I find shell gloss and colour the most immediately attractive features of
shells.  I suspect that this is what attracts people initially to cypreids and
cones.  Murex is a difficult one for me - the small muricids with their strange
protrusons and attractive colours are great, but the large frilly ones don't
immediately grasp my attention.  Looking at any shell closely almost always
makes me appreciate it a lot, but for first impressions I go with colour and
gloss.
Symmetry is a strange thing.  Maybe people are more drawn to symmetrical shells
(although few shells are truly symmetrical), as they may be with faces, but I am
not sure this extends in all areas.  Two other hobbies I dabble in, photography
and gardening, assymetry is nearly always the order of the day.  Most
photographers use the "rule of thirds" in standard compositions.  The subject is
rarely dead center.
In gardening there seems to be almost an aversion to symmetry, at least from
what I have seen. In older days, when there were more formal gardens, symmetry
was common, but more people prefer a pseudo-natural outline to their garden
shapes these days I find.  You could be right about architecture.  I would be
interested to see if the people who preferred the symmetrical architecture also
preferred symmetrical gardens.  Perhaps they do and gardening fashion is
regional.
Nora Bryan
Calgary, Alberta
CANADA
 
 
Sylvia S. Edwards wrote:
 
> Has anyone noticed that most of our group's preferences are symmetrical for
> the most part?
>
> I did interior design for a while, and here in the Deep South, symmetrical
> designs were very much the preferred ones.  In decorating at least, it
> represents a more formal, conservative point of view.
>
> Are there any more odd balls on the list who prefer asymmetrical, like me?
> We are the free spirits who like informality, whimsy, and the unusual.
>
> According to a special report on TV recently, we judge the attractiveness of
> a person based on how symmetrical the face is - i.e. divided in the half
> down the middle, each side mirroring the other.
>
> Sylvia S. Edwards
> Huntsville, Alabama
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Sylvia S. Edwards
> Huntsville, Alabama
> [log in to unmask]