Fun with Synaesthesia

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I'm a mild synaesthene. Which is rocking cool and much more entertaining than being a dermatograph, though less noticeable all in all.

What it means (if anyone doesn't already know) is that I experience certain things with senses that usually don't have involvement in . For example, words have taste to me. Not taste as in actual physical drool-inducing taste, so not like a hallucination, but instead in a very visceral, fundamental way that it is extremely difficult to describe. I've always liked Russian because it *tastes good* when I speak it. It's especially applicable for me with names, and it is related to the way things are spelled. The smallest change in spelling (and in the way my tongue moves when I pronounce a word) can completely change the taste.

Neil, for example, tastes kind of icky. Unpleasant when I say it. But Niall (which sounds pretty much indistinguishable) actually is pretty tasty. The word "orientate" is so unpleasant for me to say that I refuse to acknowledge it as an actual word. "Corollary" is tolerable only when pronounced "core-all-ary"... people who pronounce it "coral-airy" in my hearing are taking their lives in their hands.

Other neat things are - people / personalities in my brain have distinct weights and densities that have nothing at all to do with their physical attributes. People also have distinct colours if I take the time to think about it. Strangely, their colours do not match their weights. Like - I know at least one yellow who is a very dense personality, and I would have thought a dark colour for that.

So, yeah. weird, and all.

So - why mention this randomly now?

Well - last week, I was driving my little girl to school, and I had the radio going, and our conversation went something like this:

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"This song?"

"Yes?"

"What colour is it?"

"..." *thinks* "Can you repeat that?"

"What colour is this song?"

*Thinks some more* "You know, it sounds orange to me. What do you think?"

"I think it's yellow." She went back to her book. Since then we've discussed the colour of all sorts of songs.

Now... How freaking COOL is that??

Comments

[goblie.livejournal.com]

*Rolls eyes at you and chucks you out the window after your memory.* :) Well - the whole reason *I* learned about synaesthesia was because I had a uni presentation to do and wanted to do it on something *interesting* and discovered that through a tv programme about a week before the presentation was due. As I recall, I squeed all over its awesomeness, was rambling onto you about it and saying how I think most people have some vague sense of that because blah blah, and in your usual Infie manner you were all "Oh I know. Like how I taste words." And then you went on to tell me about the colours for people and I died with excitement all ov er again and spent the next AGE asking you questions about it. Until you got fed up, which was *right* after you told me that royal blue isn't positive or negative, it just IS.

There you go. If you don't remember *now* you're just... *throws hands up* :) Just kidding - it's just that ever since *I* discovered what it was (and had you *gasp* identify!!), I ask all kinds of people about it and just think it is such a fascinating thing. :D

And ooooh - it is even more interesting that 'similar' people can have different colours. :) Though you are still a freak. :)

*Glances guiltily at length of comment* Now I think I will wait until you're actually *back* to talk more about it. ;)