Our brains just love symmetry! So much so that when we see a fine example of things just falling nicely into place just as they should, it satisfies us deep within our souls.
Of course, when we encounter the opposite - the wonky, the askew, the lop-sided - it triggers a vague feeling of discomfort. This reaction is stronger in some than in others, but even those of us who would consider themselves chill about imperfections can get fixated on certain mistakes.
Can't understand what I mean? Well, as a follow up to previous efforts here and here, Bored Panda has collected another list of things that aren't quite right and are sure to set the alarm bells ringing. Scroll down below to check them out for yourself, and let us know how they made you feel in the comments!
This post may include affiliate links.
What The Actual Mother ******* **** Is This *******
So what lies behind this fascination with all things symmetrical? Well, according to an article in HowStuffWorks, it comes from the fact that most objects in the real world are symmetrical. "This is particularly true of nature: the radial symmetry of starfish or flower petals, the symmetrical efficiency of a hexagonal honeycomb, or the uniquely symmetrical crystal patterns of a snowflake," they write. "In fact asymmetry is often a sign of illness or danger in the natural world."
People Whose Desktops Look Like This
Preth Any Button
"And, of course, human beings are symmetrical, at least on the outside (some internal organs like the heart and liver are off-center). Decades of research into sexual attraction have proven that both men and women find symmetrical faces sexier than asymmetrical ones. The leading explanation is that physical symmetry is an outward sign of good health, although large-scale studies have shown no significant health differences in people with symmetrical or asymmetrical faces."
"The simple explanation for our attraction to symmetry is that it's familiar. Symmetrical objects and images play by the rules that our brains are programmed to recognize easily."
This Neighborhood I Saw On Google Maps Really Hits Me Hard
Really.... Starbucks.... OK then.......That is weird
Load More Replies...
Sometimes grid-aligned cities do things like that on purpose in heavily residential areas next to major thoroughfares to keep traffic from treating the streets one block over as they would the thoroughfare (in other words, the misalignment keeps cars off the narrower streets where more pedestrians are).
Thank you for explaining this, I was about to give up on life.
Load More Replies...
That is why SimCity doesn't allow you to rotate road at any angle.
And that is why you play city skylines instead!
Load More Replies...
My town is like that, part of the town was oriented north/south, and part was oriented with the railroad tracks, it was ok until the town grew enough for the sections to merge
It's a matte of picking which neurotic planner to listen to. The one who says the streets must be on a north-south grid, and the one who says (in the case of this picture) to align the rest of the town grid with the shoreline.
Load More Replies...
My first time in London was me lost pretty much all of the time. I loved it!
Load More Replies...
jacksonville beach, florida. i lived in that awkwardly placed neighborhood.
The houses in the square are newer because they developed a pasture, forest or old factory site
I was going to guess that the houses in the square are older. They built them on an old farm, then the rest of the city expanded around it.
Load More Replies...
May I suggest an antidote in the form of Missoula, Montana? missoula-5...4a4274.jpg 
Jacksonville has a block for people with OCD, and Missoula has a block for people that don't like to "fit in".
Load More Replies...
Teacher: Remember kids, always use a ruler! ME: Ya, but na. 20 YEARS LATER: This happens.... LISTEN TO THE TEACHER KIDS
just gonna be honest, if I'm ever in a place to figure out where roads go like this... I'm gonna do this or something similar. Why? 1) grids are boring. 2) it'll mess with pretty much everybody.
After viewing every one of these images I have come to the conclusion there are a number of humans on this planet who need to be severely punished.
Is it the oldest neighborhood in the area? It couldn’t have been added after the surrounding streets and houses. That might be the way the original plots were laid out, then changed later. Or there’s some kind of natural something or other in the landscape that dictated it.
check jacksonville beach, florida.... you'll see this neighborhood. i lived in that odd part of town for 10 years.
Load More Replies...
that one square was probably the original subdivision, they they put the throughway in and built everything else parallel to that.
Stupidly, that's a better way to set up neighborhoods. Don't have too long straight lines or you'll have speeding issues and street racing.
My guess is that it was probably there before they started the grid system.
It looks like someone was a little tipsy when they made this location on a map! 😆
It looks like too me that someone was high on something when they made plans for the lots on this map!
