What smells blue?

[Sara]

[size=1][color=purple]Recently, [url="http://myOtaku/james]James[/url] has been talking about designing websites around music. Anyway, it got me thinking.

I've always thought of things as color forms. Words form visual impressions in my head. Songs have ambience that paints entire rooms in my mind. I have still have notes from seventh grade science class (I kept them for the kick-butt doodles in the margins) where I spent a week trying to accurately describe my teacher's voice. (It was a thin, long strip of slightly patina'd copper.)

A few weeks ago, I was trying to describe "punk ska" music to a friend as "orange and green--bright eighties green, not dark green--mixed together, and everything sort of fuzzy."

Well, he had no idea what I was talking aboout, but it still makes sense to me.

Another example (from much earlier in my life, heh) involves the word "poochy." This is a word my family (maybe my kid sister started it) used to describe anything that was...well, poochy. Hm. For example, if you were trying to fit a fluffy blanket into a small place, but it woudln't fit, the blanket would be described as poochy. (I found out later, surprised, that it is a [url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=pooch]real word[/url]...or at least, has its basis in one.

Anyway, I brought it up to my sister once, and we both agreed that "poochy" was (or course) sort of poochy, and purple.

Anyway, I don' t know. Does any one else have words or sounds they associate with images or colors? Does anyone else find this interesting? Any examples? Information? "You're crazy" remarks?

keeping away from direct sunlight,
Sara

[b][Attachments: examples of ska music and the word "poochy."] [/b][/color][/size]

[Dagger]

Have you ever heard of synaesthesia?
[quote=Wikipedia]Synaesthesia (also spelled synesthesia) is the neurological mixing of the senses. A synaesthete may, for example, hear colors, see sounds, and taste tactile sensations. While this may happen in a person who has autism, it is by no means exclusive to autistics. Synaesthesia is a common effect of some hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or mescaline.

Synaesthetes often experience correspondences between the shades of color, tone of sounds, and intensity of taste that provokes an alternate sensation. For instance, a synaesthete may see a more intense red as the pitch of a sound gets higher, or a smoother surface might make one taste a sweeter taste. These experiences are involuntary, are not metaphorical, are not merely associations, and are consistent throughout life, although some young synaesthetes seem to lose their ability by or during adulthood. Depressant drugs tend to increase the depth of the perception.

Synaesthesia can even occur when one of the senses no longer functions properly, e.g. a person who can see colours when words are spoken can still see the colours if he becomes blind in later life.

Two of the most common forms of synaesthesia are seeing sound or seeing letters and numbers in color.

Richard Cytowic wrote a pop-psych book about this condition entitled The Man Who Tasted Shapes.

Some researchers and theorists have suggested that synaesthesia may have played a part in early humans development of writing and written literacies.

Alternate spellings exist (synaesthesis), and many of those who experience the phenomenon identify as "synaesthetes".[/quote]

I thought you might find that interesting, as it has a lot to do with this topic. :)

~Dagger~

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Hmm. Quite curious.

Nothing like Synaesthesia has happened to me- but I do alot of associations between colors and things. I even have this quirky theory that the font colors people have reflect their personality, heh. Some people don't quite get the associations I make, some people do- it's kind of amusing, really. I think it might reflect our creativity- or, maybe we are a bit off in the head.

Either way, it's better than being 'normal'.[/color]

[Shinmaru]

First off, one hundred bajillion cool points to you for the awesome thread title. Boy, you know just how to catch someone's attention, eh? :smirk:

You've always come across as very color-oriented (mostly because you talk about it so damn much :p), so this sort of thing isn't very surprising, to me. Can't say that I identify with it, myself, though. I mostly admire color when I see it, I don't really think of things in colored forms.

When I see 'poochy', I think of Poochy from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, mostly because that was the name of the dog in that game. Come to think of it, that game was pretty wild and colorful, you'd probably love the visual style of it (I love it, too, it has my favorite 'look' of any game that I've played).

With music, things always pop up in my head when I'm listening to it, for no real reason. I think up a lot of ideas when I'm just laying around listening to music. A lot of times, I find that music can tell some pretty vivid stories in your head, in very subtle ways. I can't think of any direct examples at the moment, though lol.

Anyway, I find this all very interesting.

[AzureWolf]

[FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]Oh man, this reminds me of the time the music professor was like, "alright, draw the music!" My friend did the funniest thing about that, but I digress...

I've never had or experienced that synthaethetes, and I never heard of it until now. Thanks for the interesting tid-bit, Dagger. I would associate my lack of syntaste (it's shorter to write :p) to my varied appreciation for the arts. Music is something that art and words can't do, and the same goes for the two latter. That's been my mindset for as long as I can remember. Not saying that's right (or even healthy, now that I think about these neat associations this thread is talking about), but that's how I've always seen those arts.

