Tell me about your synesthetic experience!

[Cat Whisperer]

(Thanks, Wonko The Sane, for leading me to my revelation!)
I just found out today that I probably am a synesthete - that is, I experience the world in a synesthetic fashion. Music has both colours and textures for me (I apparently have the "coloured hearing" version of synesthesia), and until this morning, I thought it did for everyone. It turns out that no, actually, it doesn't, and I may be a member of a fairly rare group (about one in 2000 to 100 000) who cross-associate different colours, shapes, and/or textures with words, letters, numbers, or music.

And also, astonishingly, numbers don't have gender for most people. Come on, you're telling me that in your world an eight isn't female, and a seven isn't male? Really?

Oh, I thought of another one - I repeat words after people say them sometimes, just because the feel of them is so pleasing to me. Other people do this, right?

How about it? Any other synesthetes want to share their experiences?

[Maastricht]

It's a fascinating phenomenon, isn't it? Two of my boyfriends were synesthetes, and I've always thought it must be cool to be one. Did you know are easy tests that can tell you if you're a synesthete or not? My boyfriend really saw the hidden two's much faster then I did !

I don't have much to add, as you've probably done some research yourself by now. For those who walk curiously into this thread, here is a good starting website on the phenomenon, and here are the few threads on SD about synethesia.

[LifeOnWry]

Hunh! I didn't know there was a word for that.

So I guess I am one. I can taste colors and hear shapes and textures, and yes, numbers have a gender to me - although not ALL numbers. 3 seems to be genderless, as does 9, but 4, 5 and 8 are female.

Now I gotta figure out how to pronounce this so I can impress my friend Beth, who is the only other person I know who does this.

[Lissla Lissar]

Twos are female and ultra-feminine. Threes are female but tomboyish. Fives are nerdy and male.

When I read, I find that the shape of the words has symbolic value, and that's how I recognize them. Colour and feeling, instead of just letters. I memorise poetry by the way it feels when spoken, instead of by meaning.

[Tupug Anachi]

Another one here. My letters are the colored ones but it's my numbers that have the really rich identities. Not only do they have genders but actual personalities and don't even get me started on the scenarios I developed when I was learning times tables. Until I was an adult, I thought everyone did this in varying degrees. I have one sister who has synesthesia but my children think I'm smoking crack when the subject comes up. Oh, and I'm also left-handed and wonder if there's any connection?

[Cat Whisperer]

Interesting test, Maastricht. I'm not a visual colour synesthete so the twos didn't stand out in colour for me, but I saw them instantly.

From my little bit of reading, Tupug, a lot of synesthetes are left-handed. I'm right-handed, but I do a lot of things with my left, and have no problem doing different things with each hand at the same time.

Do other synesthetes find that they think differently than other people in general? It's taken me years to realize what the expected responses to everyday things are, because my natural responses are rarely the expected ones. Writing exams was difficult because if there was a wrong way to interpret a question, I *always* answered it from that perspective.

[scott evil]

I noticed a long time ago that every musical key signature had a different "feel," some of which I now ascribe colors and visual adjectives to. D-flat major (the favorite or "important" key of many composers when it comes to ballads) is yellow. G minor is like polished brown church pews. D minor is "woody" in the same way, but more "clear" than G minor. More of a maroon. A minor is blue-green. E major is bright royal blue. F major is green. G major is reddish-brown.

And so on.

[Phlosphr]

Originally Posted by LifeOnWry

...<snip>... 3 seems to be genderless...<snip>...

Heh...I was recently told I was a metro-sexual. And 3 happenes to be my favorite number

As for the OP - When I cover Synesthetic tendencies in my intro to Psych Class, I can always tell the synesthete who just learned the word. They usually come up to me after class and want to know more about the condition.
Also, to all those who think they are synesthetic, there is no guarantee you are. Just because you smell shapes, and feel a 6 is feminine does not make you a synesthete. The condition is a complex one, and one I personally like to study. For some very nice further reading on the subject check out Synaesthesia and Synaesthetic Metaphors . It is fairly academic, but a good look at the condition. For some lighter reading check out you will certainly like Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens. Feel free to email me or post more pointed Q's if you'd like.

[Eats_Crayons]

Originally Posted by featherlou

And also, astonishingly, numbers don't have gender for most people. Come on, you're telling me that in your world an eight isn't female, and a seven isn't male? Really?

When I was younger, I had an electric organ that had numbered keys. You could play the music by folowing either the music notation OR the number sequence. "Silent Night", to me, will always be about the love affair between 10, 12, and 13. 10 and 12 were the "true loves", but 12 was stuck with 13 due only to being next to each other on the keyboard - kinda like an arranged marriage. (Strangely, for me even/odd does NOT correspond to female/male.)

