3 ms·

Ever since I was a kid, there are some things that, when I mentally picture them, have associated colors bound to them. Days of the week are pretty clear for me

by frikk 11y ago

Ever since I was a kid, there are some things that, when I mentally picture them, have associated colors bound to them. Days of the week are pretty clear for me. Monday is red, Tuesday and Thursday are green. Wednesday is a light blue, Friday is red (feels a bit warmer, maybe slightly orange than Monday). Saturday is yellow, Sunday is black (I always associated Sunday with church, and either dread of going or formal wear). I do this with other things too but days of the week are the most obvious and have been with me my whole life (I'm 30 now). Oh, I guess I do the inner monologue when estimating time. Something like "Lets see... is it 8 minutes? No that's too fast. 12 minutes? Maybe. Let's go with 11". Didn't even consider it as part of the process until your comment.

gh02t 11y ago
Sounds like synesthesia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia ). People with synesthesia tend to associate colors with numbers or similar. Often it's extremely specific colors, like "deep electric purple with sparkles" for 125. These colors can be consistently identified and described across multiple tests, suggesting that the person actually maintains a consistent inner representation of numbers in terms of color. Associating colors with days of the week is another well known example, described in the book "Wednesday is Indigo Blue" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wednesday_Is_Indigo_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wednesday_Is_Indigo_Blue ). You might find it interesting. I only know about this because I had a friend in middle school who was a synesthete. We thought he was making it up until we gave him a list of (long) random numbers to describe the colors of. We then mixed up the order and gave them to him a week later and he provided consistent descriptions. It was pretty cool actually, I've always been a bit envious.
- frikk 11y ago
  Yeah, that's fascinating. I didn't realize there was a name, or even that the colors and days of the week is a thing that other people experience. How weird is it that my Wednesday is blue too? Thanks for sharing, I've got some reading to do.
Starwatcher2001 11y ago
As gh02t says, this sounds very much like synesthesia, which my wife also has. Her colours differ to yours, she sees Tuesday as blue. May I ask if it causes you problems reading, particularly coloured lettering? Words written in colours are difficult to recognise as the actual colours clash with how she sees them. "Rainbow" sentences like a child would write with different colours are almost impossible for her to decipher.
- frikk 11y ago
  Hi Starwatcher. I had never even considered that this has a name, much less that it's common enough for other people to associate with it too. Cool. I love to read, actually. As far as I know I haven't noticed any difficulty in colors. I can definitely see a word "red" that may have been written in blue color really screwing with me, but maybe not more than it would screw with any other person.

by frikk 11y ago

gh02t 11y ago

Sounds like synesthesia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia ). People with synesthesia tend to associate colors with numbers or similar. Often it's extremely specific colors, like "deep electric purple with sparkles" for 125. These colors can be consistently identified and described across multiple tests, suggesting that the person actually maintains a consistent inner representation of numbers in terms of color. Associating colors with days of the week is another well known example, described in the book "Wednesday is Indigo Blue" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wednesday_Is_Indigo_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wednesday_Is_Indigo_Blue ). You might find it interesting. I only know about this because I had a friend in middle school who was a synesthete. We thought he was making it up until we gave him a list of (long) random numbers to describe the colors of. We then mixed up the order and gave them to him a week later and he provided consistent descriptions. It was pretty cool actually, I've always been a bit envious.

frikk 11y ago
Yeah, that's fascinating. I didn't realize there was a name, or even that the colors and days of the week is a thing that other people experience. How weird is it that my Wednesday is blue too? Thanks for sharing, I've got some reading to do.

Starwatcher2001 11y ago

As gh02t says, this sounds very much like synesthesia, which my wife also has. Her colours differ to yours, she sees Tuesday as blue. May I ask if it causes you problems reading, particularly coloured lettering? Words written in colours are difficult to recognise as the actual colours clash with how she sees them. "Rainbow" sentences like a child would write with different colours are almost impossible for her to decipher.

frikk 11y ago
Hi Starwatcher. I had never even considered that this has a name, much less that it's common enough for other people to associate with it too. Cool. I love to read, actually. As far as I know I haven't noticed any difficulty in colors. I can definitely see a word "red" that may have been written in blue color really screwing with me, but maybe not more than it would screw with any other person.