Monday, July 24, 2006

Purple Mondays, Blue Wednesdays, Aubergine Fridays...

A poster to this blog asked me to describe the different colours and textures I experience for the days of the week. This point arose from the title of my memoir: 'Born On A Blue Day' - where the blue (a rich, dark blue) refers to a Wednesday.

Mondays are purple, Tuesdays are a much warmer, orange colour, Thursdays are a bitty light yellow, Fridays are aubergine-coloured, Saturdays are curvy and Sundays are very bright and shiny.

When someone asks me to calculate the day of the week he/she was born on, I see the colours and textures in my head and translate them into the answer.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Plath said somewhere (I think in her letters) that her colour used to be red but is now blue, I can't find the quote but she describes it beautifully. In fact, one could write a thesis on the colour blue in her poetry.

My colour is also dark blue. Blue is the colour of the day at dawn.

Moreover the poet Keats has also written a lovely sonnet in praise of this colour.


ANSWER TO A SONNET ENDING THUS:

Dark eyes are dearer far
Than orbs that mock the hycainthine bell
(J H Reynolds).


BLUE! 'Tis the life of heaven, the domain
Of Cynthia, the wide palace of the sun
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train
the bosomer of clouds, gold, grey and dun

BLUE! 'Tis the life of waters - OCEAN
And all its vassal streams, pools numberless
May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can
subside, if not to dark blue nativeness

BLUE! Gentle cousin to the forest-green
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers -
Forget-me-not, the blue-bell, and, that queen
of secrecy, the violet - What strange powers

Hast thou as a mere shadow! But how great
what in an eye thou art, alive with fate!

yitz said...

Hi Daniel,
I was curious if you had ever studied any hebrew and/or any numerology/gematria as it seems like an interesting fusion of language and numbers, especially in the hebrew version where the numerical values inform the meaning of the words and vice versa.

[unrelated: I happen to share an unusual coincidence with you, being the oldest of nine and born in january albeit a year before you and on a tuesday, the 3rd]

Anonymous said...

Hi Daniel,

Do you know Korea??..

Artcle about your ability

I'm Korean

Anonymous said...

Hi Daniel,


Do you know Korea located in Asia??..

I'm Korean (becaeus My English writing is very poor. but My reading is not so poorer than writing. )

I read the web news of yours in Korea, today.

Do you know your story and ability
be introduced in Korea far from your nation??



I so marvel at the extraodinary ability when I read your article.

And I'm interested in your book specifically your insight of numeral, and process of multiplication.

But I'm not able to buy your book, as I'm in Korea where the book isn't for sale.

What do I have to do for getting more information?? ......

Would I ask you some curiosity??..



I have a question ,if a individual image of number is independent of each other or not.

Especially, I very very wonder if images of two numbers seleted for multiplication are connected with image of the number of the result.
(Sorry for my poor writing ability)

For example, I mean that i want to know if images of 8,9 are connected with image of 72 ( the sum of 8 x 9 ).

If the connection exist,
I wonder the way , too


And how are process of 8 x 9 different from that of 24 x 3?? (both result of multiplication
are same 72 )

Lastly, I've read you have the unique images of number from 1 ~ 10000. if so, how does image of number over 5 digit come into your mind ?.. Is it a mixture that consists of the existing image??





Thank you so much that you read
my poor writing..

Sorry&Sorry for poor English skill
(This is first time I wright English out of school.)

But I really really have a many interest in your genius... And
Surely I'm fan of yours.

If I recived your reply,
It would be extreme glory for me.



cf.[my Email: daylight1776@hotmail.com]

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much Daniel. You are very kind.

I was the poster that asked you to describe the days of the week.

Daniel Tammet said...

For 24 x 3, I would see '8 x 9' automatically, because 8 is 2 to the third power (2x2x2) and 9 is 3 squared (3x3). My mind breaks numbers down into primes and powers and visualises the interactions between these into composite number shapes.

For numbers above 10,000 I break the number down into smaller factors or parts: 10,001 as 73x137 for example.

Z said...

Daniel, I believe people without synesthaesia recognize the importance of it and are attempting to recreate it electronically.

Take for example some amazing multi-touch interaction research being done here. Make sure to watch the top-right video first:

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

What are your thoughts about this? Do you see any relationship?

Anonymous said...

Cher Daniel,
I "met" you, thanks to this article in French newspaper Le Monde.
Being born French on a Saturday (nobody is perfect), I tried to translate into French your curvy sensation, as if "curvy" was a colour... without success. Then I reckoned colour is a limited concept too, when not combined. I feel myself very limited when it comes to synaesthetic evocations : well, I assume "curvy" is a plump colour ! ;-)
Your blog is very inspiring, I dare say, as a compliment, that I would like to have even more kindred souls with you than the many I discovered on this first encounter.
A question : Ready to buy your book, I wonder if you reviewed its French translation ? I would not like to lose some of your thoughts through it.
By the way, do you know Lexilogos ?
I can't spend a day without finding a reason to visit this site. Some of your readers might like it too.
Farewell,
Julien from Paris

Anonymous said...

Daniel,

I am also a synesthete. I classify numbers and letters into groups depending on color, gender and personality. For example, 2 is a female, yellow number who is friendly and high spirited.

I was born on a red day. Sunday being turqoise, Monday being light blue, Tuesday being yellow, Wednesday being brown, Thursday being greenish blue, Friday being orange and Saturday being red.

- Zumes