Like Tupug Anachi, learning math tables was like all out narratives!

Sound ("pitch" in particular) is very much related to physical sensations for me. Headaches can have pitch. Itchiness can have pitch. Fall down? Scrape your knee? Is the sting of it a high-pitched sting or a more bassy sting?

Smells all have colour. Colours all have smells. I used to get headaches at my former job because back in in the plant area they used too much blue and the smell of blue nauseated me. I kinda liked the smell of purple though. And I do mean this quite literally. It was a printing plant -- even though everyone thought "ink just smells like INK", I knew which colours were in use by the smell.

Someone in another thread (which I assume inspired this one) mentioned having a stunning memory for things. I have the Scary Memory^tm. I'm mildly bi-polar so have always attributed it to the overall odd hardwiring of my brain -- this is the first time I ever thought of it having anything to do with synesthesiest predispositions. Would make a lot of sense though, because you'd be "recording" stuff with more than just one primary sense. My memory has always been really, really freaky as a result of the cross associations.

My most recent scary memory trick was yesterday. My neighbour said "check this out" and showed me something on video that was obviously from the 1970s. A bunch of squealing girls were holding signs that said "I love you, Lane!"...

I said: "Oh, this is an old episode of Wonder Woman! Leaf Garrett is the 'Lane' guy and he gets kidnapped and the one girl is a witness and she thinks the bad guys are going to kill him because they say they are going to take him to 'his just reward' which turns out to be the name of a boat - 'Your Just Reward'."

My neighbour's eyes bugged out. I was remembering this from it's original air date. I was dead on, right down the the line about "the just reward." My neighbour was really freaked, and I kinda got embarassed and said, "oh, I guess neither Sniffs_Markers or I ever mentioned my Scary Memory^tm before..."

Never made the connection of the cross associations to the nifty memory stuff until today though.

[rivulus]

To me, numbers have texture rather than personality. Odd numbers and especially prime numbers are hard and prickly. Even numbers are smooth and round. Palindromes and repeated patterns render numbers smoother. My SSN drives me nuts, being the most awful cactus-like combination of odd and prime numbers. My Canadian SIN is a soothing collection of gentle round numbers and a repeating pattern.

[Zebra]

I could see the 2s in that test but IANAS.

[Eats_Crayons]

Oh, I just thought of a sort of "impairment" that it causes. I absolutely, posismurfly can NOT read music. (That"2" test reminded me.")

Again and again and again, folks have tried to teach me how to read music. Nu-uh, can't. Why? The white space between the notes is never recorded consistently. Hard to explain, the pattern or "paths" of white space between the black ink of the notes and staff relates far, far better to music than the black dots. Black dots just don't sound 'that way.' So I tend to expect the white paths (which are obviously "musical" -- just look at 'em!) to convey the information I need for music. Of course it does not convey that information anymore than the margins of a page add to a story. The black dots are standardized notation, the "white paths" are not. So the white paths are different for every song.

So I get stumped by sheet music.

I've always thought that the "white paths" ought to contain the relevent information. The black dots wearing the tuxedos just don't.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

I'm a self-proclaimed synesthete; the topic came up recently here on SDMB after the "Am I the Only One" thread.

Re: Number/letter genders. For whatever reason, odd numbers are male, even ones are female, consonants, male, vowels, female (and y is male, no matter how it's used.)

As for memory, I've got the freaky memory thing going too. Especially things like phone numbers, etc. I had a boyfriend 13 years ago who bought a car, and because he got a kick out of my memory, told me the Vin #. To this day, I remember it. (I just doublechecked it against Carfax.com, and I do indeed remember it correctly.)

One of my oddest memory "talents" relates largely to reading. A perfect example: I am re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant for the first time in 15 years. As I was rereading yesterday, I was trying to remember the exact sequence of events for something that happened later in the book (because, unfortunately for me, I can't remember things like that nearly as well). I knew that the information I was looking for was on a left-hand page, three quarters of the way down the page, about 4/5 of the way through the book. I constantly index information this way - it makes it extremely easy for me to remember things I've read - in my mind's eye, I can "see" the page, the location, and with a little thought, can usually re-read the passage. Obviously, sometimes I can't, but then it's quick work for me to look it up.

I also remember words very clearly - often, I can tell you when the first time I learned a particular word was. I learned the word "lee" from The Secret of NIMH; "apoplectic" from "The Mirror of Her Dreams"; etc etc. It's really rather odd. This might also explain my uncanny (some might say annoying) ability to remember song lyrics.

