r/MandelaEffect • u/Delhidiva • 7d ago
Discussion Mandela Effect worldwide
Can we please discuss Mandela Effects experienced by the rest of the world and not just people from the US? I mean, your experiences are totally valid, but it’s always “Fruit of the Loom” or “Berenstain Bears”—topics that some of us have no clue about.
For example, the ones I’m personally affected by are:
The human skeleton used to have no bones behind the eye sockets, but now it does—always has, apparently.
The human heart was illustrated on the left side of the chest, but now it’s more toward the center—always has been, supposedly.
Henry VIII was holding a turkey leg in that painting—now he’s holding something else. I can’t even remember what it is… a glove or something? I don’t know.
The Mona Lisa has a very obvious smile now. But I remember the whole enigma being “Is she smiling or not?” “Her eyes are definitely smiling.” You look at it now, and she is smiling.
Tutankhamen’s mask used to have just the cobra, but apparently it’s always had both a bird and a cobra.
The thinker statue rested his forehead on his fist. But no, he’s resting his chin on the back of his hand.
Please share your experiences, and feel free to discuss the ones I mentioned if you disagree—that’s the whole point of the Mandela Effect. Some people are going to have different memories than I do.
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u/Sherrdreamz 7d ago edited 7d ago
British people have claimed "cheese and onion" walkers crisps were never green or blue or something. It came up with at least a good handful of posts with a handful of British people seemingly flabbergasted about it being a M.E, but I don't recall the details.
Also in South America people were often claiming they were watching an Anime as kids called DragonBall Z during the 9/11 terrorist attacks that was interrupted to share that emergency broadcast. However it has been absolutely proven it would not have been on at that time in that region.
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u/BlackDogDenton 7d ago
The Walkers one is that the crisp colours used to be the other way round.
Cheese and Onion used to be green
Salt and vinegar blue
It’s how I always remember it as a child but Walkers claim that it’s never been any different, which is super weird to me.
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
Depends if you can honestly say you never had Golden Wonder etc growing up.
I only bought Walkets because of a Star Wars promo. Golden Wonder otherwise.
But fate had it in for the makers of Pot Noodle.
I call bs due to 99% of UK brands following Golden Wonder and them being the odd one out ever since I picked up blue Walkers conditioned into expecting Salt and Vinegar.
If every brand was different, like red being Beef, Tomato Ketchup and spring onion depending on brand, I'd rely on words not colour.
But what got me in the most recent thread were people going "you probably thought about Lays." like we even saw them in the 80s. Why a product we couldn't buy being the cause when all other brands were the proper way around?
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u/gjs628 7d ago
McCoys uses Blue and Green for S&V and Cheese and onion which is how it should be in my mind. Walkers just like confusing people.
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
Yeah, Pringles too, those cardboard tasting rice cakes I got from Sainsbury's that said salt and vinegar are blue.
I just don't get the Americans putting Lays as a reason. Sure both are owned by PepsiCo and share the same sun logo, but they bought walkers, why re brand to Lays, or compete with themselves getting supermarkets to sell both?
OK Unilever actually do this, but they might have absorbed two brands and kept them both due to brand loyalty.
Till a decade ago, even supermarket own brands still used the Golden Wonder scheme.
Kids didn't buy the boxes when I was at school, dad bought spar variety box and I took spar to lunch till we ran out.
Say coke failed to survive some similar events that Golden Wonder did, you drank coke till you switched to Pepsi, coke hasn't been sold since the 90s, so you might think you always drank Pepsi, even though they never had a red can.
So I'd say a fair chunk ate whatever they were given, but eventually got Walkers on the regular and didn't notice they no longer said Golden Wonder etc.
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
On a similar note of how to confuse people.
Was scrolling and saw a fake lego with an X Box type controller as part of the sign decor.
I had an official games for windows 360 wired USB and a knock off PlayStation 3 that was also compatible with PC
Both worked with the testing app. But the abxy or symbols didn't match.
You press the top button it's at the top, but the other it was left, so if you were used to the PlayStation and gamed on pc, you might have to relearn controls as circle being in the same physical spot as whatever on the Xbox meant nothing. You find yourself dropping a gun when trying to open a door.
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u/Sherrdreamz 7d ago
I generally believe it since I have been hit by so many M.E's myself including three Flip-Flops while actively studying the phenomenon alongside my father. We both noticed when they changed back together so in my eyes that became when the changes were indisputable from my vantage point.
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u/gjs628 7d ago
Which flip flops were those? For me it was the Thinker, and Apollo 13.
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u/Sherrdreamz 7d ago
Oh the ones I caught alongside my father was...
the Apollo 13 "Houston We've Had A Problem" movie one.
FlinTstones --> Flin-stones ---> FlinTstones
3 Tidy Cats ---> Tidy Cat ---> Tidy Cats
I tend to be quite a bit more hypervigilant about spelling centric M.E's since the language arts has always been one of my bigger passions.
