Catch your eye

Posted by R. Berg on June 13, 2004

In Reply to: Catch your eye posted by Lotg on June 12, 2004

: My 6'2" American Unicorn (you never realised they grew that big did you???) used the following expression: "Well, we will see if another once catches my eye", and said that might be one for the PF site. So I've beaten him to the punch (presumably an old boxing term) and entered it myself.

: It is a funny way to describe something that grabs your attention. Anyone know the origin?

The idea behind it seems pretty straightforward to me. The eyeball moves to track a moving object. Think of "eye" as meaning "gaze." When you scan a scene and something in it attracts your attention, you'll lock onto it visually and start to follow it. The thing has "caught" your eye - engaged the eye (actually, both eyes) so that now the position of the thing will dictate the direction of your gaze, as if it were pulling your eye on a leash.