I also mentioned in that thread that I assign locations to music - if I hear a song, I almost always have a place that it makes me think of. It's always a place where I heard the song before, but usually *not* the place where I heard the song for the first time. It doesn't always happen - apparently the association doesn't always stick, but 99% of the time it does; if I hear a song that I know well, it's more than likely got a "place" assigned to it. These associations have no rhyme or reason to them - there's no significant event related to them; it's not like it's the first time I heard "our" song with a boyfriend, or anything that major. Just somewhere along the way, I hear the song, the association is made, and I don't know it until the next time I hear the song.

I don't know if these quirks are related to synesthesia or not, as I said, I'm only self-diagnosed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

[Eats_Crayons]

Originally Posted by Zebra

I could see the 2s in that test but IANAS.

Oo! But you might be!

Synesthesia is actually a normal brain process. It's only really worthy of a fancy name because the sensory blendings become "obvious" (or rather involuntary) in a minority of individuals. Simply, one sense conjures up another and synesthetes notice it more.

The smell of grapes might make you think of purple, right?

Like that, just with more stuff.

Most synthesetes just figure that they have an idiosyncratic way of looking at the world. Or a vivid imagination that they project with silly notions. It's no big deal. It's not abnormal or a disorder or anything.

And make no mistake, it's not like a sensory hallucination. You could show a synthesete the letter K printed in black ink on a white background. Ask, "what colour is K?" They know the K is black, they can see that it's black ink on a white background... But the K is also green, because, conceptually K is green.

Purple smells like grapes. The number 8 is female. April is pointy.

It's synthesising information in a way that's more interesting to remember, that's for sure.

I friend of mine did a study on it in school as part of, of all things, a project on mapping (geography). The project was exploring a hypothesis that related the notion that women navigate more intuitively using landmarks to the fact that synthesetes are predominately female (great memory but spatial navigation suffers just a touch). That's not quite what the hypothesis was, but it was sort of along those lines. Something to do with the relationship of perception and navigation.

I don't remember anything about the project other than the fact that she found that the the volunteer test subjects in the art and artchitecture faculties scored way, way better on the "synesthesia test" than the engineering students.

[TJay]

Originally Posted by TellMeI'mNotCrazy

I'm a self-proclaimed synesthete; the topic came up recently here on SDMB after the "Am I the Only One" thread.

Re: Number/letter genders. For whatever reason, odd numbers are male, even ones are female, consonants, male, vowels, female (and y is male, no matter how it's used.)

As for memory, I've got the freaky memory thing going too. Especially things like phone numbers, etc. I had a boyfriend 13 years ago who bought a car, and because he got a kick out of my memory, told me the Vin #. To this day, I remember it. (I just doublechecked it against Carfax.com, and I do indeed remember it correctly.)

One of my oddest memory "talents" relates largely to reading. A perfect example: I am re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant for the first time in 15 years. As I was rereading yesterday, I was trying to remember the exact sequence of events for something that happened later in the book (because, unfortunately for me, I can't remember things like that nearly as well). I knew that the information I was looking for was on a left-hand page, three quarters of the way down the page, about 4/5 of the way through the book. I constantly index information this way - it makes it extremely easy for me to remember things I've read - in my mind's eye, I can "see" the page, the location, and with a little thought, can usually re-read the passage. Obviously, sometimes I can't, but then it's quick work for me to look it up.

I also remember words very clearly - often, I can tell you when the first time I learned a particular word was. I learned the word "lee" from The Secret of NIMH; "apoplectic" from "The Mirror of Her Dreams"; etc etc. It's really rather odd. This might also explain my uncanny (some might say annoying) ability to remember song lyrics.

I also mentioned in that thread that I assign locations to music - if I hear a song, I almost always have a place that it makes me think of. It's always a place where I heard the song before, but usually *not* the place where I heard the song for the first time. It doesn't always happen - apparently the association doesn't always stick, but 99% of the time it does; if I hear a song that I know well, it's more than likely got a "place" assigned to it. These associations have no rhyme or reason to them - there's no significant event related to them; it's not like it's the first time I heard "our" song with a boyfriend, or anything that major. Just somewhere along the way, I hear the song, the association is made, and I don't know it until the next time I hear the song.

I don't know if these quirks are related to synesthesia or not, as I said, I'm only self-diagnosed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

TellMeI'mNotCrazy , are you me? I got really weirded out reading your post, because although I don't associate numbers / letters with either gender or colour etc, every other thing you mentioned I do too!

I remember phone numbers and licence plates mainly, and can remember friends and family's respective numbers right back to when I was 11 years old; however I am absolutely useless at maths.

I do the visualising whereabouts in books certain parts are too - you just see in your head which section its in and know instantly where to go don't you?

I also have an annoying ability to remember lyrics to most songs that I've heard more than a couple of times, and I almost always associate songs with the place I heard it first.