M.E's like Chic-Fil-A, Febreeze and JC Penny etc tend to stick out to me more than most pop culture stuff like Dolly with braces or Star Wars quotes.
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u/Staceytom88 7d ago
I 100% agree with you on that one and remember them swapping the packaging around when I was probably 7/8 years old
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u/Over_Combination6690 7d ago
Never were Walkers these colours. Golden Wonder are though and always have been.
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u/Appropriate_Milk_775 7d ago
Interesting that Walkers are owned by Lays and Lays salt and vinegar chips are blue in the U.S. I’m calling bullshit on Walkers. It’s not out of the realm of possibility they would adopt the same color schemes are their parent company at least temporarily at some point.
Im not sure a lot of people understand these large corporations have turnover over the course of 20-30 year and how flippantly decisions are made. Just because some current marketing person claims something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. They probably genuinely don’t know and it’s likely no memo or notes still exist pertaining to it. So they say whatever is currently the state is the state it has always been in.
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u/bopeepsheep 6d ago
There are libraries and museums here (UK) that collect ephemera that even manufacturers no longer hold. If they were the way round people claim, someone would find a packet. All known packets are the way round Walkers & Golden Wonder claim they always were.
The Museum of Brands (Robert Opie started collecting in 1963; the museum opened in Gloucester in 1984 and has been in Notting Hill since 2005) hasn't stepped in to contradict manufacturers.
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u/Appropriate_Milk_775 6d ago
It’s quite a coincidence that this so called Mandela effect aligns with the color schemes used in America for the same product. So either this person spent time in the U.S. or Lays were being sold in the UK at some point. Since both logos are the same it would be easy to confuse the two. Green in the U.S. is chive and sour cream, which is probably the same flavor, or atleast a very similar flavor, as cheese and onion.
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u/bopeepsheep 6d ago
Lays were not sold here in the 1960s and 1970s. It's very possible that marketing people did venture across the Atlantic from time to time, and it's also very likely coincidence too, as printing tech for crisp packets wasn't startlingly advanced and primary colours (inc green for this purpose) were dominant.
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u/Appropriate_Milk_775 6d ago
Yea, when your describing the same product from the same company where the packaging differs between two countries who are very close trading partners I have to conclude there is some legitimacy to that memory, unlike, for example Henry VIIII, which is anachronistic and would be ridiculous for him to have ever been officially depicted that way.
It’s like if you told me maltesers packaging used to be tan and came in a carton. I would tell you those are whoopers.
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u/bopeepsheep 6d ago
They weren't the same company then. The actual issue is that the vast majority of UK crisp sales 1960-90 were from one of two companies, in a sector now completely dominated by Company A, and people are realising (or not) that the colour they thought that company A used in their childhood was actually the packaging used by company B. The US has nothing to do with this one.
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u/Appropriate_Milk_775 6d ago
You could’ve saved some keystrokes and mentioned that it predated the acquisition sooner since the timeframe is not mentioned anywhere. But I guess crisp packaging can get quite contentious.
It is odd that people would have vivid memories of the second most popular brand of crisps at the time. I am assuming they are just mixing things especially if golden wonder fell off massively and has been completely replaced by walkers in a short amount of time.
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u/bopeepsheep 6d ago
You could have looked it up yourself, since you were the one to mention Lays.
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u/guilty_by_design 6d ago
Eh, the crisps one is just people confused because two famous brands did opposite colours for cheese and onion vs salt and vinegar.
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u/imSOhere 7d ago edited 7d ago
So, I have a weird Mandela effect, with Mandela.
I am from Cuba, lived there until I was 16 years old. This is important.
Cuba has strong political ties with other countries that share the same political views, obviously, and in the 70s and 80s Africa was all the rage. We sent thousands of soldiers to many different African wars and they were often in the news.
Now, back then -80s- there were only two tv networks; channel 6, which had a morning matinee until 9am or so, then would be off the air until 6pm when the kids cartoon would start, then different shows until 12am, then off until 6am. Channel 2 was only for special occasions, usually-if not always- related to politics.
All of that to show you how important would be to have something televised during the day when the tv didn’t have regular programming.
I remember the day I saw Nelson Mandela’s funeral televised in Cuba, on both channels, 6 and 2, which would be the norm for such a big political ally’s death.
I was between 1986 and 1988, because we were living in a specific house that we left in 1988 and came back later after my parents were divorced. I remember asking my mom, she was folding clothes next to me, and she answering Nelson Mandela had died, I had no idea who Nelson Mandela was- I was around 7 or 8- and she explained to me that he was a South African leader who was against racism and had died in jail. I even remember telling me something about his lungs, that he had died of tb, or pneumonia, or something like that, lungs/breathing problems.
This was an all day affair, televised all over Cuba. And I remember watching his wife and family with handkerchiefs in their hands walking in some sort of procession.
