Pop Planet

Are you a super-recognizer or do you have prosopagnosia? Most likely you are somewhere in between.

This article explains what these terms mean.

I now have a name for my social condition. This quote from the article describes me perfectly.

"Super-recognizers recognize other people far more often than they are recognized. So they often compensate by pretending not to recognize someone they met in passing, so as to avoid appearing to attribute undue importance to a fleeting encounter, Russell said. "

Now some might say I got this condition genetically. My dad is always telling us how he recognizes some guy on the street. We generally make jokes, invoking the "guy in the corduroy jacket," a guy whom my dad recognized from the multitude of little kid wrestling tournaments that we frequented when I was younger. It turns out, the guy in the corduroy jacket is a real guy.

In my case, I often recognize someone but cannot place a name with the face. This becomes even more awkward when they recognize me and come up and talk to me like we are long lost friends. Ask my wife, this happens quite a bit.

Then there is the question of introducing them to my wife. This is usually out of the question as I have forgotten their name. I just pray that they don't introduce me to their significant other. If they do, I'm usually SOL. Sometimes in this introduction I will get a clue to their identity.

Recognized Stranger: "Honey, this is Art Vandelay. He and I went to school together."

At this point, the synapses will sometimes begin to fire and I will be fortunate enough to come up with a name. This will allow me to reciprocate the introduction. Far too often, however, I got nothing. So do I ask, "What's your name again?" No. Perhaps nothing would mortify me more. I just shake hands with the stranger's spouse, talk for a moment longer, make up a prior engagement and slink away.

It has become more difficult to do this inconspicuously. My children will ask me as soon as we have taken two steps, "Who was that Daddy?" To which I respond by whisking them out of earshot and replying, "I have no idea."