Do you have the ability to remember useless pieces of trivia too? I'm always in demand when theres a game of Trivial Pursuit going on - I seem to retain the most unimportant information, but cannot seem to remember what I'm doing day by day.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

Originally Posted by TJay

[b]<snip>

Do you have the ability to remember useless pieces of trivia too? I'm always in demand when theres a game of Trivial Pursuit going on - I seem to retain the most unimportant information, but cannot seem to remember what I'm doing day by day.

Oh, yeah, how did I forget the trivia part? And I'll sit there and read Trivial Pursuit cards when I'm bored because it gives me a great edge the next time I play

And your last sentence probably strikes the strongest chord with me. A dear friend of mine once said, "I've never known anyone so amazingly intelligent who was such an amazing mess." I am the most disorganized, unfocused, scatterbrained person I know; I'm almost physically incapable of keeping things neat, yet I never actually seem to lose anything. (There's another good example, I *never* forget where my keys are. If they're under my bed, inside a sock, behind a book, I know that that's where I left them. Ok, clumsy example, but you get the idea). Coworkers used to call me the Hurricane, because I need only look at something for it to become an utter shambles. And yet, I need something to be an utter shambles in order for it to make any sense to me. I try to claim the whole fine line between Genius and Insanity deal but... not so sure I pull that off

[Kalhoun]

There was a lengthy thread on this once before. Absolutely fascinating, and really funny. I'm not much of a searcher in these here parts...maybe someone who's good at it can dig it up.

[Kalhoun]

And, incidently...The number 6 is yellow -- and female. Twos are red and male. One is asexual. Five is male and usually purple.

[Eats_Crayons]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

And, incidently...The number 6 is yellow -- and female. Twos are red and male. One is asexual. Five is male and usually purple.

I've always thought of 2s as black, wearing hats, and are always very serious and no-nonsense in nature.

Back when my friend did her mapping project she showed me a website put together by a major synethete, that demonstrated what a typical website looked like to her. It was really cluttered and distracting. Didn't like that at all.

I find I tend to know that Ks really are green, but it doesn't irk me to see them black on a white page. I know that K is really inherently green, by nature, but I don't see it on the page as green any more than I would see color in a black and white photo. My brain adjusts and says "oh, yeah, black ink, so the green Ks look black on the page."

This woman's page made it seem more like the Ks look green all the time.

Too much technicolor for me, it would make me bonkers.

[dangermom]

One of my oddest memory "talents" relates largely to reading. [snip] I knew that the information I was looking for was on a left-hand page, three quarters of the way down the page, about 4/5 of the way through the book. I constantly index information this way - it makes it extremely easy for me to remember things I've read - in my mind's eye, I can "see" the page, the location, and with a little thought, can usually re-read the passage. Obviously, sometimes I can't, but then it's quick work for me to look it up.

I also remember words very clearly - often, I can tell you when the first time I learned a particular word was. I learned the word "lee" from The Secret of NIMH; "apoplectic" from "The Mirror of Her Dreams"; etc etc. It's really rather odd. This might also explain my uncanny (some might say annoying) ability to remember song lyrics.

I also mentioned in that thread that I assign locations to music - if I hear a song, I almost always have a place that it makes me think of. ...[snip] I hear the song, the association is made, and I don't know it until the next time I hear the song.

I do all of these things, some words have shapes for me, and some letters/numbers have a bit of personality, but not like what is being described here. I noticed those 2's right away on that website. My book club has started teasing me for my ability to look up almost any passage in a book within seconds.

But I really don't think I qualify for this. I suppose it exists on a continuum, like (extreme example) autism and so on? Perhaps I'm at the very low end of the spectrum. It sounds neat, I wish I had this.

[beckwall]

The letter H is purple. The number 8 is female and green. A circle is always yellow (the sun?). And my memory is astonishing but my house is a mess. I remember that I have something important and I know where I put it, but "they" (Mr. Beckwall) tend to move things. Feh.

I've been told that I used the word "unique" in a sentence when I was three.

I can read music, but more importantly I smell it and feel it in my veins.

Cool, huh?

[Mangetout]

Tuesday and Thursday are green, but Thursday is a dark, dusty green (like eucalyptus leaves, whereas Tuesday is the verdant lime-green, like new leaves.

[Mangetout]

Sunday is red and greyish, in fact it is made from red-oxide painted box-section steel, set into a large rectangular block of concrete with chamfered edges and a thin film of pale green algae.

[OpalCat]

Originally Posted by TellMeI'mNotCrazy

As I was rereading yesterday, I was trying to remember the exact sequence of events for something that happened later in the book (because, unfortunately for me, I can't remember things like that nearly as well). I knew that the information I was looking for was on a left-hand page, three quarters of the way down the page, about 4/5 of the way through the book. I constantly index information this way - it makes it extremely easy for me to remember things I've read - in my mind's eye, I can "see" the page, the location, and with a little thought, can usually re-read the passage. Obviously, sometimes I can't, but then it's quick work for me to look it up.

