Want to know what your name tastes like?
January 30, 2019 9:00 AM   Subscribe

Aaron - a stale chocolate bar; Brandon - flat Coke; Charlotte - raspberry lollipop Freelance journalist and Twitter user Julie McDowall (@JulieAMcDowell) specializes in the Cold War and the nuclear threat and happens to have synesthesia. She recently tweeted that she “tastes” words and encouraged people to ask her the flavor of their name. The Mail Online compiled a list of McDowall’s “greatest hits” which McDowall tweeted.
posted by pjsky (59 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm curious whether she would come up with the same flavors if asked about repeat names separated by weeks/months/years.

As a rule, when they test people, synaesthetics will come up with the same colour/sound/whatever over long periods, and other people will just change crap around at random. So probably yes.
posted by jeather at 9:25 AM on January 30, 2019 [5 favorites]


I wonder why so many of the names map to terrible flavors.
posted by explosion at 9:38 AM on January 30, 2019


Fascinating!

Two notes: the MyModernMet link (the first link in the OP) is formatted as direct copies of tweets, sometimes without the context of what name she's "tasting," and the final link is to a tweet of hers, not the Mail Online, which might be this article, which includes Twitter screenshots instead of reformatted tweets.

My only other reply is to cheekily quote Monty Python:

Father: ... Gorn ... gorn. It's got a sort of woody quality about it. Gorn. Gorn. Much better than `newspaper' or `litterbin'.
Daughter: Frightful words.
Mother: Perfectly dreadful.
Father: Ugh! Newspaper! ... litterbin ... dreadful tinny sort of words. Tin, tin, tin.
The daughter bursts into tears.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:42 AM on January 30, 2019 [7 favorites]


I have this brand of synesthesia, although not limited to names. It doesn't seem to be a very common type, which seems odd to me. Yes, the tastes/flavors/textures of the words are very consistent. I've learned to suppress it in daily life, for the most part - good thing, otherwise it could be very distracting!
posted by infodiva at 9:47 AM on January 30, 2019 [8 favorites]


Oh Paul is nice. It's like the fondant inside a Creme Egg.

That was a nice surprise.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:54 AM on January 30, 2019 [5 favorites]


paging Weedlord Bonerhitler to your Twitter thread of destiny
posted by delfin at 10:10 AM on January 30, 2019 [7 favorites]


I totally do not have this. But I remember when I was younger that some of the lower numbers had personalities to me. Specifically the Snoopy comic strip characters. Five was Lucy, no question, four was Linus (Charlie Brown was one not zero, FYI). This was my rich inner life speaking, I am sure. Anyway, I love things like this. infodiva, I can understand why that would be distracting, especially if most words taste kind of awful. Does this affect how you choose to speak because some words are tastier than others? Apologies if my Qs are either insensitive, rude, or both. I do not mean to trivialize your experience in any way. Please ignore me if I am.
posted by Bella Donna at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


Watered down orange juice. Hmph. Don't brush your teeth before me.
posted by wellred at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2019 [4 favorites]


infodiva: what do Allen, Jenny, Cordelia, and Persephone taste like?

you know ...for science.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:20 AM on January 30, 2019


filthy light thief > My only other reply is to cheekily quote Monty Python:

I recently found myself watching the "woody/tinny" sketch after not seeing it for many years. And all I could really see through the whole thing now was the servants, just standing there, waiting on the needs of these absolute imbeciles nattering on.

****

I think I managed to get all her replies to that thread to load. I can never tell any more with Twitter. Searching for the full version of my name, or my preferred short form ("Margaret" has like a half dozen to choose from) came up with nothing, so I guess I will never know what this stranger thinks my name tastes like.
posted by egypturnash at 10:23 AM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


Five was Lucy, no question

If five wasn't 5, he's going to have one mother of an identity crisis
posted by delfin at 10:24 AM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


My name tastes like "little flakes of coconut". I hate coconut.
posted by briank at 10:25 AM on January 30, 2019


My given name is not listed, so I'm just going to go ahead and let you all know I'm pretty sure it tastes like Lemonade + Bourbon. infodiva, can you confirm? ;)
posted by pjsky at 10:31 AM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Donald - A rubber duck dipped in vinegar.

Sounds about right to me.
posted by cazoo at 10:32 AM on January 30, 2019 [4 favorites]


Just think of the pickup line potential.

"Hi, my name is [....]"
"Wow. Your name tastes like dark chocolate syrup over smooth raspberry ice cream in my mouth."

(first person either melts on the spot or produces a taser)
posted by delfin at 10:33 AM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Yes, the tastes/flavors/textures of the words are very consistent.

Follow-up question, if you don't mind: Have you ever spoken to someone else with synesthesia who also tastes words? If so, did you have any areas of agreement, meaning a word or phrase that tasted similar to both of you?

