I haven’t anything to add to this thread, except I thought that by virtue of your username and your story, you’d relate to this fellow’s experience. Yes, I already posted it to the youtube thread.
See, now that’s pretty cool. I don’t… well, I don’t think I have the letter/number colour thing. I mean, I do think of them, in my head, as a certain colour, because it seems right, however, in my case, I think it might be conditioning. A for me is red. Because “A” is for “apple” and apples are red. B is blue, because blue starts with b. C is yellow because C is for corn, or possibly a yellow cat. D is green, though. I don’t quite know why. And they seem to be primary colours. They loop, too, so blue does not belong exclusively to B; E is also blue, for example.
The numbers correspond with the letters. 1=A=red, 2=B=blue, etc.
However, unlike the sounds, I don’t see it. I more picture it, in my head. Does that make any sense? With sounds, for me, there is a distinct physical manifestation of the sound. For example, I close the mailbox I go to every day, BAM! It makes an unmistakable orange sound. It’s only a split second, but it’s there, and has always been there. But the lettering on the mailbox remains white. In my head, if I picture a letter individually, it has a colour. So it’s a different thing altogether, I believe.
What color is a Mozart sonata?
Holy crap. I’m pretty sure my experience wasn’t that traumatic, but like I said, I’m still pretty blurry about the time after the strikes.
The first time, a guy about a hundred feet away was hurt more than I was. He was using a powerdrill at the time, and must’ve been grounded- he got a fairly bad burn on his hand.
I went to gaol for a while on remand for a murder, but the real guy was caught quite quickly. That wasn’t actually that bad, but then again I did go to a public school and had total confidence that I would get out, and frankly I didn’t have much better to do at the time.
I have very mild syntethesia too, in that I can hear white.
Something that I’m quite sure most people won’t have done is eat the world’s hottest curry successfuly, see www.curryhell.com. That was quite an acheivement, and I still have the certificate.
I also, although this is self diagnosed, have pretty much all the symptoms of sociopathy. Also have a very different brain to most people, can’t really express myself but have a fantastic memory and intellect.
Depends on the sonata, and which movement. However, Mozart tends to use a lot of pinks/peaches/yellows, in my limited experience with his works. Eine Klien Nachtmusik is a great example of this, and he dips into some nice low lavenders, as well. He’s a pretty pastel composer, for the most part. I have a feeling that this statement won’t be all that surprising to most people, and that’s what makes me wonder if maybe, on some unknown level, everyone has synesthesia to some degree.
With music, there’s no definitive colour, they are melded and blended and much more pleasing than, say, the straightforwardness of the orange mailbox sound.
!!!
I’ve always thought musical keys had colours and colours had tastes… is that what that is?
I had absolutely no idea that there was a name for that phenomenon, Anastaseon, until you mentioned it: I have a mild form of synesthesia too. My mind automatically associates all letters and numbers with particular colors–A is red, 2 is green, etc. (I just tried imagining a black A, and it consciously takes me more effort to imagine that than the dark red I automatically associate with it.) My mom has mild synesthesia also, but a different form: she hears all numbers has having particular pitches, much like the keypad on a phone.
I rolled my car over last year. I only broke my hand, and that only happened because the window was open. I broke it in three places, mangled my wedding set (yay for my service plan, it was fixed at no cost), busted the clasp on my Seiko (that did cost) and totaled the car. I still have a little osteoarthritis in my left index finger and my pinky nail grows in a little weird where I fractured the nail bed, but no real damage.
I was back to work as a data entry and blueprint clerk in three days. I didn’t have a cast but my hand looked really really ugly and swollen and purple so I wore a sock over it with my thumb sticking out. I named it Zombie Hand and it spoke in a Caribbean voice, usually as I handed prints to project managers…
Kythereia, I just looked it up, and that first thing you mentioned would be music —> color synesthia. The second would be a variant as well.
Is it strange that I’m finding this synesthesia topic so interesting? I just realized (after browsing on Wikipedia for a bit) that I have another form of mild synesthesia too–number form synesthesia, where numbers appear to have certain positions in relationship to each other. I imagine the number 1-100 to be positioned exactly as they are arranged on a Chutes and Ladders board (it probably resulted from playing this game so much as a kid, I just learned the numbers that way).
I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I do have to ask: so you’re actually seeing a blob of orange? Does it obscure other things in view? If I were to run towards you with a big speaker, would you see a big blob of colour instead of me?
Wow, that is so bizarrely, weirdly awesome. 
I kept thinking as I played scales on the piano–and actually wrote down once–that c sounded like sunshiney yellow ranging to gold, d was a shamrock to deep forest green, e was a bright royal purple, f went from peach-orange to burnished brass, g was blue and g-flat was an indigo colour, a was fire-engine to dark crimson red and a-flat was pink, b was mahogany to chocolate brown and b-flat was lighter, more vanilla mocha… and I thought I was completely off my gourd.
