February 9

A while back, I remember reading an article on something called “Synesthesia”.  I remember thinking, “Oh wow, I didn’t know there was a condition for this!”, which seems to be the normal reaction for those who are “diagnosed” with this “disorder”.

I put those words in quotes, because I’m not so sure it’s a “disorder”.  You see, Synesthesia is when you perceive colors along with letters, words, or sounds.  Sometimes, even different tastes.

When I was a kid, I remember learning the alphabet with colors.  No one taught me that each letter had a color, it was just something I did on my own.  The same thing with numbers.  Even days of the week and months of the year have colors.  It’s not so much that I see these colors when I read words, but rather, think of them.  It’s very unintentional, as well.  I even remember as a kid when I’d draw pictures, I’d pick the color of the letter for whatever word I was writing.  A is red, for example.  B is black, C is yellow, D is brown.  E is also brown, while F is a light sage-y green.  The number 1 is white, 2 is blue, 3 is a tan, 4 is red, 5 is black…

I guess I’d just always assumed that’s how it always was.  But it’s not that I see a rainbow of colors when I read.  I’m not THAT bad, although some people with the disorder do see rainbows on the page for every letter.  Rather, when I see the letter, I think of that color.  It’s automatic and I don’t even know I’m doing it most of the time.

Even when teaching my kids, I was just realizing today while my son counted to 100 and wrote the numbers down on his worksheet that the teens were white, the twenties were blue, the thirties were tan and so on.  But only in my head, not on the page.  It’s so weird.

Sunday is light blue.  Monday is brown.  Tuesday is a mustard.  Wednesday is white and black together, however, it’s not grey (very strange), Thursday is orange and Friday is green.  Saturday is a dark blue.

January is yellow.  February is green.  March is brown.  April is pink.  May is black.  June is gold.  July is orange.  August is red.  September is light blue.  October is black.  November is white.  December is brown.

I always thought I was kind of weird that way, and actually, I haven’t told many people about “seeing” colors with letters, numbers and words.  Because I don’t really think it’s not normal.  I know other people don’t do it, but I never really thought to bring it up before.  Some people who see the same things often put colors to music as well.  I’ve never done that.

But here’s an interesting article on Wikipedia about it:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

I’m quoting from the text; this is what it’s like for me:

“Another reports a slightly different experience. “When I actually look at words on a page, the letters themselves are not colored, but instead in my mind they all have a color that goes along with them, and it has always been this way. I remember back in kindergarten thinking that each homeroom had a different color associated with it. I would sometimes say things referring to that class and calling it by its color. It is also like this with days of the week, months, and so on. I thought this was caused by me over-thinking things. But I finally have come to realize that Synesthesia is real.”

Here’s a link to a story on seeing color with music:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/09/synesthesia.genes/index.html

Anyone else have similar experiences?  I must say I always thought this was one of my many weird quirks.  Looks like I’m not alone after all.

~~Becka