This is how I remember things in books, too. I can remember the position on the page, and the position of the page in the book, etc... but I can't ever remember the characters' names!

I also feel colors and temperatures and so on with words, numbers, sounds and such. "Gray" and "grey" are not the same color, for example (the first is more yellowy/brown, the second more blue) ...

In addition, thoughts as I think them form shapes and colors. I refer to them as "mind blips" and they are sort of freeform blobs that I see in my peripheral vision as I think. A given thought will have a certain general shape, texture, and color.

[LeeshaJoy]

I tend to associate letters and numbers not with colors or genders, but with shades of grey. I imagine the alphabet laid out against a background which shades in and out of different greys, from pure white to black. A is set on a kind of medium gray which shades off to pure white at around G or H, abruptly turns black at L, turns back to a light grey at Q, and shades back toward a darker grey as you approach Z.

The number line is similar. 1-4 are set on gray shading off to white at 5-10. 11-13 are increasingly darker grays, and 14-20 are against pure black. From there it's a bit harder to quantify the exact shades, but whenever you go up a digit the background gets several shades lighter or darker (100 is a lot darker than 99, 1,000 is a lot brighter than 999, and so forth).

I'm coming down with a spring flu right now, so I apologize if this doesn't make any sense.

[Eats_Crayons]

Originally Posted by dangermom

But I really don't think I qualify for this. I suppose it exists on a continuum, like (extreme example) autism and so on? Perhaps I'm at the very low end of the spectrum. It sounds neat, I wish I had this.

You can't really say "I wish I had this." It's not really a disorder as much as an awareness of the way one is processing information and a hint of free association. From what I remember of my friend, N's, project (which is very little), the basics of it are related to the way your brain processes language.

For example, a voice makes a sound like "KAAAT". Your brain conjures up the image of a small, pointy-eared, whiskered creature that likes to shit behind the couch, right?

You smell a slightly acidic citrus smell and your brain conjures up the notion "orange", right?

It is exactly that kind of process. Just with added bits of info based on associations you map from other analogous sources. Your brains is distilling information with little "hints" so that it's easier to find in your mental filing system. Your brain creates analogies. Helps you remember.

If someone asked you "what does green taste like?" You could probably think about it and give a good answer. The synesthete doesn't need to stop and think about it, it's kind of involuntary, inherent perception. "Green tastes like soap."

[Cat Whisperer]

I read that the difference between a synesthete and a non-synesthete is that the synesthete still has all the connections that their brain made early in life (I think that was from one of your links, Maastricht), and the non-synesthete's brain was more discerning and reduced the number of cross-connections with more life experience and realizing all the cross-connections weren't necessary.

So on the one hand, a synesthete is able to associate any number of things almost randomly, but a non-synesthete may be a more efficient thinker for the things they think of most often. Different kinds of brains for diffferent purposes, I think. I run things by my husband to make sure that I'm not about to embark on something completely impractical (in my head, *anything* will work), but I am able to almost think around corners - my problem-solving abilities are much greater than his (in my mind, anyway - he may not agree).

[LifeOnWry]

Originally Posted by Eats_Crayons

"Green tastes like soap."

OK, now that is just freakin' WEIRD. Because that is very very similar to something I said to (my aforementioned friend) Beth just the other day... and she understood exactly what I meant.

The memory thing - I want to learn more on that, because my memory has been a family legend forever, both because of what I can and what I can't remember.

Phlosphr - I will check out your links when I have some more time on my hands, but out of quick curiosity, is there anything in there about being able to feel the temperature of a color? You know how there's cool colors and warm colors, right, but that's a visual temperature thing? I can SOMETIMES tell what color something is by touch, without seeing it.

[furthur]

Why do you people keep saying 8 is green?

It isn't green. It's obviously yellow. And mean, it's the meanest number.

Six is the green one, and it's also mean, but not as good at it yet. Four is brown, smaller, and needs to be protected.

Five is blue.

Three is red -- just a baby, and gets its feelings hurt.

One was white -- the true baby. And I believe nine was purple, and parent-like.

When I was in math class, I did terribly, because I'd sit there analyzing the way multi-digit numbers were interacting with each other. Simple mathematical operations would create whole families with personality conflicts.

Or I'd think about how 64 meant that the mean older brother was picking on the honest, good younger brother... while 86 meant sheer nastiness.

