In those identi-kit tools that police use, there are only so many combinations of features that can be put together to produce a face. Given that these tools are actually a pretty useful and practical way of putting together composite images to identify suspects, that suggests that there are probably only so many types of faces out there. Once you restrict that to white faces, the number drops a bit, and then there would be another broad categorisation between women and men, etc.
The point of all this is that growing up in Canberra, then skiing in New Zealand, and now spending my days in the interior of BC (three of the whitest places going around), I have had a complete boatload of experience when it comes to looking at white people. Not only does the identi-kit theory of faces agree completely with my experience, but I think I've basically run out of white people face types and they're getting regularly recycled in the people I see around me.
These things seem to come in waves. First was the Sarah Jones phase, where I kept seeing people who looked like Sarah Jones. They were uncanny both in their number and in their resemblance to Sarah Jones, who - as I kept reminding myself - was not in Canada. Since then I have been through several more phases until recently, as I walked down the street, thinking I was alone and singing the Righteous Brothers' 1964 hit single "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", I was startled to pass someone who was not only giving me a strange look, but was also the spitting image of Vickie Saye. I was both stunned and embarrassed.
By rhe way, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" Was ranked by Rolling Stone as #34 in the 500 greatest rock songs of all time. Crazy.
And then there was that weird time when that guy that looked just like me visited Robi for a week!
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