# What's the Word for Sensory Crossover - like '5' is blue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026 "2011-03-17T14:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/1 "2011-03-17T14:52:12Z")
Some people see different numbers having different colors, or seem to have letters and numbers ‘stored’ close together in their brains (like if I’m tired, I often write a 2 for an ‘r’). I know there’s a word - I’m having a mental block and can’t figure out how to google it. Lil help? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/2 "2011-03-17T14:53:29Z")
Synesthesia ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/3 "2011-03-17T14:56:53Z")
Danke! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/4 "2011-03-17T14:57:48Z")
That’s not Synesthesia. It’s Paint-By-Number. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/5 "2011-03-17T15:22:15Z")
And 5 isn’t blue, it’s yellow-green. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/6 "2011-03-17T15:38:04Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And 5 isn’t blue, it’s yellow-green. When it is written out as a number, of course it is yellow-green although I would argue more like green-yellow. However, FIVE spelled out does contain mostly blue or blueish letters so some people refer to it as a blue word. At least everyone agrees that 5 smells like the forest. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/7 "2011-03-17T15:57:03Z")
My theory is that we learn this stuff from our childhood toys. My home state (Virginia) is blue for this reason, from a wood map/puzzle I had when I was little. So Connecticut, Rhode Island and some other tiny state are all the same color, blue also I think. Maine is Red (like the number 4.) Vermont and New Hampshire are teal - because of the Monopoly board. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/8 "2011-03-17T16:32:06Z")
I remember seeing something about synesthesia on Dateline or some show like it. The host of that segment kept reminding the TV audience that people who have it are NOT crazy, are NOT dangerous, and are NOT contageous. That was the first in my life it occurred to me some people are NOT synesthetic. But suddenly I feared being tarred and feathered by those people. Anyway, 5 is yellow-green, 4 is black, Virginia is purple, and A is female. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/9 "2011-03-17T18:14:49Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > My theory is that we learn this stuff from our childhood toys. My home state (Virginia) is blue for this reason, from a wood map/puzzle I had when I was little. So Connecticut, Rhode Island and some other tiny state are all the same color, blue also I think. Maine is Red (like the number 4.) Vermont and New Hampshire are teal - because of the Monopoly board. If you’re implying that the phenomenon isn’t ‘real,’ then I think you’re mistaken. In this [Scientific American article](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-synesthesia), they talk about a test (in the dead tree version, they showed a couple of pictures) that you can take - and apparently online there are some sinesthesia tests, but I can’t get to them at work. Anyway, the point is, these aren’t just strong _associations_, they’re physical _perceptions_. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/10 "2011-03-17T18:20:49Z")
As I’ve mentioned before, there’s an elegant test for synasthesia. Ask someone who claims to be synesthetic about his associations. Then ask him again a year later. Those of us who’ve got it will give you the same answers. (I got this from Dinosaur Comics.) Anyway, 5 can’t be blue – five is a girl and blue is a boy. (Although F, I and E are also boys. Hmm.) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/11 "2011-03-17T18:58:13Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > As I’ve mentioned before, there’s an elegant test for synasthesia. Ask someone who claims to be synesthetic about his associations. Then ask him again a year later. Those of us who’ve got it will give you the same answers. (I got this from Dinosaur Comics.) Not rigorous enough. People sometimes have strong associations that aren’t synesthesia, but those associations will remain from year to year. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/12 "2011-03-17T19:08:09Z")
I often mix up F and 5. I was trying to read off a mix of numbers and letters to someone recently and I kept saying the wrong one. Not sure if it’s because five starts with F or if it’s just because I’m weird. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/13 "2011-03-17T19:12:47Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Anyway, the point is, these aren’t just strong _associations_, they’re physical _perceptions_. Really? I guess I don’t have it then. Just strong associations. So really, when you see 5, you physically see it as blue? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/14 "2011-03-17T19:21:43Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Really? I guess I don’t have it then. Just strong associations. > > So really, when you see 5, you physically see it as blue? I don’t really have it, I don’t think; however, yes, people with it physically perceive it. In the SA article, they put a bunch of **2** numbers on a field of **5** in a pattern, and a person with it could easily see it was a picture of a boat, or whatever. (I’m using the \*\*FixedSys \*\*font for 5 and 2, but they really had the old-school digital clock versions of 2 and 5 which are very hard to discern on a whole page of them). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/15 "2011-03-17T19:32:55Z")
That’s really interesting. I never knew that. Though in the article it asks if you view a week as the letter D on its side with the days arranged counter-clockwise, I thought “Duh! Doesn’t everyone?” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/16 "2011-03-18T10:10:53Z")
**5** is nearly black, but five is red. At least, according to Firefox. It only looks at the numbers and letters a-f, converting it into the appropriate hexadecimal code. Color “5” is read as color #500000, a rather dark red, and color “five” is read as #FE0000, a bright red. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/17 "2011-03-18T18:31:15Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > My theory is that we learn this stuff from our childhood toys. My home state (Virginia) is blue for this reason, from a wood map/puzzle I had when I was little. So Connecticut, Rhode Island and some other tiny state are all the same color, blue also I think. Maine is Red (like the number 4.) Vermont and New Hampshire are teal - because of the Monopoly board. And, thanks to a cyclical calendar I remember from childhood, December will always be in the lower left of the Wheel of the Year. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/18 "2011-03-18T19:10:48Z")
Synasthesia has always been fascinating to me, because I find the concept of subjectivity so interesting, and nothing illustrates how extremely different subjective experiences can be. There’s a few times in my life when I’ve become semi-delirious due to exhaustion. The experience wasn’t quite hallucinatory, but seemed closer to how the experience of synasthesia is often described, albeit temporary rather than persistent. Always wonder how similar the states are. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/19 "2011-03-20T01:15:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > …and A is female. Whoa. A _is_ female. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026/20 "2011-03-20T01:29:19Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Whoa. A _is_ female. B is more female because B looks like Boobs. In fact, _Boobs_ looks like boobs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for-sensory-crossover-like-5-is-blue/575026.md?page=2)