Have you been surprised how masking has focused your attention on people’s eyes?

I’m not surprised but I agree.

Surprised? Not at all. Nor deprived. (Think of the poets who’ve written about expressive eyes, and how much can be conveyed from behind a Japanese or Victorian fan.)

But what I do wonder is how the outlaws in the movies ever thought they were disguised when they hid the lower halves of their faces behind their outlaw bandannas..

Then there’s the Lone Ranger, with the eye mask. No trouble spotting him either, right?

If you can pick out your friend from behind in a crowd, you’re going on a lot more than facial recognition. I would guess there are hundreds of clues involved in recognizing a person, and we’re typically aware of only the ones on the grossest scale.

What does surprise me is how quickly people in casual interactions have learned to recognize each other masked: office receptionists, grocery clerks, delivery drivers, and so on. The mask gets incorporated into the pattern, I guess, and is simply part of the match.

I had one very observant friend who said the thing that gives people away the most is their gait. They can dress up in all kinds of disguise, but if they don’t change the way they walk, it’ll nail them.

The only thing that has struck me is people should not be botoxing now. No expression around the eyes has always been odd to me, but now with masks it is really weird.

I don’t notice eyes more with masks like their color or shape or anything like that.

Well….I hadn’t noticed. But I’ve also spent all of my adult life avoiding eye contact. I’ll have to check it out next time I go out.

Is that what they call them now????

Business Insider – August, 11 2020 - “While sales of lipstick are on the decline, demand for products like eye shadow are on the rise as consumers experiment with “above the mask” beauty.

“Eye makeup sales are up 204% year-over-year for the three-month period ending on June 28, according to [British market research company] Kantar ”

No. I have always focused on the eyes. They are very telling.

I’m enjoying the mystery behind the mask and trying to guess how the person is feeling by looking at their eyes.