# Do all people see colors the same?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-people-see-colors-the-same/9629>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2000, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-people-see-colors-the-same/9629 "2000-03-31T13:24:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-people-see-colors-the-same/9629/41 "2000-11-14T03:47:41Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Wonko The Sane \*  
> **I can say for sure that people do not percieve the universe in the same way.  
> Here is why.**

Do the letters of the alphabet have colors for you? I associate music with colors and shapes, and I tend to associate scents with colors (skunk scent is lime green, for example.) My synaesthesia is manifested most strongly in the coloration of the alphabet and the digits 1-9 and 0.

Do you know Chinese or Japanese? If so, what colors are the ideograms? Is each ideogram one color, or are different parts different colors?

-Ben

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**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-people-see-colors-the-same/9629/42 "2000-11-14T20:31:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ben \*  
> \*\*
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Wonko The Sane \*  
> > **I can say for sure that people do not percieve the universe in the same way.  
> > Here is why.**
> 
> Do the letters of the alphabet have colors for you? I associate music with colors and shapes, and I tend to associate scents with colors (skunk scent is lime green, for example.) My synaesthesia is manifested most strongly in the coloration of the alphabet and the digits 1-9 and 0.
> 
> Do you know Chinese or Japanese? If so, what colors are the ideograms? Is each ideogram one color, or are different parts different colors?
> 
> -Ben \*\*

Some letters have colors (one or two) most do not. I associate sounds (musical and not) with colors, shapes and textures (visual textures). I know only about 4 chinese ideograms, none have colors. I’ll try to post my painting when it’s done- it seems the more I work on it, the more details I was unaware of become obvious.

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