| ambigram | A word or sentence that can be read in more than one way. This can be achieved in several ways, for example by writing the word so it can be interpreted in more than one way, or by making it also meaningful when turned upside down. The name comes from Latin where ambi = both and gram = letter |  |
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| ambiguous | Open to more than one interpretation. In the context of this site it means that an image as a whole can display different scenes, depending on the interpretation of the viewer. These are also known as equivocal images or metamorphic images. |  |
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| anamorphosis | An image that appears to be distorted unless it is viewed from a certain angle or with the use of a mirror with a certain shape. An example is a painting that only shows something meaningful when viewed with a cylindrical mirror. | |
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| archimboldesque | Guiseppe Archimboldo was the inventor of composite ambiguous images, such as a fruit basket that looks like a human face. Images that are composed of small objects are now sometimes called archimboldesque or arcimboldesque. |  |
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| blind spot | You cannot see where the optical nerve enters your eye. You never notice it because your eyes constantly make small movements, and above all, you mind just fills in the gap. It just guesses what should be there. The blind spot is actually quite big, as you can see on the test elsewhere on this site. |  |
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| blivet | A synonym sometimes used for an impossible figure with impossible connections such as the Devil's pitchfork. Short for "believe it". |  |
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| camouflage | On this site, camouflage is the art of hiding something elegantly in an image. Most often these are landscapes or natural scenes where extra animals are hidden. Especially Bev Doolittle and Jim Warren are renowned for this kind of art. | |
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| entasis | The slight convex curve used on Greek columns. This curve compensates for the optical illusion that a straight column seems concave. |  |
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| inversion | A synonym for an upside-down ambigram. Ambigram is a more generic word. | |
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| madonnara | In Italy, a street painter is called a madonnara because of their tradition of making religious-inspired chalk drawings (One madonnara, two madonnari ...) | |
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| pareidolia | A kind of illusion or misperception where something meaningless is considered meaningful. For example recognizing an elephant in a cloud, or seeing the devil in the WTC dustclouds. | |
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| screever | A fancy term for a street artist, someone who makes drawings on the pavement with chalk. | |
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| subliminal | A subliminal message is a hidden message, designed to be picked up by your subconscious. You are then supposed to act upon that message (without knowing that you are). It's never proved that this actually works. | |
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