Cartocacoethes was a term first coined by John Krygier from the Making Maps blog to describe “a mania, uncontrollable urge, compulsion or itch to see maps everywhere.”
The cartographic equivalent to seeing Jesus in burnt toast, the terminology is a concatenation of the greek word for map (khartes) and cacoethes, a Greek word meaning “an irresistible urge to do something inadvisable.”
Australia in a puddle
The Australian Department of Defence published this photo in 2005 in its newspaper, Army, writing “ADF personnel deployed to Sudan were given a unique reminder of their island home with a picture on a track. Rain left this mud map in potholes, bearing a striking resemblance to Australia.”
Read next: Here Be Dragons: The Facts and Fictions of Mapmakers