There are certain songs that I associate with certain things, though, but that's probably because I saw that particular song with the particular thing. Like, if I saw a movie with some cool song, whenever I hear the song, I'll think of the movie. But I don't think that's what this thread is about.

So, I guess my closest experience to that is "the characterization of elements." My friend and I were talking one day about how we "feel" about particular elements. Surprisingly, we both saw Carbon as male (not masculine, but like a generic kind of guy), Fluorine and Chlorine as girly, and Bromine as very manly. The list goes on, but you get the idea. We're both in the same major, but it was still surprising.

This thread is very interesting. It would be really cool to find some kind of link with this syntaste ability and interests/majors or something.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Sara]

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]So, I guess my closest experience to that is "the characterization of elements." My friend and I were talking one day about how we "feel" about particular elements. Surprisingly, we both saw Carbon as male (not masculine, but like a generic kind of guy), Fluorine and Chlorine as girly, and Bromine as very manly. The list goes on, but you get the idea. We're both in the same major, but it was still surprising.

This thread is very interesting. It would be really cool to find some kind of link with this syntaste ability and interests/majors or something.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE][size=1][color=purple]Haha, that's awesome. Those all make sense, heh. Carbon--the generic guy. *laughs out loud* Not that I know a heck of a lot about chemistry or the elements, but for what it's worth, heh.

Syntaste. Very good. Much easier to type out, heh.

Dagger, that's a really interesting article--thanks for posting it! I'd never heard of that before (although my friend Carr was just reading about it, apparently...but that's another story, heh.)

[quote name='Shintastic']When I see 'poochy', I think of Poochy from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, mostly because that was the name of the dog in that game.[/quote]Heh. Yeah, the thread title was for you, heh. ^_~ There's also a song called [i]Smell the Color Nine[/i] by Chris Rice, which was also a potential title. But I knew you'd appreciate the futurama quote much more. So there you have it!

I definitely associate words with certain people and events, too, but in a different way.

For example, whenever I hear/see the word [url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=clandestine][i]clandestine[/i][/url], I think of PiroMunkie, who introduced the word to me. The word [i]itself[/i], though, is different. It's thin and elegant..um..hm. *heads back over to Photoshop*

Okay, I don't have a font that is right, but I can get kinda close. *laughs*

It's thin, in an italic or script font, and not a [i]color[/i] exactly, but dark, and [b]translucent.[/b] it's not very fancy, just simple and elegant, and rather dark and beautiful. Like I said, I [i]really[/i] don't have the right fontfor it...this one is a little too swirly.

"Translucent" is similar, but a lot thicker--not as delicate. Purple. I think it has to do with the long "u" sound. It's a bold, purple-ish sound.

I need more fonts, heh.

antibiotics are murder,
Sara[/size][/color]

[Corey]

[size=1]Whenever people around me are fighting, or when I'm involved in something like a fight myself, anything that is a dark color seems to lose a lot of it's vividness and goes more toward black.

I always thought it was more of a "I'm tuning into the situation and tuning everything else out" deal, but I guess that I might just be associating anger with the color black.

Very interesting article Dagger.[/size]

[MissWem]

[QUOTE=Corey][size=1]Whenever people around me are fighting, or when I'm involved in something like a fight myself, anything that is a dark color seems to lose a lot of it's vividness and goes more toward black.

I always thought it was more of a "I'm tuning into the situation and tuning everything else out" deal, but I guess that I might just be associating anger with the color black.

Very interesting article Dagger.[/size][/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]Hmm..

Actually I can relate to that, but strangely enough my memory of the event is that it's very yellow. Which just reminds me of how Mitch often uses the metaphor of life being as yellow as piss, although that's probably unrelated.

When I saw the title I actually thought of a poem I had to study last year called Blue, however I can't remember the author so I can't dig it up at the moment. But Blue in this case was some sort of washing liquid and the factories that produced it created a really foul smelling environment, which was ironic since the actual product Blue smelt "heavenly". A bit of random knowledge.

I've never really taken notice of things like that. I probably lack syntaste. The closes I can think is sometimes when I listen to music I get the hankering to draw a picture of the music. I've only done it recently, so I've only got a couple of drawings.. if I had a scanner I'd show them though. One is really just an abstract one where everyone I've asked to look at it do not see the same thing. The other is just a picture of two people empasizing the feeling of unrequited love, as inspired by Tadpole's Condition Chronic (and they are a cool cool band).

