Got an email recently from a fan, which had the comment “I wish I could see the world the way you do. I would help my own writing so much.” The unfortunate truth, however, is that nobody will ever see the world the way I do. Unless they’re a synesthete.

A what? I can hear you ask…

Allow me to enlighten you poor souls whose senses stop at five, and introduce you to the wonderful world of synesthesia.

*Fallon assumes lecturing tone*

“The word synesthesia, meaning "joined sensation", shares a root with anaesthesia, meaning "no sensation." It denotes the rare capacity to hear colours, taste shapes, or experience other equally startling sensory blendings whose quality seems difficult for most of us to imagine. A synesthete might describe the colour, shape, and flavour of someone's voice, or music whose sound looks like "shards of glass," a scintillation of jagged, coloured triangles moving in the visual field. Or, seeing the colour red, a synesthete might detect the "scent" of red as well. The experience is frequently projected outside the individual, rather than being an image in the mind's eye. (Cytowic, 1989, 1993). …Females and non-right-handers predominate, the trait is familial, and memory is superior while math and spatial navigation suffer.”

Note the math thing, people. This explains soooo much about me. If only the Taxation Department would get up to speed on the perils of synesthesia, maybe they’d stop sending me those letters…

Okay… let me explain. In my world, days of the week are all coloured. Numbers live on a single consecutive line that looks like a piano keyboard in my head. Fractions are iffy, and hide on the black keys where I can’t see them. I had to consciously add negative numbers to the line when I discovered they existed in the third grade and as for algebra… sorry, in my world it’s physically impossible, so I just pretend it doesn’t exist.

Oh, and music gets me too. Usually classical and only certain rhythms or melodies set me off. I can be totally unmoved by the saddest song ever written. Hooked on Classics, however, will make me cry. (That's seriously embarrassing, BTW)

I only discovered I had this rare condition when I was laying in bed one Sunday morning about 8 years ago, half-listening to a lecture on the ABC Radio by Robert Cytowic, who wrote the book, The Man Who Tasted Shapes. He was talking about the strange phenomenon of people who associated words and colours, number lines, music and emotions, and all this other weird, cross-sensory stuff. At which point, I began to realise he was describing the world as I saw it and calling it a “condition”.

I was stunned, because it never occurred to me that everyone else didn't see the world the same way. Turns out, that’s quite common, too. According to Cytowic, “synesthetes are surprised to discover that others do not perceive words, numbers, sounds, taste, and so forth as they do. Though they recall having always had their idiosyncratic perceptions as far back as they can remember, any mention of them at an early age characteristically prompted ridicule and disbelief. Despite keeping the experience private and hidden, it remained vivid and irrepressible, beyond any wilful control.”

So… here’s what is known about synesthetes:

• Synesthesia runs in families. Either sex parent can pass the trait to either sex child.
  
• Women synesthetes predominate.
  
• Synesthetes are preponderantly non-right-handed. (Not true in my case)
• Synesthetes are normal in the conventional sense. (Hmmm.. that’s questionable…hehehe)
  
• They appear bright, and hail from all walks of life.
• Clinically, synesthetes seem mentally balanced. Their MMPIs are unremarkable except for non-stereotypical male-female scales. Standard neurological exams are also normal.
• Not only do most synesthetes contend that their memories are excellent, but cite their parallel sensations as the cause, saying for example, "I know it's 2 because it's white."
  
• Conversation, prose passages, movie dialogue, and verbal instructions are typical subjects of detailed recall.
  
• The spatial location of objects is also strikingly remembered. Synesthetes perform in the superior range of the Wechsler Memory Scale.
• Within their overall high intelligence, synesthetes have uneven cognitive skills. The majority may have subtle mathematical deficiencies (such as lexical-to-digit transcoding). Right-left confusion (allochiria), and a poor sense of direction for vector rather than network maps are common.
• As a group, synesthetes seem more prone to "unusual experiences" than one might expect. Deja vu, clairvoyance, precognitive dreams, a sense of portentousness, and the feeling of a presence are encountered often.
  
• For most people, synesthesia is ineffable, that which by definition cannot be imparted to others or adequately put into words.

So… there you have it. My weirdness has a name. If you want to read the full article from which I have liberally borrowed, go here.

Oh, and after I listened to the lecture, I got out of bed and walked into the dining room where the kids were eating breakfast.

What colour is Tuesday? I asked. The girls answered immediately, with the colour they associated with that particular day of the week (they were different to mine). They thought that was perfectly normal, and that everyone thought of Tuesday the same way they did.

My son looked at the three of us, shook his head, and said, you guys are nuts.

Guess we’ll have to find another reason to explain his weirdness. It sure ain’t synesthesia:)