I'm still no good at math, but I at least I don't get as distracted by this anymore. Is it possible to grow out of it somewhat? Or does that mean I'm not a genuine synesthete to begin with, but merely a kid with an overactive imagination or something?

I think 2 was orange. But I can't really see her anymore.

Mrs. Furthur

[Lissla Lissar]

I remember where on the page a quote is, too.

Does anyone else randomly anthropomorphize? I think I spelled that wrong. I've always thought of cars as large animals, and associated the makeup of the front grill areas with facial features. Some of them look friendly, some don't. And 'friendly' means that they feel a certain colour, and have mental furryness.

I sound insane.

And two is clearly frilly and pink.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

I remember where on the page a quote is, too.

Does anyone else randomly anthropomorphize? I think I spelled that wrong. I've always thought of cars as large animals, and associated the makeup of the front grill areas with facial features. Some of them look friendly, some don't. And 'friendly' means that they feel a certain colour, and have mental furryness.

I sound insane.

And two is clearly frilly and pink.

Well I never used to see cars as beings until one day my daughter said, "Look, Mommy, it's a happy car!" I looked, and it was a VW Beetle, and those definitely give the impression of a dopey grin. Now I can't see a VW without seeing the smile. But otherwise, nope, not me

[OpalCat]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

Does anyone else randomly anthropomorphize?

I am better about this now that I'm older, but only because I rationalize with myself... the gut instinct is still there: I will anthropomorphize ANYTHING and then I'll start feeling guilty about not treating it appropriately. Like getting worried about hurting the toilet paper roll's feelings if I throw it away when there are still a couple of squares left on it, or making sure that the last few Cheerios floating in the bowl float together so that they don't get lonely and scared.

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by OpalCat

I also feel colors and temperatures and so on with words, numbers, sounds and such. "Gray" and "grey" are not the same color, for example (the first is more yellowy/brown, the second more blue) ...

Now, see...I see "grey" as a greenish-yellow gray and "gray" as a much "bluer" gray. Both are cool, but I can use "grey" in a painting with warm colors more easily than "gray."

[OpalCat]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

Now, see...I see "grey" as a greenish-yellow gray and "gray" as a much "bluer" gray. "

Well, you're obviously wrong.

[RainGrowsBrite]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

I remember where on the page a quote is, too.

Does anyone else randomly anthropomorphize? I think I spelled that wrong. I've always thought of cars as large animals, and associated the makeup of the front grill areas with facial features. Some of them look friendly, some don't. And 'friendly' means that they feel a certain colour, and have mental furryness.

I sound insane.

And two is clearly frilly and pink.

I totally do that... all the time. And not just with cars. I've always done that.

Its weird- reading over this thread, I do so many of these things and ive never really thought about it being abnormal. I dont see colors in numbers or letters but I can feel the personalities, but its not really specific. Also I feel things with months but not with days. Like August is red, May is blue and white. September is lonely. So weird, I never really sat down and though about it until a few days ago when I first learned about Synethesia. I dont think I am a synethsete but I do have some of the qualities.

I totally do the reading thing too by the way. My memory is really weird. I remember in shapes and sizes and letters. Like I have filing cabinets in my head. I just figure its apart of having a photgraphic memory.

Anyway, I really like hearing about this. Its fascinating.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

I definitely don't consider my memory to be photographic - I'd probably have done a lot better on some tests if it were. But it does seem to be extremely visual. I do know that I freak many people out with it. I had a boss (best boss in the world he was) who at first could not fathom my memory. We had a great working relationship - we always said I was the Radar to his Henry. He always got a kick out of the fact that I never needed a notebook in our meetings - he'd rattle off all kinds of information, different meeting dates, project notes, reports he wanted, changes that needed to be made, and I'd nod and agree. And I never forgot. The first few times he was skeptical, but after seeing that I really did remember it all, he stopped expressing his doubts.

The great thing about our Radar/Henry relationship was the ability to completely wig out other people, as well as ourselves. We'd be sitting in a meeting with several developers, project managers, etc. At some point in the meeting, he'd stop, and just look at me, and I'd rattle off a number - 2488, for example. He'd dial it on the conference phone and have some person join the conference. All this without words - just based on the conversation up to that point, and my knowledge of him and his thought process, I'd know why he stopped, who he wanted to call, and the extension for that person. It never failed to drop jaws. Other things like me heading into his office with a report that he hadn't asked for yet, as he was picking up the phone to call me to ask for it. Nothing psychic, just a really great synergy. Man, I miss working for him.

[Eats_Crayons]

Originally Posted by furthur

Four is brown, smaller, and needs to be protected.

Well, duh. Everyone knows that. But no worries. 5 watches over 4 like an older sibling.

featherlou - Yeah, you summarized it far better than me. (About the difference between synths and non-synths). Everyone's brains sort of works that way, but most folks learn to ignore the extra associations as they get older.