That's Jacksonville Beach, FL I can almost see the house I used to live in!
Jacksonville Beach, FL I can almost see the house I used to live in!
The CBD in Denver is like this -- it's oriented to allow sunlight. Surrounding areas were developed to be congruent with the larger map of the city. It's easy to tell where small towns became part of "Metro Denver," because there will be 1/2 block "jogs," where a street suddenly faces the middle of the next block and one must turn right or left to reach a street that continues forward.
“Get those City Planning boys on the phone for me Marjorie. I want to know when this happened, how it happened and who’s idea this was and why I wasn’t told. Heads will roll, mark my words, heads will roll!”
As an antidote to the American suburban sprawl, take a look at the Greek city of Katerini. Let me add that on top of there hardly being a single street that is straight, oftentimes a street will all of a sudden turn into a one-way ... https://www.google.com/maps/place/Katerini+601+00/@40.2711771,22.5017729,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x1358023a61eb5a67:0xa3339a2f0e85ad20!8m2!3d40.2702495!4d22.5121487
WTH IS WITH THAT!? Looks like someone built a city around an already existing town.
That annous me. Anyone know where that is. I would like to know the actual reason for that..
On the right edge of the residential area is an industrial section that narrows toward the top of the pic. I would guess this indicates what land could be purchased and what could not.
Someone found out the city wasn't oriented to a true NSEW, so they bought some land and, in their very OCD manner, corrected it.
None of those houses look like they have any room between them. Fart and your neighbor knows it :-)
That neighborhood must feel like the ugly step children no one really wanted.
Thing that bothers me most is the weird tiny plots that it has created. I imagine living in that one strip where the houses don't appear to have much for lawns and they have the street they live on but then right behind their houses there's a street as well. Especially the house at the most narrow point- except maybe they get a big side yard if that's their land. Either way your property being squished between 2 roads would be annoying.
Wow I feel really bad for the guy whose yard has a gigantic corner missing because old jimmy jankins the city planner thought he wanted to be a smartass that day.
This is in Jacksonville Beach, Florida where I live. To make things even more interesting there is an Upper 8th Avenue South and a Lower 8th Avenue South within that square!
I live on a weird diagonal road, my address is XXX SW XX Avenue Road. The people at XXX SW XX Avenue often get my mail.
Avenue Road. Who thought that was a good plan?
Load More Replies...
Well You're Not Wrong
In an essay called The Symmetrical Universe, Alan Lightman, American physicist, writer, and author of The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew, writes:
"Symmetry leads to economy, and nature, like human beings, seem to prefer economy. If we think of nature as a vast ongoing experiment, constantly trying out different possibilities of design, then those designs that cost the least energy or that require the fewest different parts to come together at the right time will take precedence, just as the principle of natural selection says that organisms with the best ability to survive will dominate over time."
How The **** Does This Happen?
It’s Like They Want Me To Have An Aneurysm
So try to relax whilst perusing this list - your sense of discomfort or even anger at the asymmetry of things is fully justified, and is an appropriate human reaction to these design outrages. Good symmetry is good organization and our brains are hardwired to appreciate that!
This Chandelier At A Restaurant I Ate At Bothers Me So Much
This Stove
this would drive me nuts. would end up only cooking half of my food...
That. One. Pole.
Someone Thought It Would Be Funny To Do This At The Corner Of Every Page Of This Notebook
This Teacher Doesn’t Erase The Board Fully And Continues To Use It
These Lights
Just Re-Pave The Damn Road At This Point
My Grandfather Doesn’t Peel The Plastic Off Of Anything And Won’t Let Me Peel It Off. I’m About To Have A Heart Attack
When You Play The Sims But Forget To Rotate
Meanwhile In Supermarket
The Way This Pizza Has Been Cut
Okay What The Hell
My Friend's New Front Door
Even worse the new door and the sidewalk don't line up. You would step wrong every time use went through the door.
911 - I'd Like To Report A Crime
that's a clue, in a find the treasure game. You can imagine that was more effort to insert that piece in that position than to place it perfectly
At My Closest Train Station. I Think I Need To Move
ON Is Red, OFF Is Green
I Was High In The Road And Was Not Sure If It Was The Weed Or Not So I Took A Picture For Later
You Had One Job
This Building Where Nothing Lines Up
Looked Down During My Shower Today. Can’t Unsee It Now
I'm Literally Screaming Inside
Finished Laying The Bricks, Boss
Did they literally just throw it on the wall and see what stick.