Because, if you get enough of those together, well, that's a dialect.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:47 AM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Leontrotsky: Allen, iceberg lettuce; Cordelia, mango salsa; Persephone, an aroma of vinyl.
posted by infodiva at 11:04 AM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


The Pluto Gangsta: I've only "met" one other word-taster, and that was over email. We couldn't find areas of agreement, which to me indicates some kind of very early, personal associations during language development. IIRC, the person I met was involved in some way as a researcher here: University of Sussex, Synesthesia research
posted by infodiva at 11:08 AM on January 30, 2019 [5 favorites]


Hmm.
A rusk dipped in coffee.
I'll take it.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2019


infodiva, if I may ask, does "MetaFilter" have a taste?
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2019


Bella Donna: Not a rude or insensitive question at all. It's an intriguing question, and one I hadn't thought about before. I have to say, I'm not conscious of choosing words or avoiding them based on their flavor. Usually, the tastes are neutral, tending to pleasantish, fortunately for me. Something for me to mull over, thx!
posted by infodiva at 11:13 AM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


ZeusHumms: Yes, it does, but as if it's two, separate words - "Meta" tastes like a soft, white cake without frosting; "filter" tastes like a plastic spoon.
posted by infodiva at 11:15 AM on January 30, 2019 [10 favorites]


Oh Paul is nice. It's like the fondant inside a Creme Egg.

That was a nice surprise.

Such a great start but I don't want to remind anyone or be reminded of a creme egg.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:22 AM on January 30, 2019


Bella Donna: I think you have synesthesia. Check the University of Sussex site linked above, for descriptions of the different forms. Do numbers still have personalities for you? You might have subconsciously suppressed noticing it; or if you as a child didn't realize not everyone experienced numbers this way, it's very possible you didn't recognize it as unusual - and so the memory of it faded.
posted by infodiva at 11:23 AM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


specializes in the Cold War and the nuclear threat and happens to have synesthesia

Now I'm curious how (the names of) all the various US and Soviet ICBM systems taste.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:28 AM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


Leontrotsky: Oops, I missed one: Jenny = clementine segment pulp (like, the inside of the segment without the "skin."
posted by infodiva at 11:39 AM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


As a rule, when they test people, synaesthetics will come up with the same colour/sound/whatever over long periods, and other people will just change crap around at random. So probably yes.

Seconding this; I met someone in my theater days who had personality/color synesthesia. Meaning: after a comparatively brief time getting to know someone (like, a couple days or so), something about their inherant personality just took on a color quality for him. He said that at first he thought maybe the New Age stuff about auras was actually true and he was seeing them, but everything he read on the topic just had very vague descriptions of the different color auras that there were, like "red" or "green" or "yellow" and that's it - and he was experiencing something much, much more specific, more like he was seeing "Panetone #4510" instead of just "blue". And every person's color was consistent and unique.

(Of course as he was talking about this, everyone else immediately had to know "okay, what color am I?" According to him, something about me is a very, very deep slate blue/gray. He also said that a mutual acquaintance of ours was taupe, and to be honest, based on my own familiarity with that person, I wasn't surprised.)

I did some self-directed research about synesthesia after this just out of curiosity, and turned up an interesting theory about why this happens - the theory is that it's a holdover from how our brains develop in infancy. There's some evidence to suggest that when we're first born, any sensory input makes every area of the brain fire - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, everything. And as our brains develop, gradually the neural pathways sort themselves out - the visual center of the brain gradually stops mapping to the aural or tactile input, the taste center starts to ignore auditory input, and so on. The theory is that with synesthesia, some of these extra connections never completely sever themselves.

I also read a great story about a woman who was on a job hunt and randomly applied as the office manager of a research facility. During the interview, the manager mentioned that they were conducting synesthesia research, and she asked what that was. "Oh, we study people who associate unusual sensory responses with different input. Like, they're people who for whatever reason think that there's something about the number two or the letter X is, like, brown or something."

The woman frowned. "Hang on - the number two isn't brown, it's mauve."

The manager just hesitated a moment, then said, "you're hired."

.....Is there a Tweetdeck or threadreader or other similar list of all the names she's covered? I'm trying to look for my own. (I'm also curious if the full name and the diminutive are different.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:03 PM on January 30, 2019 [8 favorites]


(If you just want to see her answers instead of all the people asking about their names, you can use Twitter's "Tweets with replies" setting.)

I feel for some people getting unappetizing answers – like Di, Diane, and Diana are all "a mouth full of hairspray."
posted by lisa g at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


I have this form of synesthesia too! I've never met anyone else who had it, so it's kind of oddly comforting to see the others in this thread. Similar to others, I've learned to ignore a lot of the flavors but some are so strong they come through no matter what. Luckily, nothing is too terribly unpleasant, but the majority of them are not really food-like, so they're kind of neutral (think, licking wood or the flavor of stainless steel flatware).
posted by Fuego at 1:23 PM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


I'm not finding this in the links, so I'd like to ask the people here with synesthesia: does your own name trigger these sensations/associations?
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:22 PM on January 30, 2019


I have synesthesia but mine is colours associated with numbers and letters. It used to be much stronger but faded as I became a teenager. Then I realized not everyone has this and I started to consciously focus on it.

