MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > The Mandella Effect

The Mandella Effect


Have you heard of it? Are there any of them that make you go 🤔 for whatever reason?

No matter what this is about, or combination of things, I find it fascinating. Why do so many people misremember the same things?

The one about the Monopoly man wearing a monocle, yep, that's how I remember him. Yet he never had one. I figure I was conflating the monocle-wearing Mr Peanut with Monopoly man, and lots of other people did the same.

Some people claim the VW logo used to have no space between the V and the W, others claim it's the other way around. I had a VW, and I remember it having a space. I washed that car enough times!

There's the Bernstein/Bernstain Bears. I remembered it as Bernstein, as many others did. But I think that's because I'd never heard of or seen the name Bernstain, but had seen and heard Bernstein many times, so my brain automatically "corrected" it, by switching one letter.

But there is one that does turn my head sideways: the Volvo logo. I do NOT remember it looking like the male symbol with Volvo in the center. It seems like I'd remember it being that symbol, since it's easily recognized and I was aware of it.

How I remember it on the front grilles is a diagonal long line going across the front of the grille, and in the center a badge or emblem of some sort (never looked closely) that I assumed was a Swedish flag or emblem. In my memory it was or looked like enamel, in 2, possibly 3, colours. Red and something else.

I look at what's apparently always been the Volvo logo and wonder how I could have possibly been so far off. I love cars, so I've tended to notice things like this.

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"Why do so many people misremember the same things?"

Most, or nearly all, of the Mandela examples are instances where it's nearly predictable that a small detail like the VW line would not exist in the memories of people who never had a reason to see one of the badges close enough. The most common sighting worldwide would be spotting the logo on someone else's VW, while driving. The other mix-up is things that are similar.


"But there is one that does turn my head sideways: the Volvo logo. I do NOT remember it looking like the male symbol with Volvo in the center. It seems like I'd remember it being that symbol, since it's easily recognized and I was aware of it."

PERFECT example! This is actually one of my favorites. The badge logo you're thinking of, without the arrow sticking out, is the Nissan logo!

Volvo:
https://www.ttnews.com/sites/default/files/images/articles/volvo-truck-grille-closeup-3_2.jpg

Nissan:
https://wallpaperstream.com/wallpapers/full/car-brand-logos/Nissan-Car-Brand-Logo-HD-Wallpaper.jpg

And see, when ONE example of the Mandela Effect is shown to be a predictable mix-up, it stands to reason that they all are, as well as the Mandela Effect concept itself.

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Nope, that's not what I'm thinking of, although it most likely is what others are.

Like I posted above, "How I remember it on the front grilles is a diagonal long line going across the front of the grille, and in the center a badge or emblem of some sort (never looked closely) that I assumed was a Swedish flag or emblem. In my memory it was or looked like enamel, in 2, possibly 3, colours. Red and something else."

I can't say it follows that because one has been shown to be a mix-up, it means it's likely they all are. It's possible, sure, and I do think a lot of them boil down to simply misremembering for a good reason. Last night I discovered that some people swear Jif peanut butter used to be called Jiffy, for instance. I think they're conflating Jiffy Popcorn with Jif.

On the other hand, it's possible there are some legit instances. We now know about quantum physics and according to it, multiple realities isn't farfetched. I don't know either way, but I do think it's fascinating. It's fun to see what things I remember as which way.

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Farfetched is the idea that reality would be affected but not our memories. It smacks of a Special Pleading fallacy.

All examples for this are the same category of similar things or easily missed details. Thus, showing one to be misremembered is strong evidence that this applies to all.

The main reason for my application of this logic is because the Mandela examples are not unique, individual circumstances/contexts... Rather, they are all based on the (necessarily limited) observations/memories, and the subjective perceptions, of the mind belonging to each individual.

That immediately lands this outside the realm of hard evidence, and inside the realm of psychology/subjectivity.

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Not all of them fall into the same category, but I agree that many of them are.

Well, that's the thing, if there's anything to this, memories are affected. The problem is, many of them are much more easily explained by simply misremembering things that are close.

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When I visited my small hometown after about 25 years nothing seemed as I remembered it. Not sure if this qualifies as The Mandela Effect but it sure was strange.

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You’re blowing my mind with this thread girl! Always thought the Monopoly man spotted a monocle, would’ve put money on it. I think maybe the confusion came for me with the Going for Broke boardgame. The rich guy character on this game looked very similar to the Monopoly game guy, except the Going for Broke guy did wear a monocle.

No way the Bernstein Bears is actually the Bernstain Bears. Whaaa...?

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Also, I’m pretty sure I still call Jif, Jiffy. I’m guessing it’s the Skippy peanut butter that made me think this.
Weird. I’m now considering how many life experiences I’ve had that I remember incorrectly. I don’t even wanna know the answer to that!!

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Nah it’s Jiffy Lube that made you think that

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I know! So many people misremember things the same way.

I don't know Going for Broke, but I'll bet anything a lot of others think Monopoly guy has a monocle because of that. I would have put money on it too 😄

There are a lot more of them, but I'd have to go look. These are just the ones I remember offhand.

Good point about Skippy peanut butter. I'm sure that added to the confusion.

I'm not sure I want to know how many things I misremember either 😄

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I always picture Monopoly guy with a monacle now that it's been brought up lol
A lot of the other examples I found from simple searches seem minor misunderstandings

Froggy had an interesting point, this is very similar to the phenomenon of Urban Legends
I really believed that the Life Cereal kid blew up his guts drinking cola and eating PopRocks...seems so ridiculous now🙄
That kid was fine the whole time!

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I remember hearing Mikey died, but of leukemia. The Poprocks/Coke combo was supposed to make your guts splode, but where I lived these were two separate urban legends.

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Yes, I've heard of it. I've made a short movie about it.

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Yes! I saw your short quite a while back. It was excellent :)

Here's the link, so others can see it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jaPxUMCda4o&t=408s

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I remember that the cover of Abby Road told us that Paul was dead.

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I just found this, the bits of various Beatles songs played first forward, then backwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8gZIcqj9E

If you don't read the captions of the bits played in reverse, you'd never guess what they're supposed to be saying. Reminds me of EVPs on the plethora of ghost-hunting shows.

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I burried Paul.

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Yeah, I remember sometimes someone being all nice to my face, but then it turns out they've been nasty behind my back the whole time. Hmm, I think that's just called being two-faced, though.🤔

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It’s been a year, but I just now ran across this OP. I had never heard of the Mandela Effect. (Spell check caught the extra l)

Here are some fun pics. I always thought it was Looney Toons...it’s not...it’s Looney Tunes”!

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=the+mandela+effect&qpvt=the+mandella+effect&form=IQFRML&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover

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One of the Monopoly "Community Chest" cards shows Mr. Pennybags handing a coin to a boy wearing glasses. Perhaps people have conflated these two characters. It's the middle image, second row from the bottom:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e6/be/bd/e6bebd072e7f5d492f4e5e6bf79630f6.jpg

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