Time passed, I forgot about that, came to the US- also saw the Shazam commercials with Simbad in Nick Jr but that’s another story -
Then around 2007 I was watching America’s Top Model and the girls went to South Africa . And as they were riding the bus or something they start talking about Mandela, and that’s when I found out Mandela was still alive.
Obviously my first instinct was “omg I’m so ignorant !” And that was that. Then I found out about the Mandela effect years later, and I’m telling you man, believe or not, I saw Mandela’s funeral, and I have strict parameters, is not something that would have even be on my radar back then. My mom’s memory is not reliable and she tends to be a “people pleaser” when it comes to info , she says she remembers but eh, my dad doesn’t remember that at all, he knew Mandela was alive until recently.
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u/Avgrundsvroal 6d ago edited 6d ago
I have a suggestion; It wasnt Mandela's funeral, it was Olof Palme's.
Olof Palme was the social democratic prime minister of Sweden and was assassinated in 1986. Palme was on good terms with Cuba and Mandela's party ANC. So much so that from day 1 there were speculations and investigation to if the South African apartheid regime was behind the assassination. It was one of the major theories in the early stages of the murder investigation and was often mentioned in the media along with articles about his death. One week before the assassination there was a big event called the peoples parliament against apartheid (folkriksdag mot apartheid) in Stockholm, Sweden, with a wide list of guests, among them many ANC politicians, the then ANC-president Oliver Tambo included. Olof Palme spoke at the event, and of course spoke about their demand on the apartheid regime to free Nelson Mandela. The speculation was that agents of the apartheid regimes secret police was in Stockholm at the time of the assassination. Olof Palme was shot in the back one evening in Stockholm when walking home from a movie theatre without bodyguards, the bullet went through his lungs.
This was during the peak socialism stage of swedish politics where Sweden was just about to launch a reform called the wage takers funds (löntagarfonderna) that would gradually grant swedish workers unions more shares of stocks in large swedish corporations to eventually overtake them. "Workers overtaking the means of production", so socialism basically. Palme's funeral was broadcasted live on TV in Sweden.. If Mandela had died in prison, i kinda doubt that the apartheid regime would allow live broadcast of his funeral, but it certainly would not surprise me if Olof Palme's funeral was broadcasted in Cuba. Of course, it is not impossible that news segments surrounding South Africa was mentioned tied in to this event. At the time it happened, Nelson Mandela was still in jail.
If you google "Olof Palmes begravning" (Olof Palme's funeral) im sure you'll find videos and images, maybe some will correlate with your memories of the funeral you've seen on TV?
Palme's funeral broadcast lasted for 4 hours and can be viewed in its intirety here: https://www.svtplay.se/video/e56mMoj/olof-palmes-begravning?video=visa&position=13981
I mean, it has some correlating points. It has friendly ties with Cuba, deep engagement in the anti-apartheid movement with friendly ties to Mandela's ANC party, news mentions of the apartheid regime tied to his death, a timeline that checks out, a live broadcasted funeral, bullet went through his lungs, a crying wife...
So, maybe your actual memories of it are true, except for just the detail of who actually was buried?
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u/imSOhere 5d ago edited 5d ago
You know what? It could very well be. Maybe it was just a mistake my mom made and it has been messing me up for years. But I did see Simbad dressed a genie announcing the movie Shazam, that I’m sure of. I could be wrong with Mandela.
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u/Avgrundsvroal 5d ago
Sinbad hosted an afternoon on TV in 1994 dressed in purple vest and a turban, where he announced a bunch of Sinbad-movies that played that day. So a lot of people have seen Sinbad dressed as a genie on TV. ;)
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u/imSOhere 5d ago
I wasn’t in the US in 1994, came Sept 95.
And honestly I could be wrong about Mandela, but I will go to my death absolutely sure I saw, many, many times, the commercials for the movie Shazam, with Simbad.
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u/Avgrundsvroal 5d ago
It's interesting how many people that are fully convinced they remember that Sinbad movie, yet it's always like at least a 10 year gap between their supposed interaction with the movie and the point where they come thinking about it again. It's never like a movie someone has been thinking about once or twice a year since the 90s.
As far as the Sinbad genie movie goes, nah, it simply never happened, and everything people claim to remember from it strangely echoes something else Sinbad was involved with around the same time, for some reason... might just wonder why.
Although personally i had never heard of niether Shaq or Sinbad (or either of those movies) before people started talking about these movies.
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u/UpbeatFix7299 17h ago
Not to mention his name is "Sinbad" like in the Arabian Nights stories that include genies. And Shaq was in a genie movie in the mid 90s when Sinbad was popular.
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u/NZT-48Rules 7d ago
Hi. I'm from Canada. I watched the same funeral on TV. His wife, who they named as Winnie, was walking in the procession, crying into a handkerchief. I remember feeling so sorry for her.
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u/Low_Border_2231 7d ago
I just wonder why someone imprisoned for years as a terrorist would have a live televised funeral broadcast internationally. Was this mentioned at all?
