Monday, July 21, 2008

Faces

Tom is now just over 10 months old and everybody who sees him says exactly the same thing.

My God, but he looks so like Karen.

Then as an after thought they look me up and down, frown a bit and add apologetically, oh but we can see a bit of you in him as well.

I’m actually becoming grateful for this small concession.

However, a recent visit to my granddad last week brought Karen into contact with some very old photographs of yours truly as a baby. There’s a particular one of me and my sister (also confusingly called Karen) when we were both wee toddlers, obviously taken in a photographer’s studio, where I’m holding a rubber duck with the kind of passion that only an 2 year old muster.

Tom and I could be identical twins. The likeness is uncanny. My first thought was to show this photograph to everybody obliquely mentioned above accompanied by the words: see, I did make a major contribution to the genetic make-up of this child!

My second thought was if everybody thinks Tom looks like Karen but he also looks the spit of me as a child... is the theory that people fall in love with partners who look most like them true?

I mean there are similarities between Karen and me but I don’t think they’re blazingly obvious... though Karen has commented before that we have many likenesses...

Is this true of everybody though?

Is there something secretly narcissistic going on that I don’t know about?

If there is I may have to stop dressing up in Karen’s clothes...

16 comments:

Lucy Fishwife said...

I always thought my cousin was the spit of his dad until I saw a photo of our joint grandfather as a boy - I actually thought it was one of those sepia-tinted mockups my cousin had had taken for a laugh, until I realised it was a real 1920s one. Most strange.

Steve said...

Lucy, it is very strange how facial features get passed on to new generations... but faces are weird anyway; so many people see so many different things in them. They're the one thing that we're programmed to recognize from an early age and yet they're the one thing we can never agree on.

Anonymous said...

Oh this whole area fascinates me.

People do see different things in faces. I remember as a child a lot of people thought my sister and I were very very alike and others couldn't believe we were sisters at all!

Faces change too. My daughter was the absolute image of her father (and his father) as a baby and a toddler but now she is very like me. And I do not look like my ex at all.

But I think, like with the dogs people choose as pets, we often do choose partners who look a bit familiar (ie have some resemblance to ourselves or our family members) - when Al used to visit me in hospital when I was having that horrid throwing up thing, everyone used to assume he was my brother! Very odd!

Apparently I look just like Great Aunt Mabel (NOT a good look!!!).

Have a lovely summer, Steve. I will catch up with you again soon.

Gina x

-eve- said...

I thought that people who marry each other end up looking like each other cos they unconsciously model their faces after the ones they love... but maybe you're right, and it's the being attracted to a similar face that came first, making them get together ;-)

Steve said...

Thank you, Gina! Maybe as with pets people grow to look like each other over time and close familiarity? I must admit as a child I often wondered who I took after as I appeared to resemble no-one at all (that I could see) but as I've got older I've started to see uncanny resemblances with my granddad and my nan... and I'm definitely turning into my mother a little in temperament! I guess everybody is a real mixed bag. But is it nature or nurture?

Steve said...

Eve, maybe it's a bit of both? Personally I think some major research needs to be undertaken into this very important branch of human science!

Inchy said...

The Demon and I are 100% opposites in almost every way. Music, litterature, recreation, attitudes to the world at large, she's got black hair, I have none, she has more degrees than a thermometer, I can count on my fingers, she has webbed feet, I don't, almost everything, but it all works perfectly, and has done since I was 14. I'm 38 shortly and don't see that changing much.

skatey katie said...

yeah, fascinating.
i think we definitely pick up each other's mannerisms.
and it's true that our offspring (ewww, i am oldfashioned today) change as they grow. woozie was the spitting image of moi when she was tiny. now she looks like Bulldog. that's her daddy, not A bulldog lol X

The Sagittarian said...

Good point Steve, they do say you end up with someone like yourself...my ol' neighbour Mr Ed swore by that one....then again, what's the Royal families excuse?

Steve said...

Inchy, if you and the demon are opposites does that make you an angel? I bet there are more similarities between you than perhaps you're willing to admit!

Kate, very true: people's appearances are in a constant state of flux. God knows who Tom will look like by the time he's grown into his face properly. Ultimately of course he'll look exactly like himself - which is good enough for me!

Amanda: what's the Royal family's excuse? Inbeeding.

The Poet Laura-eate said...

Well there's definitely a theory that people are most attracted to those with facial characteristics similar to their own!

There's also another theory that has it that people in love eventually come to resemble one another (like owners and their dogs), only in more flattering sense of course!

I tend to go for men with a similar body-type to mine (ie tall, leanish and well-upholstered - though that's where the similarities end!) but not sure the facial similarities apply really. As for hair and teeth, I'm just grateful if they have some!

Steve said...

Hi Laura, hair and teeth are always a must for me - for both partners and pets! I must admit I've always favoured brunettes but whether that's because I'm a brunette myself, I don't know...

Rol said...

I don't think I look anything like Louise - and good job too!

Steve said...

And I'm pleased to say, Rol, that Karen doesn't have my beard!

The Sagittarian said...

Actually, when both my kids were born their resemblance to Elmer Fudd and Mr Magoo was amazing!

Steve said...

Amanda, Elmer Fudd and Mr Magoo I could live with. If my kids resembled Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck then I'd be worried!