Am I mental or does anyone else do this...

[clevername]

I seem to randomly assign personalities to things that shouldn't have them. Like TV channels. BBC channels are old and sensible, channel 4 is like a young, cool hipster. Itv is a bit of a chav. Channel 5 is a distant cousin that I don't see very often.

Looking at it written down, I suppose those 'personalities' make sense, given the output of the channels, but it seems to run deeper than that. I guess I'll have to think of other examples to see if I can explain myself better.

It's not a conscious thing - I don't think 'ooh, I'm going to make this thing have this personality' it just happens by itself and I'm often not even aware of it much. It's like an inate part of my understanding of the thing.

I also have a strange sense of heirachies in things. Fifth gear is the best gear (and this has nothing to do with the fact you go fastest in it. It's just the best one. Superior to the others). Also big toe. And index finger. They're the best digits.

I am mental aren't I?

Defaukr berry: strawberry

Sorry but strawberries are not berries. Hope that helps.

I thought we'd grown out of calling things and people 'mental' (plus all the other casually thrown in terms for mental illness.) but apparently it's the one area MN doesn't seem to be bothered about. Heaven forbid someone calls someone an 'old biddy' but batshit, crazy, mental etc are still fair game? Ok then.

quirky Yes! I see weeks and months in a sort of circle! Sort of. The year kind of stretches ahead in my mind's eye in a kind of circle. Each day, week, month is a different 'shade' too (I wouldn't say colour because it's not as clear as that).

citrus But 5th gear's superiority is not remotely rational. It has no grounding in what the gear can do. It's just best because it is.

Enid Sorry - didn't mean to cause offence

Totally with you on TV channels OP and yes, I do this kind of thing as well. As I get older I'm starting to embrace the fact that I'm 'different' and to say what the hell, I'm weird and I like it. For example:

I have always strongly associated days of the week with colours. Monday and Wednesday are dark blue, Friday is dark green, Tuesday and Thursday are pink or orange (it tends to change in my mind), Saturdays are yellow, Sundays are the only one I can't seem to get a fix on but they are some bright colour or other. (To be fair, I have a suspicion this may all come from a calendar in an early school classroom or similar, so may be more logical than it sounds.)

I have (possibly) a degree of synaesthaesia, e.g. I can imagine what I think it would taste like if a spider crawled into my mouth while I was asleep. I think I know exactly what cigarettes taste like even though I have never smoked. When I look at certain people on TV I get a certain smell in my mind (I don't mean bad smells - just a specific smell)

When I was a small child I used to get freaked out by the way specific words looked on TV, I seem to remember 'Yorkshire Television' was the worst one, and I used to think medicines would taste correspondingly worse depending how their names looked on the label. The MOT symbol (the 'three triangles' one used to scare the bejesus out of me because it looked like a face.)

Craziest thing of all (back to adulthood here): in a previous job there was a specific cubicle in the staff loos that I would only use on a Friday. I have no idea why.

I have wondered a lot recently whether I sit somewhere on the autism spectrum and I have no idea whether these things are symptomatic of autism, but they feel as though they could be. (I'm not implying OP or anyone else is on the spectrum, BTW, it's a personal thought I have about myself.) These are things I would never tell anyone IRL as people already think I am batshit (can I say that without causing offence?)

OP I am guessing you are feeling a lot better about your TV channel quirk right about now.

I used to do something similar with D.C. Thomson comics, by determining which social class they were aimed at. I decided that Sparky was aimed at working-class families, Beano and Beezer had a broad appeal and Topper and Dandy were for the middle-class youngsters.

Anyway, I'm off to put the kettle on.

I do this. Especially with cars, DP thinks I'm mad.

A Volvo C30 is a happy car because it has upside down semi circle break lights: like in happy faces in comics.

The new disco reminds me of a portly housewife (50s style with a house coat) leaning over to take stuff out of an oven because you can see so much of the spare wheel and undercarriage of the car.

A gt86 has similar styling at the back end (angled up bumper) but is more of a cheeky bum wiggle because of the movement.

And so on. Mad, I know...

I give things personalities. I imagine inanimate objects having conversations and give them names. So for example tea bags in the pot, I imagine tea bags in my pot at home having a conversation about how it’ll be their turn soon:
Frank: ‘Pete, we’re getting closer! Almost time for us to fulfill our destiny!’
Pete: ‘I know Frank, I’m so excited!’
So I have to use up all the tea bags before I refill it or the ones at the bottom might be disappointed.

Some things I just find visually pleasing, like I love glittery things - like kids ride on things and dodgems at the fair/amusements when they’re glittery? Love those. Saw a water bottle with pearlescent writing and I just had to have it.

But then like some pp I’m autistic, always have had a vivid imagination.

Ha ha ha. Yes, crazy, I'm feeling in good company now. I suppose it's just another way of looking at things and understanding the world. Some of us clearly do these things and some of us don't.

clevername that's how I see the months of the year too! If I try to think about it too hard, it's gone, though, I need to just let it happen. The pictures with people's names were almost like logos, but they certainly helped me remember names.

I'm pretty sure I'm not on the autistic spectrum, but I am very visual and have quite a vivid imagination.

I think we're all cool (everyone who does this kind of thing. I mean, we're all cool in our own way. Just especially us).

I've just realised another quirky thing I do. If someone is on my mind quite a lot for some reason, I start to think I look like them. Even though I don't. I mean, I know I don't look like them at all but I'll catch myself in the mirror and I'll 'see' elements of them. At the moment it's Ruby Bhogal from Bake Off. I look literally nothing like her but I seem to be giving of a 'Ruby from Bake Off' vibe to myself...

God, I'm weird.

I have so found my people on this thread . But I’m afraid to say that my ring finger is definitely the best. I also have a favourite mole. I am a very freckley person but this particular mole is far superior to any others.

Cool thread - I don’t have synesthesia but I have always given personalities to certain things, particularly numbers. In fact I’m convinced I fancy number 4, he’s male and he’s sexy.

Beltanelove that's hilarious about number 4! And I kind of see what you mean

And my synesthesia helps me remember when things happened. For instance if I am trying to think of when an event took place last week, or even several months/years ago, I can picture the days/weeks/months in my head and instantly remember. I get quite irritated when anyone tries to challenge me!