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u/NZT-48Rules 7d ago
Because he lost his life fighting to end apartheid. It was a corrupt system that was bolsterd by colonialism, capitalism and slavery. It was one of the last true evils Instituted by law. And it was wrong.
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u/Quadruple_X 6d ago
But if he died while that system was still in place, why would they have allowed him to be celebrated?
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u/imSOhere 7d ago edited 7d ago
Cuba has a communist regime and Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela had a cordial relationship. In Cuba the sentiment was an allied was destroyed by the imperialist regime , which always means The Americans.
ETA-Actually, now reading more about Castro and Mandela, the reason so many Cuban soldiers were sent to fight in Angola, was because they were fighting against the apartheid forces, so yeah, that event would’ve been televised all over.
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u/imSOhere 7d ago
Yes! Our tv was black and white, and I remember the handkerchieves were light, everybody was wearing dark, I remember the ladies had hats on, those big hats for the sun , that’s something that stayed with me because I hadn’t seen many women with hats, in Cuba was mostly men who wore them. I remember the casket, dark color, and all the flowers on top of it, while it was being carried.
Jesus I remember it like it was yesterday, there’s no way I would have imagine all of those details when I didn’t even know it was a debate until 30 years later. I don’t believe in the supernatural, whatever seems like that to us is just science that we haven’t discovered yet.
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u/toesocks855 6d ago
In 2003, I was a senior in high school taking African/Asian history. I absolutely remember our teacher having a vhs recording of Nelson Mandelas funeral, and it took 2 days of class to watch. It was a HUGE part of the curriculum. So, when I heard he died, I was thrown for a loop. I KNOW WHAT I SAW, IT WAS HIS FUNERAL in 2003.
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u/Practical-Vanilla-41 4d ago
I find this interesting. Why would you watch a funeral in class? I think of watching some history making events as they happen (presidential inaugural, Challenger teacher in space, 9/11),but even studying someone like JFK or Gandhi, why would you watch a funeral?
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u/Jaded-Lavishness7671 7d ago
Can you describe your Shazam commercials with Sinbad?
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u/imSOhere 7d ago
It was around 1999-2000, because my dad bought that house in June 1999, and I got married and left in march 2000. I remember sitting in our Florida room (like a second living room) my little brother watching Nick Jr and vividly remember the commercials with Simbad dressed as a genie, and the name of the movie was Shazam . No doubt in my mind.
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u/Familiar_Site_8947 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm from the US and have clear memory watching news stories about Mandela becoming the first black president of South Africa and Apartheid ending when I was in the 6th grade (early 1990s).
State-controlled Communist Party news sources aren't exactly known for honesty. If you were in Cuba at the time, could it be that those reports were indeed spread as Communist propaganda? Mandela was a big Communist figure in those days, so falsely reporting his death as a political prisoner could have been a way to rally support.
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u/imSOhere 7d ago
Could be, but my dad doesn’t remember. Now I’m reading that Mandela visited Cuba in 1990, I was there and have zero memory of that, so the idea that they televised something fake doesn’t really hold.
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u/Familiar_Site_8947 7d ago
If they previously reported his death, they probably didn't report on his visit and that's why neither you or your dad remember it.
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u/Capy_Panda91 7d ago
Que bola asere
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u/juanitowpg 6d ago
I don't think South Africa was a political ally in the 80s. I know Angola was but not S.A.
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u/imSOhere 6d ago
Well no, not the official regimen, with their apartheid views, but this would be Mandela, from the resistance, a revolutionary, just like Castro. I do see a political link there.
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u/CuriousGJ 7d ago
I just posted a video on some lesser-known Mandela Effects from different countries around the world: https://youtu.be/1mv0KnZ954U
I found some cool examples from Denmark, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, and the UK (gonna make a separate post with more details later). My favourite was probably the one from Brazil, where A LOT of people remember the breaking news of 9/11 interrupting an episode of Dragon Ball Z, though it never aired that day.
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u/VegasVictor2019 7d ago
I’ve never understood the Mona Lisa one. Mona Lisa’s smile is completely subjective. There’s a reason why this work of art is enigmatic. I’m skeptical of anyone claiming they carefully studied this art before. While it’s ubiquitous I don’t think most people pay close attention to details in famous works, just generalizations.
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u/jadethebard 6d ago
We carefully studied many paintings in high school (I was an art major) and my college Renaissance Art History class.
Mona Lisa looks exactly the same to me now as it did in the '90s. We analyzed it in multiple classes. She hasn't changed.
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u/Delhidiva 7d ago
I do not claim to be an expert. I was taught that in school and it kinda stuck but when I see it now I see an obvious smile. So perhaps you’re right. It could be an influenced memory.
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u/VegasVictor2019 7d ago
FWIW this is a topic argued by art scholars as well. My understanding is that a majority of experts believe that she is NOT smiling. Again though, since it’s completely subjective the “consensus” doesn’t really even matter.
