# weird word associations **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834 "2010-02-13T06:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/1 "2010-02-13T06:32:57Z")
Does anyone else do this? For some reason I associate the word seven with the word purple. I have even written purple when I meant to write seven, and vice versa. I also mix up the numbers 7 and 4 but I think this is just because they are similarly shaped when I write them. Just out of curiosity, does anyone else do the same thing with seemingly unrelated words? ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/2 "2010-02-13T07:21:59Z")
Maybe you have a touch of synesthesia. Your association of seven with purple seems like a classic “symptom” (it’s not really a disease, some might even call it a gift). ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/3 "2010-02-13T08:28:36Z")
That makes me feel fancy! Kind of like I have a slightly lame 6th sense. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/4 "2010-02-13T14:49:47Z")
I have this weird associations with words and song lyrics. I don’t know how common that is though. For instance, I can’t ever hear or say the words “The heat is on” without thinking of Glenn Frey’s The Heat Is On song. It happens every time. Oh hell it’s there right now! Same with Stranger in a Strange Land. That book title always ALWAYS makes me think of the Billy Joel song We Didn’t Start The Fire. My lame 6th sense is even lamer. I’m the worst superhero ever. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/5 "2010-02-13T15:39:43Z")
Not words, but smells. Good pipe tobacco smells like a very specific shade of purple, but I don’t know why I associate the two. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/6 "2010-02-13T16:05:46Z")
We touched on weird associations in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544227&highlight=pebble+girl). There’s some weird stuff going on there… ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/7 "2010-02-13T17:32:05Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I have this weird associations with words and song lyrics. I don’t know how common that is though. My mother has a similar thing, but I kind of think she does it on purpose to irritate me. She can come up with a song that contains literally any phrase I say to her. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/8 "2010-02-13T18:59:02Z")
For some unknown reason the number 5 and the letter F seem interchangeable to me. I have frequently used a 5 instead of an F in writing and have even written out the number five as ‘5ive’. I don’t know why I do this. And I don’t know why it never happens with ‘four’. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-word-associations/528834/9 "2010-02-13T21:12:33Z")
I get F and 5 confused, too, (and B and 8) but not nearly as often as C and 3. When I spent a summer doing molecular biology and working with a bunch of genes named things like “F08G5.6” or “C32H11.12” I realized that this was a problem.