<p>Does anyone else do what I do: Look at a name and almost immediately concoct a visual image of the person? I have no idea why I do this except that I am a very visual learner. When I am reading a novel, for example, I have a sort of running movie in my head of the setting, characters, etc. The weird thing is that it is not something that I have to give much thought to…the images just pop into my head in a matter of seconds. I am quite sure that I am completely off base about most of you for whom I have created images in my mind, but I am just so curious as to 1.) Why this is such an immediate reaction for me and 2.) How I come up with the specific images (including height, hair and eye color, hair style, etc.). Do others of you do this also? ~berurah</p>
<p>I do this, too, berurah!, and I’m sure I’m equally off base. Looks probably don’t correlate well to expressed personalities and even less so to user names! lol</p>
<p><em>lol</em> momof2inca! For the record, to me you are of medium height, athletic looking, tan, and blonde with shoulder-length, sort of layered hair (and very pretty!). ~berurah :-)</p>
<p>Berurah-- I knew your name was Jewish --wasn’t Berurah the first woman to wear tefillin? I think --and I knew you had 6 kids, but the Kansas threw me off, LOL–now I have a picture of you in a sheitel and long skirt making challah on Friday morning…</p>
<p><em>lol</em> kinshasa!! I can tell you that YOUR image is WAY off (though I do make excellent homemade bread, pizza, and soft pretzels)! BTW, I am not a native Kansan. I was actually born in Houston and raised in Austin, so the Kansas thing IS a bit misleading. I do think, though, that given my sort of bizarre profile (Jewish mom of six in Kansas) I would be quite a challenge to one’s image-conjuring abilities! </p>
<p>Let’s see…to me you are sort of short, with a pretty, zaftig build, dark, very wavy to curly brown hair and sort of ethereal looking <em>lol</em></p>
<p>OK, I am NOT zaftig. Yes, medium to dark brown hair but 5’7" and stick straight and fine (my hair, not my body). When I was a teenager I weighed 200# but over the last 27 years have been in recovery from compulsive overeating (12 step program).</p>
<p>I don’t have mental images of posters from their screen names, but they do develop personalities in my mind. That may be why it is so unnerving to learn that someone I pictured as a dad is really a mom. Loved that names thread.</p>
<p>Thanks, Berurah, for your input on my Miami/Tulane question. Both schools have significant numbers of Jewish kids, as well as many from the Northeast. That might be not a draw for everyone, but as a nice Jewish girl originally from NY, it is for me!</p>
<p>My nephew was at a kollel in Kansas for a while. But he has since moved on.</p>
<p>Have a good week!</p>
<p>OK folks…so what do you think “Thumper1” looks like. On another board someone thought I was a dad…I’m a mom.</p>
<p>Thumper, I can’t help but think of you as a – well – well an actively busy little beaver.</p>
<p>kinshasa,</p>
<p>I apologize if I have inadvertantly touched upon a sensitive subject with the word “zaftig”. I think of it as a positive thing–as in “curvaceous”, not heavy. I very much admire your efforts to overcome the compulsive overeating. Again, please know that I meant my original post in a complimentary light! I’m sorry! ~berurah</p>
<p>wish<em>it</em>was_april,</p>
<p><em>lol</em> I definitely did not have you pictured as a Jewish girl originally from NY!! I didn’t realize that Tulane also had a significant number of Jewish kids! I didn’t even realize Miami did until I went there…<em>lol</em> </p>
<p>Like you, I get a bit unnerved when I find out a poster is of the opposite gender than I had originally thought–the one I can think of off the top of my head is mini. I definitely thought mini was female at first.</p>
<p>Good luck with the Univ. of Miami/Tulane decision! ~berurah</p>
<p>thumper…I thought you were male too, but because of the name, I didn’t have a “person image” but rather an image of a cute little bunny from “Bambi”!! ~berurah</p>
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<p>Just curious…what made you think this??</p>
<p>thumper1,</p>
<p>I’m not totally sure…I just tend to sort of assign a visual or some characteristics within the first few seconds. With mini, for example, I think the “i” ending made me think “female”. Also, I think of “small” when I think “mini”, so those two things combined made me think he was a female at first. I think that since I thought of “Bambi” when I thought of “thumper” and I believe that Thumper was a boy bunny in the Disney movie (but then, I haven’t seen it in YEARS!), I just extended that to you. That’s kind of why I posted this question to begin with…I am trying to figure out HOW and WHY I make these quick assignments of characteristics?? ~berurah</p>
<p>Thumper was definitely a boy bunny in Bambi!</p>
<p>Berurah, no apology necessary.</p>
<p>Wow, mini is a dad! I never knew that, it is funny how you picture people, I too picture personalities more then physical characteristics but I guess I make male/female assumptions as well</p>
<p>Kinshasa, Like I said above I don’t develop mental images but to me the name kinshasa always sounds exotic, asian and beautiful…</p>
<p>Berurah, Maybe my efforts to not be too personal - fear of giving out too much info about my S online - had an impact on what you read into my posts. But I am very much a New Yorker, who is trying her hardest to live a more laid back ife in the Pacific NW. That nephew actually led the kollel and now is a vice principal in Texas.</p>
<p>I try not to let myself get too far beyond “male or female.” Can’t help but do that, but building a complete mental picture feeds too many preconceived notions and prejudices. For example, … no, I won’t give you any for examples!! :)</p>
<p>Having met a few CCers in real life, I can tell you that they don’t look <em>anything</em> like what I thought they would! I, too, tend to conjure up a few mental images… but at least my own world is fun. </p>
<p>NJ: HOW do you capitalize some letters in your screen name?</p>