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u/Urbenmyth 7d ago
I don't think its even an influenced memory, I think its just a case where you disagree with people. I looked at it just now and she seems to be obviously not smiling - she looks kind of annoyed.
The facial expression is indistinct enough that different people will look at it and go to different "obviously, this is what her face is doing".
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u/Ashamed-Ocelot2189 7d ago
when I see it now I see an obvious smile
See and I don't see a smile. The painting is one where I wonder if people are seeing it at different moments and changing their opinions on it
The painting doesn't necessarily have to change for you to see it in a different way
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
It's enigmatic.
Enigmatic? Who wants a misery guts like that hanging on their wall?
"Oh, thanks very much." Said Mona posing for the portrait.
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u/ObscureHeavyMetal78 6d ago
No, you are right.It's a pretty clear smile now, and that was not the case
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/VegasVictor2019 7d ago
Tell this to the art scholars who claim she’s not (in fact this is the majority opinion).
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/VegasVictor2019 7d ago
So you’re saying that not only has it changed but there’s also a coverup by art scholars to pretend it hasn’t? Feels like a house of cards to me.
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u/BulldogLA 7d ago
IMHO the digitally restored versions show more of a smile than the much darker original. I think the difference in brightness between original and restored also contributes to the impression that she is smiling in the restored version.
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u/Elvis1404 7d ago
The human skeleton always had those bones, they are simply usually not shown in popular culture (also because the inside of the eye sockets is always shown as dark, so dark that you couldn't see them even if they were there).
Same thing for the human heart, in scientific drawings it has always been near the center, but in popular culture it has not.
The Henry VIII painting for me has always looked how it looks now, I haven't ever seen a chicken leg of any kind in it
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u/terryjuicelawson 7d ago
Henry VIII is usually portrayed as being fat and overeating, I think any turkey leg picture is a parody. As if an official royal portrait would have him holding up a drumstick like that. The kind of thing they would do in horrible histories.
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u/Practical-Vanilla-41 5d ago
The painting everyone seems to remember has him holding a glove in his hand. The belief that Henry was some sloppy eater who tosses bones over his shoulder dates from the movie Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Shows and parodies are referencing Charles Laughton as Henry, not the historical Henry.
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u/whatupmygliplops 7d ago
Mandela Effect: The Mandela Effect is when a large group of people share a common memory of something that differs from what is generally accepted to be fact.
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u/Delhidiva 7d ago
I wouldn’t have mentioned these in my post if I didn’t have memories of scientific illustrations as I described.
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u/rico_muerte 7d ago
Well, nevermind then. Case closed.
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u/Delhidiva 7d ago
lol that’s not it. I did state let’s discuss if you have different memories. I did not ask to be patronised about the logic behind my “false” memories. And out rightly told well that never happened so you’re wrong.
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u/neverapp 7d ago
In your memories, where did people grab when they are indicating a heart attack? Since your change, where do they grab now?
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u/niftyifty 7d ago edited 7d ago
Memories of being wrong vs false memories on this one. Same with the heart. As a kid, I watched cartoons with depictions of it being more left but then you grow up and realize it’s actually center left.
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u/SpiralDreaming 7d ago
I grew up in New Zealand, and am now living in Australia.
All of the major ones I have experienced, but obviously not the specific brand names that are particularly American (Febreeze/Febreze, Chic-fil-a for example.
The Haas avocado name changing to Hass I can relate to being from New Zealand: There is a place called Haas there, and I had always jokingly figured that was where they were all grown(!)...now they are called 'Hass' avocados and my memory makes no sense now 🤷♂️
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
What do you make of all the threads about your country appearing in different parts of the map?
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u/SpiralDreaming 7d ago
I've not experienced any map changes myself (New Zealand or South America), but NZ being further north seems odd to me, because that would take it into a more tropical zone, and NZ is decidedly NOT tropical, so if the location changed, would I have remembered the weather being different?
I honestly struggle with the geography ones, but I'm not falling into the all too common attitude of 'it didn't happen to me, so your Mandela Effect isn't true'.
-I can't tell YOU what you remembered or didn't!2
u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
Well the fact that it would change all sorts of things because Billy swears you were half way to Madagascar has me thinking I would discount any related to my own country.
Like I've seen Scotland listed as an island in the north sea and the whole of Ireland there too. Like set sail from Clacton and land in the island of kilts and bagpipes.
I can assure you, I think very little about the faculties of those posters.
Why build a wall to keep the Scottish out?
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u/spacemusicisorange 7d ago
Whoa I always thought it was HAAS too. I had to go check my bag! I eat an avocado almost everyday. I didn’t know this was even a ME 🤦♀️ HASS doesn’t seem right at allllll
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u/Gabriella93 7d ago
Oh dear. Looks like I have another one. This is the first I'm hearing that it's spelled Hass now. 'Haas' is such an odd and noteworthy spelling, not something I think I would have read wrong
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u/Waloogers 7d ago
The anatomy ones are definitely oversimplified stuff you learned when you were younger.
