Here’s what yellow tastes like to me
For people with synesthesia (which in ancient Greek translates to "together sensation"), they experience a neural crossing of the senses, and it can happen in a variety of ways. Some might associate letters or numbers with colors. Others can "feel" the taste of chocolate. Still, someone else might hear a D minor chord and taste pastrami.
Psychology Today estimates that only three to five percent of the population experiences this, with women more likely than men. They explain, "Synesthesia is a neurological condition. Simply put, when one sense is activated, another unrelated sense is activated at the same time."
I can attest it’s a lot of fun! When I was in high school, someone asked what day our Algebra exam was. I meant to say Wednesday, but instead answered, "Pink." Obviously, this was met with an intense stare, followed by the questions, "What are you on? Who is your dealer and how do I get some?"
The truth is, Wednesdays have always been a pale bubblegum pink for as long as I can remember. Tuesdays are emerald green, as is London. Fridays are purple. New York is blue. Dallas and Saturdays are white, and so on. If specific days of the week or cities are mentioned or even thought about, it’s as if my mind gets dipped into a certain color like an Easter egg. I think of Thursday and my brain swims in turquoise. (Oh, and yellow tastes like apple juice.)
In the subreddit group "Synesthesia," others exemplify how it manifests for them.
Does Your Sonata Glow Pink?
Evolving Get Together GIF by Barbara PozziGiphy
A Reddit user shares, "All my life I’ve seen shapes and stuff when I listen to music. Except it’s never been only shapes. Whenever I listen to a song, I see a line I’m following, it’s usually a light pink color and glowing. Then the line will create shapes or patterns based on the beat or sound of the song. It’s all different patterns depending on what song it is."
This sounds like a mix between timbre-shape synesthesia and color-coded sounds, known as chromesthesia. Many famous musicians and composers have reported this phenomenon, including Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Itzhak Perlman, the latter once saying, "If I play a B-flat on the G string, I would say that the color for me is probably deep forest green. And if I play an A on the E string, that would be red."
The Loudness of Your Hands
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Another Redditor associates touch with sound. "I've always been able to hear touch…but only when the touch is stroking (prodding/poking doesn’t yield the same result). I hear a hissing noise, and it’s very different from just the sound of the contact on my skin – the noise feels like it is coming from 'inside' my head, and I hear it completely unchanged even with noise-canceling earphones or industrial-strength earplugs in! Apparent volume is also proportional to pressure applied."
When Your Spoon is Friendly
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Grapheme-color synesthesia is the most commonly reported type, in which synesthetes assign colors to alphabet letters and/or numbers.
But this Redditor takes it to the next level. "Not only do I associate numbers, letters, days, and months with colors and personalities, but also seemingly random everyday things and places. For example, a certain road in my hometown seems brown-ish orange. And strangely, kitchen utensils. A fork is blue and a young, introverted guy. A spoon is pink/orange and a middle-aged, friendly woman. A knife is green and is a middle-aged man who has a great sense of humor and is bald."
Jealousy, in B-flat
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For some synesthetes, feelings have sound. A commenter shares, "Every emotion of mine has a chord. Every taste has a chord. Every physical touch has a chord. Hot and cold have chords. I can tell you the exact notes of my heart on a keyboard. Exactly what I’m feeling."