What is the difference between a squint and a lazy eye?

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...because I always thought a lazy eye was an eye that wanders off and looks in a different direction from the other eye, and that a squint was when one eye was a bit closed, like Thom Yorke has. But both my flatmates insist it's the other way round. So, which is which?

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001015/images/2003/01/31/columbo.gif

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Your flatmates are morans.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

if you squint, you are, like, peering. if something is squint, it goes, like, in the wrong direction.

I don't know the answer, I suppose.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I always thought a squint was voluntary.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought it might be a Scottish/English confusion (they are Scottish, I'm not).

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Lazy Eye & Squint Eye:
http://thm-ar1r2.search.vip.scd.yahoo.com/image/483566816 http://thm-ar1r2.search.vip.scd.yahoo.com/image/336987530

I don't know the answer either, I suppose.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

a squint means the eyes always have the same angle of difference and a lazy eye can be all over the place and even the same as the other eye, at times?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

from quasi-medical websites:
"Squint is a misalignment of the two eyes so that both the eyes are not looking in the same direction. This misalignment may be constant, being present throughout the day, or it may appear sometimes and the rest of the time the eyes may be straight. "

"Lazy eye, or amblyopia, is a common, preventable condition seen in 3 percent of all children. Lazy eye is poor vision in one or both eyes that occurs when sight does not develop normally in early childhood. Lazy eye can be caused by one eye being out of focus, an undiscovered need for glasses, or when eyes are misaligned. Cases of lazy eye are generally treated by correcting the underlying cause and stimulating visual development."

Clear enough fer ya?

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

No, RJG, that is not an option.

I have never heard anyone say a thing is squint if it goes in the wrong direction until today. Is that Scottish, maybe?

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

In America the word squint is more commonly (and apparently inappropriately) used as a verb (ie "Without his glasses on, he had to squint to read the news ticker at the bottom of the screen.").

xpost well how bout that, by that definition I have a lazy eye!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

squinty? skewiff?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks, dave225. It's not everyday I'm proven right by science.

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, wait, that doesn't prove me right at all!

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

get your eyes seen to.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait?! Are you right?

From dictionary.com: (more concise)

amblyopia: Dimness of vision, especially when occurring in one eye without apparent physical defect or disease. Also called lazy eye.

strabismus: A visual defect in which one eye cannot focus with the other on an object because of imbalance of the eye muscles. Also called squint.

Sounds like lazy eye has nothing to do with appearance of the eyes - it only has to do with vision.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

dictionary.com knows nothing. these definitions only confuse me. maybe the only way to do this is to find some pictures, and survey people by saying "squint or lazy eye?"

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

squint or lazy eye?

http://www.tvder60er.de/bilder/columbo.jpg

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

squint or lazy eye?

http://www.wezl.org/rhead/multimedia/photo/thom10.jpg

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.narragansett.k12.ma.us/nrhs/studentwork/thepack/images/sammy.jpg http://www.fynsworthalley.com/chat/images/SandyDuncan.jpg

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Aaah make it smaller make it smaller!

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Sometimes when I'm drunk or very tired my right eye (in which the sight is underdeveloped) will sorta wander away to where my eyes aren't pointing in the same direction.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I would call that a lazy eye, Nick.

In the course of researching this, I saw some pictures that made me feel very ill, so now I'm giving up. I will still tell my flatmates they are wrong and morons.

― Cathy (Cathy), Friday, 30 April 2004 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Does anyone remember when Sally in Peanutshad a lazy eye and had to wear an eyepatch?

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 30 April 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes.

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 30 April 2004 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

AAARRGGGHHH!!!

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 30 April 2004 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.vancouverlifestyles.com/ReviewPics/Gabrielle2.jpg

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 30 April 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

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