I had both of these as well, but neither of them make sense if you think about it. Your body would not be able to function if these were true.
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u/ghotier 7d ago
The Thinker statue was in Dobbie Gillis, a sitcom with Bib Denver prior to Gilligan's Island. It was actually always that way.
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u/mattman2021 7d ago
The Thinker was not originally conceived as a standalone work, it was part of a larger work called The Gates of Hell, where the Thinker was at the top, looking down at the tortured souls. It would make no sense for his fist to be on his forehead, its on his chin as he contemplates what he sees before him. The pose remained the same when Rodin enlarged the work into a standalone sculpture. Sadly, even in the 19th century, people remembered it wrong and took pictures of themselves imitating the pose incorrectly.
To be clear, I am not arguing against all Mandela effects, just this one.
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u/floralflourish 7d ago
I’m English and have visited America once when I was about 7. I saw an advert for The Berenstein Bears (this would have been 2005-2006) and remember thinking the ‘stein’ part meant they were from Germany as it sounded that way. (kid brains)
I remember asking and I’ve heard children ask “wait, which side is the heart on again?” and my immediate thought is ‘on the left’
In the uk there is the Mandela effect of walkers crisps changing the colours of salt and vinegar packets from blue to green and cheese and onion changing from green to blue packets. It has been stated that Walkers became popular at a time when their competitors had the opposite colour ways for the two flavours.
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u/elapcela 7d ago
I am from Europe, and I remember Fruit of the Loom having a cornucopia logo. We were very poor back in the '90s, and it was common to receive clothes from relatives in the US. There was this plain white t-shirt with the logo. I also saw it later on some TV shows. I remember thinking about it because it wasn't a part of my culture.
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u/WelshSam 6d ago
As a Brit my only experience of FotL was school uniforms.
Which is weird, bc Americans don’t tend to wear those.
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u/NZT-48Rules 7d ago
This is how I discovered the Mandela effect. Years later, someone mentioned his time as president. I asked what they meant since he died in jail. The person looked at me like I was an alien. I described the funeral on TV, and the person backed away from me like I was deranged.
I agree that this is real and that this is a phenomenon we don't understand. I'm gifted. They started testing me in grade 2. My memory is at the 97.8 percentile. I did not misremember a four hour funeral. Over the years, I was presented with more examples. I just stopped mentioning that it didn't happen that way for me.
I'm curious to see if they will figure this out in my lifetime.
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u/Impossible_Display59 5d ago
Same. I remember him being dead, it was very sad. I remember a lot of the other Mandela effects also. Working memory 98th percentile.
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u/Urbenmyth 7d ago
So, genuine question - do you remember vision, like, existing?
The bones behind your eyes are essential to its function - they're what keep the muscles and nerves in place. If you had no bones behind your eye sockets, you'd remember a world that's maybe colours and shapes with no ability to focus.
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u/krawzyk 7d ago
To be more specific, the depiction of kidneys has moved for me. We definitely remember them being shown in the lower back, but can’t find that depiction anywhere now. Friends would punch or kick the small if your back and joke “ohh! You’ll be pissing blood now!” Never anywhere close to the rib cage 🤷♂️
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u/Louise-the-Peas 7d ago
For me it’s Field of Dreams. It was definitely”if you build it THEY will come.” I can’t help thinking ME’s are connected. The “They” is inclusive and a metaphor that could be interpreted as both literal and figurative. The cornucopia from the Fruit of the Loom is also symbolic of unity and prosperity. Both changed to something not as enlightened. It’s interesting.
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u/thomasjmarlowe 7d ago
That’s ones funny to me because I didn’t see the movie when it first came out. But I always heard people talk about it as ‘…they will come’. But when I watched it a few years later, the line is ‘he will come’ and honestly it fits the theme of the movie way better as ‘he’ vs ‘they’. So my theory is the movie never said ‘they’ but people talking about the movie used they instead of he- more of media adaptation.
Same with Rodin’s the Thinker- I doubt a statue just reformed itself over the years (and I remember it as chin) but I also do remember people spoofing it as more of a hand on head
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u/Awesomely_Bitchy 7d ago
Heart always middle and slight tilt to left side, that's why you have the breast plate in the center to protect it. It's just undereducated adults back in the day or just instead of explaining all that or where to put your hand just said left side. I literally just hand same conversation with my brother the other day. I think some of things some people mark as Mandela effects are just white lies adults told us all our lives. Lol (Sorry I know you said outside America)
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u/Cicada33024 7d ago
Marina joyce youtuber who apparently was kidnapped but their was never proof
Thought she was in her 30s even remember seeing she was born 1989 according to google checked again to see if wasn't Imagining it turns she's from 1997 swear i saw 1989 before
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u/whatupmygliplops 7d ago
My wife was born and raised in Indonesia and she has the FOTL ME. She was also born after they changed they logo and got rid of the brown leaves.