Also, yellow tasted like lemon meringue and silver tasted like champagne, and gold tasted like butterscotch and black tasted like licorice. Blue tasted like water, oddly enough. Green tasted like cucumbers and red tasted like tomatoes or strawberries, and white tasted like French vanilla ice cream, and orange tasted like a sun-ripened peach, and purple tasted like red wine. And again, I thought I was nuts.
Wicked cool. 
I’ve played on stage, as part of a band, to about 20,000 people at a large music festival. It’s actually more relaxed and laid-back than an average club show because there’s a real disconnect between you and the audience - the closest people in the front row are 50+ feet away and you can’t even really see them.
THAT’S funny!!
If I eat asparagus I can smell it in my urine.
I didn’t think I experienced the sound/colour synesthesia, but when I read the question asking what colour a Mozart sonata is, that is almost exactly what my answer would have been - very light and delicately coloured. Beethoven is much more brightly coloured - dark, even.
No, I’d know it was a dude with a speaker, there would just be orange around the speaker. Well, orange if the sound it was making is orange. Also, it depends on the type of sound and the volume. If the speaker were making harsh sounds, it might almost look like jagged edges are coming out of it. If it were making more mellow sounds, it would be more rounded.
You know like how they draw the sounds coming out of speakers in comics or cartoons (only sans music notes)? I just thought that was normal - it’s a similar idea, if a bit exaggerated in cartoons. I didn’t realise those artists were drawing it but not, in reality, seeing it in a similar fashion (or perhaps some were? The originators of the concept, maybe?). It never obscures your view of something else, it’s just as natural as… well, damnit, it’s as natural as the sounds rolling in waves out of a speaker! 
“Well, I mean you’ve… been… with a lady…”
When I was a little kid (2-6) I got chased by a Cobra.
We were posted in New Dehli and were vacationing up north at some moderately wealthy guy’s house. There was a garden we kids weren’t supposed to go to because of snakes. Naturally me and a kid from a different family had to go there, so one morning we climbed down a hill into the garden. I turned to say something to my friend E., but she was gone, running up the hill as fast as she could. I turned around and saw the biggest snake I’ve ever seen in the wild. For a brief moment I stared at it. I remember thinking to myself, “I should run now.” So I turned and fled. Later while we were getting yelled at by hysterical parents, It was confirmed to be a Cobra. I should say it wasn’t really chasing me, but it was moving slowly in my direction.
It’s my earliest coherent memory. And yet, today, I have no fear of snakes.
Once, when I was 12, I attended summer camp in the middle of the woods. I came back with a rather painful ear, which my mother insisted was swimmer’s ear and tried all sorts of home remedies like alcohol and peroxide treatments and such.
“But MooOoom, I can hear something moving in there! I think there’s a bug in my ear!”
“Nonsense, you just have swimmer’s ear.”
But after several weeks of pain and strange noises (you’re just imagining things! It’s swimmer’s ear!) we went to the doctor, who took one look in my ear, yelped “Sweet Jesus!” and immediately called one of his colleagues in. They too freaked out when they looked in my ear. The entire office staff got a good look, too, including the receptionist. I was the entertainment for the day. And why?
There was a tick the size of Boston in my ear.
So they smothered it with Vaseline and waited for it to die, and were able to extract it without too much difficulty. It was massive, about the size of the end of your pinky. No real lasting damage done, though I do seem to have a bit of an equilibrium problem. I fall over rather easily, sometimes when I’m just standing around. I do yoga to work on my balance issues. However, my real issue: I can’t stand having anything or anyone near my ears. When bees buzz by my ears I shriek and cover them up. I’ve been known to reflexively swing at anyone attempting to give me a wet willy. My (very amusing :rolleyes: ) friends used to play a joke on new acquaintances, daring them to stick their finger in my ear. I’m sure it’s hilarious to bystanders, because I go into instinctive attack mode.
Speaking of attack mode… I’ve also been in a couple of brawls. Never intentionally. I grabbed one half of a cat fight and walked her down the street (because the other girl was very aggressive and, despite the fight being broken up 3 times, kept coming after the girl), only to have the other half chase us down, and when I told her to leave this (much smaller, intoxicated, and terrified 16 year old) alone, she slapped me. Which I didn’t take kindly too, and reciprocated.
Although I don’t hit like a girl, so she got punched in the face rather than slapped. My girlfriends ran to assist me in subduing the idotic girl so that her useless boyfriend could drag her off (finally! I guess he took notice when she started hitting girls that hit back), and one (rather irritated by having to break up the earlier fights) kicked her in the crotch rather hard. I bet that hurt.
I used to be a bit of a hoodlum, but didn’t get into that whole mindless violence thing young punks seem to like a lot. But if you hit me, I will hit you back. And a lot harder.
And boyfriends, don’t let your drunk girlfriend start fights while you stand around like a useless lump. Because they’ll get a couple of black eyes, and a very sore crotch.*
*[sub]I’m really a very sweet person, I just have a bit of a temper. And a very good right hook.[/sub]