My Synesthetic Colors 

 
a-deep, bright red (candy apple red)
b-bright yellow (canary)
c-golden yellow 
d-deep green, with just a slight tint of blue in it (emerald green)
e-very dark blue (midnight blue-black)
f-dark green (kelly green)
g-bright red (a shade lighter than a)
h-dark orange
i-very pale yellow (cream-colored)
j-bright green (grass green)
k-pale bluish-gray
l-pale purple-gray
m-black
n
-regular brown (tree bark brown)
o-white
p-dark green (forest green)
q-silver (it is sparkly to me, too)
r-deep maroon
s-red
t-beige
u-tan (a shade more yellow than t)
v-bright green
w-bright blue
x-black
y-brownish-black
z-bright orange
0-clear (it is also the only three-
dimensional number, like plastic tubing)
1-white (unless it is a "teen" in which case the 1 turns to black)
2-green
3-red
4-blue
5-orange
6-yellow
7-brown
8-black
9-tan


 Lexical-Numerical Rules 

Lexical Rules
  • Whether the letter is capital or lower-case makes no difference; it appears the same color in either form.
  • The colors of my letters are all solid, with the exception of Q:  It is metallic silver, and it has a sparkly, shimmering quality to it.
  • The initial letter of a word generally determines the color of the whole word when I am reading quickly.  Sometimes certain letters or groups of letters blend together giving the word a multi-hued appearance.   For example, my name appears to me as  Jennifer  Maite  when I read it in a document.  Upon a slower examination of any word, however, each letter will take on its own specific color.  I see my name as Jennifer Maite when I spell it letter by letter.
  • Punctuation is always black.  It has no color to me.

Numerical Rules

  • The colors of my digits are all solid, with the exception of 0:  I see it as three-dimensional and clear.  Like clear plastic tubing formed into a circular shape.
  • In multi-digit numbers, all digits retain their individual colors.  For example, 4217 has four colors, with no one color dominating the others.
  • The teens numbers (10 - 19) are the only numbers with slightly different "rules".  The 1 turns black and blends with the color of the second digit, making the number appear a shade darker than its corresponding ones digit.  For instance, the number 1 is individually white, and the number 3 is individually red.  But 13 appears a dark "maroonish" color because I now see the 1 as black, and it blends with the red 3 to turn it  a darker red or maroon.  I've tried to illustrate the differences below, but it is hard to discern on a computer monitor.

  0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19

  • Mathematical operators (+ - / x, etc), like punctuation, are always black.

 

Numerical Perceptions

Numbers take on different shapes and characteristics to me, and I am assuming this is due to my synesthetic perceptions of them.  I will describe how I perceive some of them here:  First, I like odd numbers much more than even ones--I don't know why.  I love patterns and sequences that come in groups of threes.  I like inequality statements for this reason: all numerical relationships can be classified in three ways:  greater than (>), equal to (=), or less than (<). I enjoy a musical waltz because it is in 3/4 time and I find the pattern particularly pleasing.

Continuing In the realm of threes, cubic numbers (8, 27, 64, 125, etc) are my favorite numbers to encounter, with 27 being my all-time favorite number.  Twenty-seven  is perceived as a very strong number--it always evokes the image of a sturdy green-brown oak tree with a hollow pyramid-shaped trunk.  The number 64 looks like a red hollow cube with yellow and blue splotches in it, and 125 is an orange-green pentagonal shape.

                         

I can define specific relationships between the color of a number's digits and the shape and colors in which I perceive it.  For instance, 27 is green-brown (the same colors as the tree) and it is 3³ , which accounts for its triangular base.  For the 64-cube, the yellow-blue splotches are the same shade as the digits 6 and 4, and it is a square base because 64 is 4³ and squares have four sides.  The pattern continues with 125:  It is a white-green-orange number and is 5³ , while pentagons have 5 sides. Given these definite patterns, though, I think these shapes are something that the colors of the digits "morphed" into subconsciously, rather than true synesthetic perceptions of them.  Nevertheless, they are the way that I perceive these numbers, and while all numbers have traits that I like or dislike, most of them are not as well-defined visually as cubics are to me. 

 Read more about my personal experiences with synesthesia

 Return to the main page on synesthesia.

 

 

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