I think I'll try take more notice of those little nuances as decribed by the article provided by Dagger.[/COLOR]

[future girl]

I associate color with is music, in fact I have a hard time in general describing music or explaining why I like it. It's colors and stories and a lot of it, or at least my more favorite songs, give me this blue and ethereal feeling. I figure that's perhaps why I'm not too good at writing reviews, because I like things based on reasons like the feelings it causes in me and the imagery in my head. It's hard for another person to relate to those because they're personal. Moreover, I think I veil things in color, like if I were to remember my childhood I'd view it in my mind's eye as very white and clear, like something on camera with the flash on too bright. My parents are rose tinted, like those old 70s photographs. And going to the Keys is that dark blue, with a hint of purple in it and Hooverphonics in the background.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet]ok, the reason that nothing is capitaliozed us because i'm feeding abby, but that's not the topic.

in reply to the post, i'm going to say that winter smells blue...even though the colors you see right now are green and red, i always think of winter as blue. don't believe me? take a good whiff next time you go out, provided you live in the northern hemisphere. i'm sure you'll agree.

I (I'm too lazy to go back and fi this now) think that if I had to give summer a color,it would be bright yellow. Because yellow makes me fel warm.

now I'm thinking of horses because my lesson is later today, their smell is definately a rich emerald green. Because it stays with you for a while.; It could be a color that not everyone likes either, but I can't think of one at the moment.

Oh and the army, if it was a color would be the nastiest shade of brown immaginable.

Ok, now that I've comfused everyone I think I'll go see what other trheads there are.[/color]

[Retribution]

Yeah, I heard about synthaesia on 60 minutes. You can taste a shape, see a sound, etc. It's because your brain's 'connections' aren't 'wired propertly.'

I don't really have any of these, although I remember what things I did felt like. Like I remember what designing my site felt like, what it smelled like, what it looked like, etc. Strange... not really.

[Sara]

[quote name='anatema'] if I were to remember my childhood I'd view it in my mind's eye as very white and clear, like something on camera with the flash on too bright. .[/quote][size=1]Good imagery, heh. I can picture that.

It sort of reminds me of some sort of film short I saw once. It was very home-movie-ish, with very high brightness, little kids, and some chiming, tinkling music in the background. Heh. ^_^

warm woolen mittens,
Sara[/size]

[Heaven's Cloud]

I have always had an odd way to correlate music to colors. When I was younger I used to play quite a bit of symphonic music and I always visualized that the music had its own grey scale. My imagination would run wild during a movement, maybe a fox would be chased by a hunter and hounds maybe a war waged a cannons fired. What ever the picture was it always varied in shades of blacks, whites, and grays that were determined by the tone, the volume, and the pace of the music.

I also tend to visualize jazz in reds and blues, shades of reds representing the more upbeat free flowing style of music and shades of blue characterizing the smoother more melodic ballads. I never did associate any particular colors with rock or hip-hop.

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial]I think I know what you're talking about, heh. Depending on what I'm seeing/hearing I can see any number of colours or shapes, though shapes only really come into the equation when talking about music.

The shapes are never regular, and never actually related to the music at the time, they're just [i]there[/i]. It can be a tad disconcerting, but I haven't noticed it as much as I got older, heh. Karma has kicked my senses in the arse for freaking me out in my childhood, it seems, lol.

As for the colours, I usually associate harder, rougher music with reds and grey, whilst softer music with rich blues (when I say soft, it's relative; think Foo Fighters). Hip Hop is distinctly yellow, and classical has a gold feel to it. Everything else springs to mind as a rich purple.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]To answer this threads question, I think that the 'new car smell' is blue. As in, a light aqua type [think Hex #909090, I think]. That is the image I got when I tried to think of a 'blue' smell.

I think that at a deep level, most sensations stem from and intertwine with others. And it isn't always obvious either. I think colours and smells are most intertwined though. For example, the orange pin-up board next to me right now 'looks' musky. The carpet even has it's own type of imaginary smell. Its hard to descirbe.

But, ultimately, I am no syntathlete. I tend not to notice these type of things.[/size]

[John]

There's a band called H Is Orange, and one of the members has this... (I don't want to say disease) condition. Specifically, he has the variation where he sees spoken words in form and color, and when he sees a word with an "h", the letter is seen as orange. Hence the name. Duh.

Also, in the book Rumblefish, the main character (was his name Randy? Rusty? I didn't get very far, since the book was my sister's.) says that before he gets into a fight, everything is sharp and clear, and he notices every little sound and faint detail. But once the fight starts, everything goes red and blurry for him. Furthermore, his older brother, the Motorcyle Boy, is completely colorblind, but he can still see only one thing in color - a fish in a local pet shop. I'm thinking maybe the author herself - S.E. Hinton - was a synaesthete, now that it comes to mind.