Americans tend to assume imaginary faces are male

Why people perceive faces in inanimate objects as male by default is still unclear

image of a cheese grater with a smiley face

People often see imaginary faces in everyday objects, such as this smiling face in a cheese grater. These faces were more often seen as male than female by U.S. adults in a new survey.

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There may be a reason we see a man, rather than a maiden, in the moon.