OpalCat and Kalhoun... Opal's greys are correct. "Grey" is definitely the bluey one. If you look in a Pantone book, "grey" would be like Cool Grey 10 and "gray" is more like "Warm Gray 10."

(Of course the Pantone book spells "grey" the same throughout. Details! Details!)

[DeVena]

I have the freaky memory thing going. I once (ONCE!) read the cards to Trivial Pursuit when I was 16. To this day my family will not play TP with me - it's been 20 years, people!! I also remember books by page. It was a great help in studying.

And I have the color/smell thing. In the 5th or 6th grade, when we were learning "The Miracle Worker", our teacher gave us the question "How would you describe the color Blue to someone who's blind?" She intended it to be some big mind-opening debate. Not for me... "Blue is cool and smooth, and smells like a new Barbie doll." I was amazed that colors didn't have smells and textures for everyone.

Lessee....

Blue - cool and smooth, smells like new vinyl.
Red - sharp and warm, smells like leather.
Green - nubby and warm, smells like toluene (kinda like a sweet nail polish remover).
Yellow - soft and cool, smells like orange oil.
Orange - hard and hot, smells like alcohol.
Purple - prickly and cold, smells like snow. (Whaddaya mean, snow doesn't have a smell?)
White - furry and warm, smells like rain on a hot day.

And I've always been able to read music. Even changing the clef didn't bother me, even at a young age. I don't have perfect pitch, but I have learned pitch (or conditioned). My boss came in here earlier humming a note - he's in training today and the teacher is using a bell. "What's this note?" "Well, B or Bb depending." He was actually a 1/4 step below B.

[OpalCat]

WHAT!?!? You are so totally smoking crack! Vinyl smells yellow. Duuuh!

[Bongmaster]

Anyone who takes enough LSD or other psychoactive drug can experience this with very vivid intensity. I've had several trips where I could hear colors and see sounds. And when I say vivid I mean in-your-face-the-whole-world-moving vivid. I've experienced colors and sounds I never knew existed in that state.

[TellMeI'mNotCrazy]

Originally Posted by Bongmaster

Anyone who takes enough LSD or other psychoactive drug can experience this with very vivid intensity. I've had several trips where I could hear colors and see sounds. And when I say vivid I mean in-your-face-the-whole-world-moving vivid. I've experienced colors and sounds I never knew existed in that state.

So, tell me... How'd you pick your user name?

[Lissla Lissar]

originally posted by Opalcat
I am better about this now that I'm older, but only because I rationalize with myself... the gut instinct is still there: I will anthropomorphize ANYTHING and then I'll start feeling guilty about not treating it appropriately. Like getting worried about hurting the toilet paper roll's feelings if I throw it away when there are still a couple of squares left on it, or making sure that the last few Cheerios floating in the bowl float together so that they don't get lonely and scared.

Are you me? Just checking.

Apologising to chairs for sitting down too hard? Patting houseplants? Saying hello and goodbye to rooms? I don't do it all the time, but I do at least sometimes. I've gotten extremely angry when someone has sat on one of my stuffed animals, even though I know they aren't real and don't have feelings, because some irrational part of my brain insists that they do, and they're hurt.

I am a loony.

[tesseract]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

Apologising to chairs for sitting down too hard? Patting houseplants? Saying hello and goodbye to rooms?... I am a loony.

I didn't know there was a word for it! My worst one is when cooking food -- I always feel sorry for the last little bits of pasta if they don't make it from the pan to the serving dish or wherever. I usually have to unstick them from the pan or save them from the sink, wash them off, and include them in the meal so they don't feel useless and abandoned. I often talk to inanimate objects, pat them, or apologize for bumping into them too....

[jackelope]

This is fascinating; I knew I was a synesthete, but didn't realize how many ways I'm not one. For example, individual digits have no connotations at all to me, but sequences of digits do; a phone number, for example, can be Wagnerian, or bubbly, or uphill. (I can't explain the "uphill" one at all. Just trust me.)

I also have a great memory, though sometimes it lets me down; I have one friend whose phone number I could never, ever remember because it was too "American Revolution-y." And no, it didn't have -1776 in it.

Songs, and some musical keys, often have strange attributes. G minor is a pale, washed-out green. A piano, if played fast way down at the lower end of its range, sounds spidery.

Certain things can smell "round," or taste "warm" (having nothing to do with temperature or spiciness; salads often taste warm), or sound "tight," or feel "mean."

In short: Yeah, I got that.

[LifeOnWry]

Re-reading all the posts in this thread, I have come to a startling conclusion.

