About synaesthesia - I'm being snarky just ignore me

[toomuchtooold]

I saw someone talking about their synaesthesia on Twitter last week, and and an uncharitable thought occurred to me. I have synaesthesia - I feel that certain numbers and days of the week have colours and, with numbers, personalities. I know, that's weird enough. But what is really weird is that my synaesthesia seems to be second rate and vague compared to people on the internet. I have a few feelings about some numbers and not others, and they're pretty vague feelings. People on the internet with synaesthesia seem to have so much more detail. I'm like 'yeah 2's banana yellow and is a bit loud" and they're like "not any banana, a banana that's been gently warmed on the kitchen window of your favourite auntie. And he has a name, George, and he has two miniature Schnauzers and likes flower arranging and people always mistake him for being gay but he's actually asexual" and stuff like that, and I just wondered if there's anyone else on here with half arsed synaesthesia or has everyone else got like a full mental CV and head shot of all the numbers up to 250?

Yes! My synesthaesia is different to ones mentioned here, and is to do with how I visualise time and sequences. Have been involved in various research studies at my nearby university and feel definitely that I would love to have something more exotic!

In fact, the ones mentioned by previous posters are much more fun than mine

Another half-arsed synaesthete here. Some numbers and smells have colours and some sounds and smells have texture.

I've always enjoyed it very much. It's never been intrusive or bothersome. Sadly, with age it has faded into half-arsed half-arsedness, and I do miss it.

I think there's a difference. If I think about it I associate certain numbers and days of the week with colours etc but I don't have synaesthesia. I think people who do have it see things like a friend of mine did... pink blobs when they heard plosive sounds or smelling cinnamon at the word Wednesday... I think the rest of us are just thinking we have it because we're imaginative.

Sorry if that seems offensive but I see it the same as people who are 'a bit OcD' but as someone with actual diagnosed OCD they do not.

Another half arseder here
Mine are name related and are food or inanimate objects or smells. Not artisanal or organic like the ones described in the OP.
I don't share because people think you're weird true or pester for their own info. I had to be careful choosing my children's names because of the many negative foods I would smell.

My son has synesthesia, his is very strong and numerically related. For him, numbers have a gender and a colour and it is as real for him as whether a number is odd or even. He was astounded when we pointed out that this was just a brain quirk.

What amused me most is that when I told my (elderly straight laced) dad this, he snorted and said he’d always thought that. And then launched into a monologue about what “shape” the year is (upside down horseshoe) and “what the calendar is made of” (thin wood, like an old fashioned ruler.)
And when I asked him what were nonsense questions to me, like “what colour is a Bank Holiday?” he was really exasperated and sighed “red, except the Christmas ones”.

Actually thinking about it, I was dreadfully anxious as a child and had a thing about the number 3, where I would obsess about not doing things in threes, ever.

MattBerrysHair I get that sensation too. Can't bear to look at certain things because I have a visceral response. Never considered that it could be synesthesia related.

TBH I've always been a bit in awe of people with synesthesia, it must add a whole level of experience in responding to colour in particular. Must admit I have a bit of an illogical response to certain numbers, or specific colour relationships. All very interesting!

I don't have it but have wondered whether you all agree with each other ie does television taste like chocolate to all with this umm condition?

Also does the word banana, for instance, taste like bananas etc.

@GroggyLegs

Ooh me too @MattBerrysHair*

Doesn't everyone? Are we special?!*

Me too.

I always thought it was an empathy 'thing'.

If someone bangs a toe, I'll feel a tingly twinge or give a shudder. Same with looking at certain things on TV, etc.

I don't have this at all but I've always been a bit scared of the number 7 since I learnt that 7 ate 9.

I had this quite strongly and privately as a child - days of the week very much and train stations all had very strong colour identifiers - just as much as their words. Never told anyone or thought it was of interest nor have I ever self diagnosed with any condition or thought more of it.
Did tell my aged ma recently and strangely she said she had always had same with stations. We wrote down a regular multi stop journey (over 10 stops) and our colours were the same for about 8 or 9. (Exciting life,eh?）

Despite my user name, Thursday is actually purple :gavel:

Well obvs, because it's Wednesday that's blue. (Thursday is orange though).

Whatever I have is just visual imagination, association and habit. I know that I've chosen and can change my colours and images to some extent and that they're more or less apparent, depending whether I am 'imagining' or thinking logistically about things.

When I hear people with synasthesia interviewed (and of course journalists will focus on the most outlandish cases), they seem to be 'hardwired' in a way I am not, with unavoidable, consistent, strong associations between apparently quite unrelated things (whereas visual imagination with colour is very normal e.g. most people dream that way, so it's no surprise they create similar mental imagery when awake).

What I do have and again would think is within the range of normal, is a sense of 'external spatial feeling' so that, for example, if I am travelling with four bags, I can 'feel' the presence or absence of all four, as if they are an extension of my body. So I 'know' if I'm missing one, by feeling rather than thinking. But, I think this is similar to the way birds 'know' how many chicks they have, so actually very primitive biology.

the singer Lorde has synasthesia she says she sees colours and trys to make her songs a colour flow sort of thing

I have it but mine is sexual

It's inconsistent but sometimes very vivid!

Things are either left or right, left is light and right is dark. No personalities lurking around though.

I also have a half arsed version. Mostly around numbers having specific colours, strongest for 3 (pink), 5 (green) and 8 (grey). They are very specific tones of each. Other numbers have colours, but they are not so specific and vivid in my mind. Even those ones have faded as i get older. But this thread has made them much brighter again.

I am absolutely loving this thread!
It's making me feel really happy 😊

@dustyfan, I can totally understand the left/light, right/dark thing. That makes total sense to me. (Left feels even and whole, right less so.)

For those interested in reading more around this - a first person account of synaethesia

www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/first-person-i-hear-sounds-in-colour-1873940.html

I have it. Many, many words make me think of certain foods. I've had it since early childhood, and have always been very food obsessed
I honestly didn't know it was a thing until googling it last night. I thought it was just me being weird. Which it still kind of is
Something to do with the neural pathways being a bit skew-whiff. I'm convinced it's also a form of OCD.

I haven't even a sniff of it. I think you underestimate how interesting it is to people without it! I've a friend who has colour/pitch equivalence, and can tell when someone is singing sharp because the orange goes a bit citrusy (or something).