Not Only Is The First Light Different, The Last Light's Fixture Is Upside Down
Why Write The ‘S’ Like That? The More I Read It, The More It Mildly Infuriates Me
The Way My Mom Watches TV With Things Obscuring The Screen
How These Pipes Were Installed
Askew Angles
Cut It Wrong. I Think They
I Am Forced To Look At This Every Time I Get Up
I Put The Manhole Cover Back, Boss
But How?
Found This In Louisiana
Doesn't suprise me. I lived in LA for a year and people there are not very bright.
Why Not "Intense Raspberry"?
YOu have to know your european chocolate history ^^ The brand "Intense Raspberry" is the property of "Côte d'Or" who is the belgian equivalent of "Lindt" who is Swiss :p Thanks for listening.
This Apartment Building
If I Could Not See Them At The Same Time I Would Not Care
The Door On This House
Why?
This Stripe On My Friend's Car
Why?
Well Done
If this is a manhole cover like the other one, can't it just be pulled back up and put down correctly?
I'm Just Gonna Leave That Here
Do I Even Have To Say Anything
Horrible Cut-Out
Note: this post originally had 128 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Me too! ... or maybe I am just a masochist who likes to view aggravating pictures of stupidity.
Load More Replies...
It's an absolute nightmare trying to find replies to comments now as it just sends us down here so it hardly seems worth it to search back through over a hundred posts.
I'm waiting on approval on a post asking BP to fix this. We'll see if it works.
Load More Replies...
Most of these construction projects look like they hired me to do them.
Why did they change the title to "slightly annoying"? Those were actually super annoying!
quietly sobs in a corner rocking back and forth, so entirely triggered
yes, at least 4 twitches, 5 groans and the rest are urges to put my hands through the screen and turn those mislaid tiles/manhole covers around to where I can relax again.
Most of these pictures evidence laziness, stupidity and incompetence of the designers or workers. As evidenced in one of the pictures: "No job is too simple that it cannot be done wrong" !
Im glad i they dont bother me. But Im kind of a slob.
Load More Replies...
I have it when people call 'someone they know' to do work around the house (usually family), because something is bound to go wrong and you can't say a thing so you don't ruin family relationships. Long story short, my mother-in-law's uncle (!) layed tiles in my husband's flat, I wanted to hire a proper contractor, but nooooo, why bother when the abovementioned person can do the job. I can put pictures in 2 days (away from home atm), but trust me, that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life (or marriage lol).
This post just goes to show that people have no pride in their work anymore - they just could not be bothered. Unfortunately there are more of them than those of us who do care and give a fly....g f.....
Me too! ... or maybe I am just a masochist who likes to view aggravating pictures of stupidity.
Load More Replies... It's an absolute nightmare trying to find replies to comments now as it just sends us down here so it hardly seems worth it to search back through over a hundred posts.
I'm waiting on approval on a post asking BP to fix this. We'll see if it works.
Load More Replies... Most of these construction projects look like they hired me to do them.
Why did they change the title to "slightly annoying"? Those were actually super annoying!
quietly sobs in a corner rocking back and forth, so entirely triggered
yes, at least 4 twitches, 5 groans and the rest are urges to put my hands through the screen and turn those mislaid tiles/manhole covers around to where I can relax again.
Most of these pictures evidence laziness, stupidity and incompetence of the designers or workers. As evidenced in one of the pictures: "No job is too simple that it cannot be done wrong" !
Im glad i they dont bother me. But Im kind of a slob.
Load More Replies... I have it when people call 'someone they know' to do work around the house (usually family), because something is bound to go wrong and you can't say a thing so you don't ruin family relationships. Long story short, my mother-in-law's uncle (!) layed tiles in my husband's flat, I wanted to hire a proper contractor, but nooooo, why bother when the abovementioned person can do the job. I can put pictures in 2 days (away from home atm), but trust me, that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life (or marriage lol).
This post just goes to show that people have no pride in their work anymore - they just could not be bothered. Unfortunately there are more of them than those of us who do care and give a fly....g f.....
