You ’ve likely take heed of synesthesia , the status that makes people involuntarily consociate something with a sentiency that would n’t commonly be assort otherwise . For instance , some synesthetes cover that the word “ blue ” tastes inky , or find that an east penetrating is always chartreuse .
Lolitaauthor Vladimir Nabokov had grapheme - color synaesthesia , which is when the great unwashed see specific letters in specific people of color — and we ’re not just talking when they ’re reading a Richard Scarry Quran . His means with words is legendary , of course of study , so it ’s no surprise that his verbal description of how he realise letters was rather enthralling .
“ It ’s called semblance hearing , ” Nabokov told the BBC in 1962 . “ Perhaps one in a thousand has that . But I ’m evidence by psychologists that most children have it , that afterward they lose that aptitude when they are assure by stupid parents that it ’s all nonsense , an A is n’t mordant , a atomic number 5 is n’t brown — now do n’t be preposterous . ”
When the interviewer require what color his own initials were , Nabokov replied that the “ Phoebe is a kind of pale , gauze-like pink : I cerebrate it ’s called , technically , quartz pink : this is one of the closest colors that I can colligate with the V. And the N , on the other mitt , is a grey - yellow oatmeal color . ”
What ’s more is that Nabokov “ heard ” dissimilar people of color in different languages :
Oddly — though maybe not that funny , as it ’s been forecast that 1 in 23 people have some form of the condition — his wife , Véra , also had synesthesia . So did their son , which is how they discovered this interesting titbit :
No doubt the way he see letters distort the direction he wrote — quite attractively , obviously .
