17 Photos Without Any Context That Will Leave You "Hmmm"

Robert Whitman-Byrne
Sep 08, 2022
Sep 08, 2022

Some photographs just cannot be understood until the appropriate context is given for them. Some pictures are merely dubious for a variety of reasons, whether it's a cat flying through the air or a dog galloping on a horse.
It can be really frustrating to be confused. It seemed to be the only feeling I had during my high school physics class, and it was the bane of my existence. when I try to complete my taxes? I don't like being confused, once more. But occasionally, perplexity can simply be entertaining.
Welcome to the "hmmm" subreddit, shall we say. R/hmmm, a community with nearly 2 million members and the tagline "Internet as an art," is well known for publishing some of the most puzzling images online.
This group focuses on trying to understand delightfully bizarre photographs, with very basic posting guidelines like "no text in the image (excluding standard logos)" and "all titles must be "hmmm" (in lowercase). We've compiled a compilation of some of the funniest and most perplexing images below that we hope you'll enjoy. Enjoy these images, but take care not to strain your brain trying to comprehend them.
In a college stand-up comedy class, we learned that our brains use humor to deal with bewilderment when faced with situations that don't make sense to us or contradict what we already know yet are nevertheless viewed as normal. For instance, circumstances that we would never anticipate occurring in real life, like a dog operating a taxicab or kids dressed in suits working in an office, can be immensely humorous if presented as commonplace events.
The foundation of the well-known subgenre of deadpan comedy is this concept. In order to emphasize the absurdity of a joke, deadpan, or dry humor, "uses a lack of emotion and facial emotions." Many of the "hmmm" posts appear to be using this kind of humor. A peculiar or perplexing circumstance that merely happens to exist without any justification.