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO weird.

jackelope - Your post just reminded me how difficult it is to explain to someone why I can only eat chocolate in the winter, because chocolate is a warm food.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by TellMeI'mNotCrazy

I definitely don't consider my memory to be photographic - I'd probably have done a lot better on some tests if it were. But it does seem to be extremely visual. I do know that I freak many people out with it. I had a boss (best boss in the world he was) who at first could not fathom my memory. <snip>. Other things like me heading into his office with a report that he hadn't asked for yet, as he was picking up the phone to call me to ask for it. Nothing psychic, just a really great synergy. Man, I miss working for him.

My sisters and I do this (I suspect at least one of them is also a synesthete - I'm going to ask them at lunch today). My younger sister and I are especially good at this - she'll say something like "It's that guy from that movie" and I'll know which guy she means and which movie. I'm also able to anticipate people - I think synesthetes are "big picture" people, and are able to see from where a conversation is to where it is going.

And yes, my memory is also extremely visual. I can't learn at all from hearing - I usually read the textbook and ignore the teacher because I just don't get anything from them.

[OpalCat]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

Are you me? Just checking.

[snip]
I've gotten extremely angry when someone has sat on one of my stuffed animals, even though I know they aren't real and don't have feelings, because some irrational part of my brain insists that they do, and they're hurt.

I think you may be me.

I actually got back out of my car and went back in the house to move one of my son's stuffed animals because I felt so guilty at leaving him in such an uncomfortable position when leaving the house.

[rivulus]

Originally Posted by OpalCat

I am better about this now that I'm older, but only because I rationalize with myself... the gut instinct is still there: I will anthropomorphize ANYTHING and then I'll start feeling guilty about not treating it appropriately. Like getting worried about hurting the toilet paper roll's feelings if I throw it away when there are still a couple of squares left on it, or making sure that the last few Cheerios floating in the bowl float together so that they don't get lonely and scared.

My parents used to use my tendency to anthropomorphize pretty much anything to guilt me into all sorts of stuff, like getting me to finish the last peas on my plate (They're so lonely without their friends) or pick up stuff (It wants to be with its friends in the closet). I made the mistake of telling my partner about this one day... so now she uses it on me to finish the last serving of food, or whatever. I'm thirty-six years old, for heaven's sake, and it still works! I have to stick my two contact lenses together when I throw them out so neither one will be lonely in the trash after I so rudely discard them. Argh.

[Lissla Lissar]

Yes, we are the same person. I apologise when I leave my stuffed animals for long periods, and leave the biggest one in charge. I do that with my cats, too. Even if my husband's going to be home.

I really am a loony.

I've never done the pasta-feelings-thing, but I can totally understand it.

[Phlosphr]

Originally Posted by LifeOnWry

...<snip>...
Phlosphr - I will check out your links when I have some more time on my hands, but out of quick curiosity, is there anything in there about being able to feel the temperature of a color? You know how there's cool colors and warm colors, right, but that's a visual temperature thing? I can SOMETIMES tell what color something is by touch, without seeing it.

Ok I wanted to re-visit this topic again because there are some things that need to be understood about synesthetics. A true synesthete has a cognitive biologic condition. Other's who think they are synethetes do not have the biologic aspect to their cognitive processes.
Case in point: ^{And this deals with what Lifeonwry asks above:}

Our human, simple, habit of association is often confused with being a true synesthetic. For instance, color's often have feeling like blue often feels cool, because we associate blue with cool things, i.e. ice, water etc...etc... Red often feels hot because we associate it with hot things like a red hot stove or a hot tomale. Purple often feels soft, and inviting, as does pink or light green.
Numbers and letters can eb associated with feelings and perceptions as well. The number 1 may feel like a pointy number, because it resembles pointed things. the number 0 or letter O may feel like a soft, or calming number or letter because of it's appearance.
Shapes, sometimes a true synesthete will describe a home cooked meal by assigning the different smells with shapes, such as columns or sphere's or cubes or a trapazoid...Some of the finest chef's in the world are true synesthetes! We know why, right?
Memory - true synesthetes usually have wonderful memories and in psychology we classify this type of memory not as photographic anymore but as Iconic memory. Synesthete's use so many empirical senses to remember things, and the pathways the memories take into our storage factories within our mind are somehow different than those of people who are not true synesthetes. We all have memories that have been dormant for years right? We all remember a touch, or a smell that we have not felt or smelled in years past...Why just the other day I was passing by an ice cream truck when I caught a wiff of a rocket popsicle...you know the red white and blue popsicles...
Well I have not had one of those in 20 years...but as soon as I smelled it, I remembered playing little league when I was 10 and getting one of those every time practice was over. Memory is a wonderful thing to study, and in the case of true synesthetes...it is double rewarding to understand the ins and outs of how those wonderful people work!