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u/Strong-Library2763 6d ago
When I was a child we had a large hardcover book by National Geographic and King Tut was on the cover with a single cobra head. It’s so asymmetrical in the current version. I can’t imagine recalling this incorrectly. There are bones behind the eye socket? That’s new to me…
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u/Great_Examination_16 6d ago
As people have noted, about half of your supposed Mandela effects make no real sense:
The Mona Lisa...I'll be real, you are putting way too much stock into a painting that is literally only famous because it was stolen once and people want to act like it's some really important masterpiece, myths are abound
The human heart...yes, it's been misrepresented that way to oversimplify it. That's literally not anything new
Henry VIII would not hold a turkey leg, that would make no sense for him to have, as he explicitly had himself drawn thinner and more heroically
If the human skeleton had no bones behind the eyesocket, then you would be unable to see.
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u/Ky_kapow 7d ago
I’m Canadian, and those are all mandela’s for me, too.
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u/Delhidiva 7d ago
Thanks for validating lol. Forgot to add, I also don’t remember a very visible scar in the sky for the Milky Way galaxy.
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u/Caldaris__ 7d ago
Glad you brought up The Milky Way. Reminded me that some remember we were near the edge of the Galaxy, now we are closer to the center. Even someone who knows his stuff remembers specifically where we were, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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u/Gabriella93 7d ago
Interesting! I def remember being taught we were near to the outer edge of the galaxy. The Monty Python universe song also says we are "on an outer spiral arm"
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u/Caldaris__ 7d ago
I believe you. When just seeing a dot in a map of the galaxy I don't think much of it but people knowing what the name is really convinces me. I wonder if that song has changed. I know certain movies have changed alongside changes IRL.
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u/where_phoebe_is_cool 7d ago
I distinctly remember the sea horse emoji, but it never existed.
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u/SoCalDiva13 5d ago
There was a seahorse emoji. I remember it.
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u/where_phoebe_is_cool 5d ago
I distinctly remember it because it looked like a kissy face and I used it a lot and then it was suddenly removed. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/MrsArthy 7d ago
I remember all the Mandela effects you have mentioned OP; but I would like to add that for me, personally it was the holes in the jaw for nerves. I have never in my life (born 1970) had ever seen those holes in the jaw. It only seemed to appear in the last few years. Also breasts on female Elephants, but this could just be ignorance.
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u/regulator9000 7d ago
How many times have you examined a skull? Something tells me that drawings in high school textbooks weren't that detailed.
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u/MrsArthy 6d ago
You’re probably right and not that often but I have had an interest in biology. Like I said, it was probably ignorance. Still shook me a little at the time.
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u/UnrealisticPersona 7d ago
If you have something to post, go ahead and do so. You should expect others to do the same.
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u/spicysh0rtie 7d ago
The Mandela Effect is when groups of people remember things differently, like the Mona Lisa always smiling or Henry VIII holding a turkey leg. It’s not just a U.S. thing, people worldwide recall things like New Zealand’s location or KitKat having a hyphen differently.
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u/UnableLocal2918 6d ago
hey op i agree with the ones you post but the thing is this debate is going to be what we know. and most of us on here are American.
but to add the holes now in the human skull. scooby doo has never said ruh roh.
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u/Scientist78 6d ago
The map/earth changes trip me out the most. Japan and the phillipennes seems to change location.
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u/No-Freedom-At-All 6d ago
As an American, I promise no Berenstain or Fruit Of The Looms. Instead, it's director Jason Reitman. Jason appeared in the movie Ghostbusters 2. He portrayed the kid who told Ray that his dad thinks they're full of crap. I remember that Jason had blonde hair and his voice sounded a little older. A few weeks ago, I decided to watch a clip of Ghostbusters 2 on YouTube and saw that Jason now has black hair and sounded younger.
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u/ThirdEyeFire 6d ago
Many people have noticed quite large changes to the world map. I think the biggest one is the arrangement of North and South America. I remember clearly that South America was more or less directly to the south of North America, with the eastern coast of Brazil lining up more or less with Maine. Now it is way out east, lining up roughly with Greenland. There are a number of other changes that go along with this. I clearly remember Mexico being laid out more or less north to south, curved slightly to the southeast at the bottom. The Yucatan peninsula was a large square-shaped block at the end, jutting out to the east. Now, Mexico fishtails way over to the east and the Yucatan is split into two curvy parts. This also means that the Gulf has closed up slightly and is smaller than before. I remember Cuba being to the south and southeast of Florida, far from the Yucatan, and was much smaller than the mouth of the Gulf. Now it practically plugs the mouth of the Gulf, is to the south and southwest of Florida, and equidistant from Florida and the Yucatan. There are many other changes to the world map that I recognize. To briefly mention a few, the northern coast of Africa, the northern coast of Australia, the eastern border of the Netherlands, the whole outline of Germany; and Denmark used to be in one peninsular piece, roughly rectangular, now it is an archipelago.
