analyze… 😉
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Can’t see a damn thing in the last one other than a pattern!
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😀
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The elves look to me like clowns (pierrots), the harley biker looks like a harley biker, the mum and child look sort of like a mum kissing the back of the child’s head… but now I can see a gorilla throttling it… er, it’s not just you, then…!
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Oh, good, I feel better now. Well… as much better as one can feel after seeing a small bald alien being throttled by a gorilla…
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Well, that last one totally looks like a bearded cheerleader dude with a pointy hat, a red robe, freakishly tiny legs, and blue pompoms.
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Right ON – a cheerleader dude! Your mind is just as scary as mine. We really must get together sometime… outside of the asylum…
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Mom kissing baby
Totally Harley
Totally gnomes
Seahorses holding hands in front of Eiffel Tower
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Uh-oh, it’s starting to look as though I’m in the minority with the alien/gorilla thing. But at least we’ve got consensus with the rest… 😉
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I know you and what you were seeing makes me laugh……..I also like the last one. I also live the last one, and I totally see the Eiffel Tower, with lots of pretty flowers.
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Flowers under the Eiffel Tower – that would’ve made more sense. I wonder why I didn’t think of that…
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Although I could tell that was a mother and her infant in the photograph, I’m with you on the inkblots. Your interpretations make far more sense and were eerily similar to mine. For that last image, I thought of fireworks around the Eiffel Tower. Great minds, I guess. Or weird ones… Clever post!
I, too, paid the fee for no ads, so please tell me if you ever see one on my site. I don’t recall ever seeing one on yours, but I guess that’s because I’m logged in? I still don’t understand it all.
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Great minds indeed! I’m glad you didn’t see any ads, and I’ve never seen any on yours, either. But then again, I’ve always been logged in. It makes me wonder what else I’m missing…
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Me too.
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Ads, shmads. I get so many pop-ups on this computer no matter where I am. Ah, well.
1. Somebody smelling a baby’s neck.
2. Yep, that’s a troll on a motorcycle.
3. Two dancing elephants, leaving bloody footprints.
4. Two caterpillars in the process of a metamorphosis gone horribly wrong. Obviously. 😉
So what’s the verdict? Do I pass the test? 🙂
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Yep, you passed! The prize is a lovely free jacket for you, but you might find the sleeves a little long…
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As long as the sleeves can be tied in pretty bow, and I can use one of those voice-to-text thingies to write with, I’m good. 🙂
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😀
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Well, now that you’ve described what you see, it’s hard to see anything else, although I thought the elves looked more like garden gnomes.
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Hmm, good point – I should have showed the slides first. Guess I’m just a little slow on the uptake this morning. Sigh.
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