I have personality/colour a little bit too, which connects to letters. I had planned to name my puppy Finn but when he came home at 8 weeks he was absolutely not green. (Fs are green.) He was black. I named him Loki. (Ls are black.) It's so strong that I had a name tag sitting on my desk that someone made for me with my name in bright red, and I had to get rid of it because the red was so wrong.
posted by twilightlost at 2:23 PM on January 30, 2019 [4 favorites]


Are numbers gendered for anyone else? I just remembered that was the other thing about numbers for me when I was a kid. Take 238, for example. For me, the first two numbers are female and the third is male. Thanks for the info, infodiva!
posted by Bella Donna at 2:29 PM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


In her twitter feed, Julie McDowall says her sister, Jennifer, has that: For those interested, my sister's synesthesia has an added quirk. She sees "personalities" and genders attached to numbers and letters. As a child, she'd get annoyed that no-one could understand that "Seven fancies four", and Nine is a bloke. (1:54 AM - 28 Jan 2019)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:32 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


Nine is a bloke, totally! ZOMG I may have another label but this one is so much more interesting than ADHD. Thanks, Iris Gambol!
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


My son associates musical notes with shapes. (We have not discussed chords in this context, but he can break a chord down to its notes instantly.) I was describing this to my daughter and she said that she had color sensations for letters and words. Words naming colors often, but not always, corresponded to the named color. How confusing! Neither I nor their mother have had such experiences.
posted by sjswitzer at 2:50 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


I am enjoying this thread so much.
posted by Bella Donna at 3:06 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


My synesthesia lets me see and feel sound. Songs come up as clouds of colour (just like the paintings of this artist who also sees sound) and sounds have a subtle texture to them that I can sort of sense on my skin.

I saw that tweet go round but it got like 18k replies and I didn't want to add on to the spam! What does Tiara taste like?
posted by divabat at 3:11 PM on January 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


I want to add that neither my son or daughter even suspected this was unusual. They sorta assumed everybody had the same experience!
posted by sjswitzer at 3:15 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


Strangely, she says “Jennifer” is a safety pin dipped in a vinegar, but in a later tweet says it’s a safety pin stuck to a shred of nappy or something similar (I sadly closed the thread). The safety pin seems consistent but the second half (vinegar/nappy) seems at odds. People with synesthesia, would you say the associations are consistent but not entirely constant? I found it so interesting that the same name would have a similar but different answer a few hours later.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 3:21 PM on January 30, 2019


I totally do not have this. But I remember when I was younger that some of the lower numbers had personalities to me. Specifically the Snoopy comic strip characters.

Sounds like ordinal linguistic personification! My sister & I both have it & we agree that 3 is an asshole.
posted by taquito sunrise at 3:43 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Iris Gambol: I do taste/smell my name, and it's not entirely pleasant (ha!) but not awful - coarse hair that was last washed a couple of days ago.
posted by infodiva at 3:48 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Yoko - consistent, across many years.
posted by infodiva at 3:49 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


Divabat: Tiara - Windex and chicken soup!
posted by infodiva at 3:50 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


I struggle, sometimes, in identifying smells and tastes... for instance with wine. Smells like duck breast, apricots and baseball glove? I wish I could be so sure on a direct sense perception as others are on indirect ones.
posted by sjswitzer at 4:01 PM on January 30, 2019


> "People with synesthesia, would you say the associations are consistent but not entirely constant?"

I can't speak for people who have strong synaesthetic connections, but in my singular case, sort of yes?

Mine is the taste of pork, which tastes yellow - but, at the same time, I almost visualise pink. It's sort of like the taste brings up the idea of yellow, but the picture in my mind's eye is a blob or field of pink?

It's hard to explain; I grew up just assuming it was a normal thing that everybody experienced and was the reason why people liked some foods but not others (I find it extremely disconcerting, so I don't like pork*). I gradually realised that wasn't the case (mostly because people either looked at me strangely or didn't believe me when I told them). It wasn't until I was in my late 20's that I saw a piece about synaesthesia on a kids TV show that I learned it had a name and found out for sure that the majority of people didn't experience anything like it.

I've settled on calling pork "yellowmeat" - but at least in my case it's not that simple, and I could easily have gone the other way or give different responses in slightly different contexts.

(* Strangely, it's only pork, no matter how it's cooked. People assure me that other parts of the pig, such as ham and bacon, taste the much same - but they certainly don't trigger the synaesthetic connection in me, so I can happily eat them…)
posted by Pinback at 4:50 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


infodiva: that's a hell of a combination.

