On Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a medical condition wherein a person's senses are blurred. Certain sounds might have specific tastes, for example. The color red may feel prickly.

Personally, I've gotten some looks when I tell people things taste purple, but they tend to get what I mean when I explain that artificial grape flavor doesn't actually taste like grapes; it just tastes like purple after a while. You know it's going to be purple. If it's not grape than you've got to call it something. Only citrus flavors ever taste like the fruits anyway.

But that's not really synesthesia. My friend Bob has synesthesia. When he writes music he apparently writes it in patterns of nesting brackets, all with their own colors.

Too bad for Bob he's also colorblind.