Jillian Chantal

EDITED TO ADD:  I researched this condition on several psychological websites before I posted. None of the sites were Wikipedia (whose entries can be edited by any member) and I believe the sites I looked at were reliable. One of them was even the official site for the organization that has a conference in Nashville.  I am not a psychologist nor do I claim to have any expertise in psychology. This blog is not a scientific endeavor.  The Friday Facts herein are to serve as a tool for fellow writers to use as a stepping stone for ideas. I always encourage people to do their own research. I believe I have relied on expert information. If anyone reading this disagrees with the research I’ve done, I apologize but I stand by the research I did of this condition.  Feel free to do your own  and form your own opinions.

Synesthesia is a psychological condition. It is when two senses act together. The root of the word is Greek- Syn means together and aisthesis means perception. People with this condition usually see words or numbers in colors.  Different words are different colors. Numbers can also be perceived as colors.  Most people with this condition are women, left handed and of normal intelligence.  It is an  involuntary thing and is usually inherited on the mother’s side (if you wondered what that side of the family that is, it is the enate side). The people with this condition are called synesthetes.  A lot of them are artists.

There are various kinds of synesthesia.  The one that has been discussed in my household relates to musical notes and sounds. I live with a teenage musician and he is the one that told me about this condition.  It is a very interesting phenomenon.  I learned something new. I like that.   Eddie Van Halen and Pharrell Williams are synesthetes as was Franz Liszt.  Vladimir Nabokov was, too. 

There is even an organization of synthetes. They have a convention and everything. How cool is that?  This year, they meet in Nashville  in October.