As for my synesthesia - I'd say it's relatively consistent, though it's not like I'm listening to the same songs over and over for 15 years so I'm not keeping track.
posted by divabat at 5:54 PM on January 30, 2019


Are numbers gendered for anyone else?

Odd numbers are boys and even numbers are girls. I have no idea why.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:43 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


I followed your link, infodiva, and ended up taking a fun survey about synesthesia! Mine is mostly grapheme-color synesthesia, though I also have specific calendar-related visualizations as well.

Anyway, wow, my name apparently tastes like an itchy scab on someone's knee. That seems about right, really. I didn't like it for the longest time because it's kind of dark green and maroon and a disconcerting brown. Now I'm just more amused by the fact that no one knows how to spell it. I've been keeping a collection of misspellings.
posted by limeonaire at 7:15 PM on January 30, 2019


infodiva, what does "Lisa" taste like?

I also have the numeral-personality (and gender) synesthesia. Some of the numerals do not get along and it makes setting thermostats hard, as 7 and 6 are particularly finicky.
posted by lazuli at 9:44 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


Lazuli - Lisa tastes/smells like very straight, blonde hair and Johnson & Johnson's creme rinse (which I'm not sure they even make anymore..?).
posted by infodiva at 1:50 AM on January 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


.....Alright, I give in.

Infodiva: How about "Kim" and "Kimberly"? (Is there a difference between the two, by the way?)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:07 AM on January 31, 2019


Kim and Kimberly - Riesens chocolate candies (specifically, the chocolate coating, itself).
posted by infodiva at 7:18 AM on January 31, 2019


"People with synesthesia, would you say the associations are consistent but not entirely constant?"

Mine are constant and consistent. The letter F has always been and will always be green. The letter K is black. The letter C is black and white at the same time. It's tricky to try to explain it using words, because a singular word for a colour doesn't begin to explain the complexities.
posted by twilightlost at 8:28 AM on January 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


Kim and Kimberly - Riesens chocolate candies (specifically, the chocolate coating, itself).

....I am torn between fascination, relief that it wasn't anything like used motor oil, and a slight disappointment that "....Riesens instead of Godiva? Darn."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:22 AM on January 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


And actually, a serious follow-up, if you don't mind, infodiva.

I was curious about whether the name and the diminutive form were the same or different; sounds like they're the same. But that's introduced a new question. Would you say you're reacting to the way the name might sound if spoken aloud, or some kind of inherant quality of the name itself?

Because this is sending me on this super-tangential intellectual exercise, where I'm wondering if the "Kim" in "Kim Jong Il" would be the same sensory response; it's a name, but in Korea the name "Kim" has a distinct contextual difference from the way "Kim" is used as a name in the West. And I'm now curious whether that would introduce a nuance, or if it's a whole new response or if it's the same.

If it's a sound thing, then the reaction to "Kim" and "Kimberly" wouldn't be the same, I'd imagine. Unless there is a difference, but it's really slight.

Apologies if this is prying. This is just a really fascinating intellectual exercise of the kind that I got into when I met that guy with the personality/color kind of synesthesia.

Speaking of which - there was a really, really interesting thing that happened with that guy once, where I was late meeting him becuase of a horrible commute. I called him to let me into the studio where we were meeting, and I walked in in a foul mood; my back was turned to him when he came to meet me, and he came in laughing, thinking I was doing better than I was. But as soon as he walked in, before he even saw my face he instantly stopped and said "Whoa. Are you okay?"

I am positive he didn't see my face and had only just that second laid eyes on me, but still sensed just how upset I was. I've always been curious whether it was because he saw some kind of shift in my color tone.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on January 31, 2019


I searched and searched and she didn’t do my name. :-( Infodiva, could you tell me what Greta tastes like?
posted by Weeping_angel at 10:10 AM on January 31, 2019


" Greta" tastes like cottage cheese - the good kind, with big curds, creamy :-D
posted by infodiva at 2:30 PM on January 31, 2019 [3 favorites]


EmpressCallipygos - they're usually similar, but sometimes the full name is a bit more complex. Kimberly, for example, actually has more texture than the diminutive. Korean "Kim" tastes the same as in English.

I feel like I'm swamping the thread with comments, especially regarding specific names - I'll be happy to answer PMs, instead :)
posted by infodiva at 2:35 PM on January 31, 2019 [1 favorite]


TO: infodiva and all the other synesthetes that have commented and shared your amazing abilities -- THANK YOU! This is so insanely cool and I want to invite each of you over for a big, fun dinner party. I want to hear all about every aspect of your synesthesia in all its diverse glory. It would be the best MeFi Meet-Up E.V.E.R. !!!
posted by pjsky at 2:55 PM on January 31, 2019 [3 favorites]


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