27 July 2020

I’ve written in previous editions about super powers that we all have, and queried what yours was.

At the time, I hadn’t really noticed YET ANOTHER super power my husband had until just the other day.

He was watching television….

With his eyes closed!!!

You may all be sitting there nodding, assuming that he was asleep. And yes, that was my thought as well, given that there was an accompanying nasal noise which may, to the uneducated and opinionated passerby, have indicated that he was asleep.

But as my youngest son and I were having a slight snigger at the television watching lapse, we were informed quite emphatically by the watchee that he was quite definitely watching television, and that no he hadn’t been asleep.

So he was watching television with his eyes closed, obviously.

There is no explanation for the accompanying noise but I’m sure with enough research and medical intervention we might come by a diagnosis.

So my question for today…. what is the official name for ventriloquism of the eyes???

I did of course, go to google, where everyone goes for answer to life’s difficult questions.

It had a few interesting things I wasn’t looking for – like the inattentional blindness that I mentioned at the start. I’ve always known this one exists – anyone who has had a housemate (in my experience a male, but I risk being called out for gender bias if I mention this) – stand in front of an open fridge or pantry, and state emphatically that we don’t have any mayonnaise, tomato sauce, cheese etc. The second person (me or any other female… or male, possibly but unlikely) then walks up to open fridge or pantry, moves another object by a millimetre, highlighting the missing object.

I’d always referred to this tragic condition as domestic blindness, but I guess inattentional blindness is just as good.

But visual ventriloquism??? It just doesn’t show up in google searches!

What do you call this in your house? I would really like to know. He is an educated man, and if he insists he wasn’t sleeping then it’s up to me to find out what this new superpower is called!