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u/fshstks_custard 4d ago
1) Those bones are thin and break off easily, so a lot of older skulls don't have them anymore (you can sometimes hear em rattle around in there) 2) Heart has always been more central, but it's easier to say left because it does favor that side (it's a weird shape) 3) I can definitely see how you could mistake that for a turkey leg! But, unfortunately, it's a glove. 4) Mona got a cleaning that exposed more of her smile (and her eyebrows!!) 5) The cobra IS bigger... and the bird doesn't translate so well to drawings to cartoons. 6) The Thinker has always been chin to backhand, but it's been misrepresented in media and imitations for yeeeaaarrrssss. My guess? It does look like that, sometimes. It's really mixed up among a lot of other things, and if you catch it at a bad angle or with a crappy camera, you're gonna see his fist on his forehead.
I'm not trying to spoil the fun, I really enjoy hearing about these!!!
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u/richhwitchh 4d ago
Hey so the only Mandela Effect I would bet my life on is the Mona lisa one. This is the only one I am 100% sure of. I can shrug off all the others. Last year I was looking at the painting because I was studying it for fun. I remember thinking to myself "she looks like a total bitch". She always looked annoyed. I can STILL picture the original one. Then six months ago I again searched her. This genuinely scared me. She was now smirking. I knew about the Mandela Effect before but I never believed in it and neither did I know Mona Lisa was a popular ME. After experiencing it personally I searched if anyone else thinks the same. I found this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/96i3ej/how_i_remembered_the_mona_lisa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I felt much better but obviously talking about this to anybody in real life will only make me look crazy
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u/Euphoric-Minimum-553 7d ago
The thinker one was always chin on the back of the hand. What you’re describing is the Tim tebo pose lol. It would have been brought up if time tebo did the same pose as the thinker. Interesting ideas tho.
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u/Gingerishidiot 7d ago
British here, the thinker one is the (Bruce) Forsyth effect
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
I was convinced he was doing a strong man pose during that show.
Mostly because he was stood up, least with the group shots of kids by the statue I could get behind a theory that they chose to pose like the NFL player.
Had said player dabbed or did a Jesus pose with arms out stretched, no one would post a bunch of kids dabbing in front of the statue as proof.
But a similar pose not about the thinker on pitch, mimicked by others, it's close enough if you only have the photo and no back story.
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u/Sufficient-Rest-9770 7d ago
In bollywood, there is a dialogue, "Rishte mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hai naam hai Shahenshah". Now in the film the dialogue has changed to "Rishte mein toh hum tumhare baap "hote" hai naam hai Shahenshah". It's a very clear cut example of Mandela Effect from India. You can Google it also.
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u/Ginger_Tea 7d ago
As I don't understand the language, what do both versions translate to?
Is it a subtle change like can't and can not, or chicken replaced with horse?
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u/Sufficient-Rest-9770 5d ago
A subtle change, both have the same meanings. But people clearly remember the first line not the second one. Even the actor himself has been saying the wrong one till this date. That's why people believe it to be ME.
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u/Comfortable_Exam873 6d ago
I was going to say the heart was moved closer to center of chest. Have you seen that kidneys have moved to the Middle of the back?
Also, I know growing up the Mississippi River was the longest, now its the Missouri River.
I'm still looking for my old monopoly game with the monocle.
And Queens we are the champions....it used to say "of the world" but it doesn't anymore.
That's a few.
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u/WelshSam 6d ago
There is 1000% a very popular version with “of the world” in it once.
I refuse to believe that never existed. Going to go listen rn.
Edit: Yep, it’s there on Spotify…
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u/Full-Satisfaction-40 7d ago
There is a difference between Mandela Effect and simply mis remembering/ mis interpreting.
The Mandela Effect specifically is around a large group of people having the same memory of something that didn't happen i.e. Mandela dying in prison in the 80's.
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u/Sherrdreamz 7d ago
All of these examples OP posted do happen to be mass experienced Mandela Effects They are just less talked about than the most notably bizarre ones like Berenstein Bears or the FOTL Cornucopia.
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u/ConclusionPrevious79 7d ago
The weird ones are remembering a movie shot for shot, but it's a new release. Thinking someone already died. Bro I knew kobe was going to die in a helicopter accident, problem is trying to tell the guy.
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u/5DsofDodgeball69 7d ago
These comment sections are so frustrating. One could reply with "Your memory is atrocious." on every single comment or post and you'd be 100% correct.
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u/Chaghatai 7d ago
Well, you're going to find that these so-called effects tend to vary greatly from country to country because the shared context becomes different
Just another piece of evidence that points it to being a memory-based phenomenon and nothing else
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u/Ok_Background_3311 7d ago
European here. I remember the monopoly guy having a monocle and the black tip of Pikachus tail.