Let's talk about synesthesia!

[Rachel-Eyes]

I was just wondering if anyone else here had synesthesia? I discovered what it was about 6 years ago and always thought it was a really neat thing to have, and I love discussing synesthetic perceptions with others who experience it.

It's a very difficult thing to explain to those who don't have the condition, so I'll do my best. It happens when the synapses of the brain that process the five senses become cross-wired, creating a strong association from one sense to another. The most common is "color grapheme," which means that people "see" letters, numbers, symbols, and words as various colors. For me, R is very red, so my name is also very red. My full name actually is very, very red. This is not the only sensation that a synesthete can experience. Some people see colors when they hear musical notes. Others will experience a texture that is associated with taste. It's all completely random- if you "choose" which sensations you have, then you most likely don't have synesthesia, you have a very strong association. Here's the Wikipedia article, just in case it's able to explain it better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Personally, I have colored words and numbers, as well as number personality, and word taste. I also kind of have an organization synesthesia that I can't quite explain- like, I have a shape for the way years are organized. Days of the week are horizontal, months are vertical. Songs are rearranged in this way too, and songs will occasionally evoke a texture to me. Heavy metal is usually sharp, while rap is bumpy. I also possess an ability to taste faces. This was much stronger when I was little, so usually relatives, celebrities during the time, and even cartoon characters are the ones who will visually evoke the strongest tastes, because I was exposed to them when I was younger. I do, however, occasionally meet someone new as an adult who has a foody face, like my college professor who tastes like Shake N Bake. (And I was a vegetarian at the time of taking his class!)

So is there anyone out there who has it and is interested in a discussion on it?

(I choose a cheese icon because I really like cheese, and a lot of words evoke a cheese taste for me. Words like "simple," "sophisticated," "easy," "Yeats," "humble," "America," and "temple" all taste like some sort of cheese or cheese product.)

[kaoskat]

Well it certainly sounds interesting! Your life must never be dull! I, however, am boringly ordinary in that respect.

[kellyponyfeathers]

I don't, but I know about it.  I remember sitting in my freshman English comp class, and my instructor talked about having it.  Another guy in the class looked at him in amazement and said, "I thought I was the only one!!!"  I ended up dating that guy too (my classmate, not the instructor).  Occasionally I would tease him when he talked about his colored letters, grin, and say, "You're crazy."  I was only joking though, really! 

Rachel-Eyes probably knows about this already, but there's a really fantastic young adult book about a girl with synesthesia:  A Mango-Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass.  I highly recommend it, but bring a box of tissues; the end is bittersweet.  Wendy Mass is one of my favorite YA authors.  Another really good one by her is Every Soul a Star; it's a beautiful and uplifting story.

[True]

Huh.... ill need to read that, as this sounds very familiar, but its just something iv assumed everyone deals with xD wow!

Im bad at connecting letters and numbers together, for example, every number has a letter thats associated with it.
like 5 is F which might just sound like im taking the first letter of the written word, but 12 is D, 30 is S but 13 and 3 are T. Sometimes it will mess me up and ill type 5F instead 55 lol.

[melodys_angel]

Not me,  but my eyes will play tricks on me when trying to adjust to light.  Ill see transparent coloured shapes fly across (my usually closed eyes) until they adjust...then they are fine.

[Cumberbatch2012]

Yup, I have it.  Numbers and letters are colored, as well as months of the year, days of the week, etc.  I have the thing where years, days and months are visualized horizontally.  They say really smart people are more likely to have this, so I'm kind of proud it, lol.  I've had it my whole life.  I only discovered it 2 years ago, though.  I thought everybody had this, but they don't.
 

[DalaPony]

Synesthesia is really fascinating! I don't have any really strong synesthetic experiences, but I have number personality and letter personality: ever since I can remember I've considered each letter and number to be either male or female and have definite character traits associated with it. For instance, O is a big blonde girl in a green dress and number 7 is a smarmy guy with terrible 80s hair. It was only recently that I found out that this is actually a form synesthesia, until then I thought it was just me being weird!

[Rachel-Eyes]

Synesthesia is really fascinating! I don't have any really strong synesthetic experiences, but I have number personality and letter personality: ever since I can remember I've considered each letter and number to be either male or female and have definite character traits associated with it. For instance, O is a big blonde girl in a green dress and number 7 is a smarmy guy with terrible 80s hair. It was only recently that I found out that this is actually a form synesthesia, until then I thought it was just me being weird!

I have this too, but with numbers only. I've never heard of anyone having letter personality before. How neat!

I'm totally lolling at your 7 too. My 7 is blue, and this really athletic girl. I always pictured her with inline skates, since they were in style around the time I was in preschool. Another sign of the times is my 6. If you can picture a late '80s/early '90s teenager, then you can picture my 6.

Rachel-Eyes probably knows about this already, but there's a really fantastic young adult book about a girl with synesthesia:  A Mango-Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass.  I highly recommend it, but bring a box of tissues; the end is bittersweet.  Wendy Mass is one of my favorite YA authors.  Another really good one by her is Every Soul a Star; it's a beautiful and uplifting story.

I've heard of A Mango-Shaped Space, but haven't gotten a chance to read it yet. I'd really love to sometime though! I heard it was really good.

[northstar3184]

I have wondered about synesthesia myself, particularly grapheme-color synesthesia. I've always associated each letter and number with a particular color or range of colors, but I don't actually see words broken down into colors or anything.

[aluke]

like 5 is F which might just sound like im taking the first letter of the written word, but 12 is D, 30 is S but 13 and 3 are T. Sometimes it will mess me up and ill type 5F instead 55 lol.

The amount of times I've had to correct myself for spelling 5ive.

I don't know if this is synesthesia, but I've always felt that even numbers are flat/smooth and odd numbers are sharp.