Credit: SWNS / Sarah Gann
A woman can "taste words" due to a neurological condition - and says her boyfriend's name tastes like "paper".
Sarah Gann, 30, grew up associating words with certain tastes - but assumed everyone else did too.
It turned out she has synesthesia, a neurological condition where the stimulation of one sense - in Sarah's case, sound leads to the stimulation of another - taste.
The mum-of-two doesn't associate a taste with every single word, but does taste lots of common ones.
Sarah says the word 'teacher' tastes like purple tropical Skittles, and the word 'think' tastes like chocolate milk.
A woman can "taste words" due to a neurological condition - and says her boyfriend's name tastes like "paper".
Sarah Gann, 30, grew up associating words with certain tastes - but assumed everyone else did too.
It turned out she has synesthesia, a neurological condition where the stimulation of one sense - in Sarah's case, sound leads to the stimulation of another - taste.
The mum-of-two doesn't associate a taste with every single word, but does taste lots of common ones.
Sarah says the word 'teacher' tastes like purple tropical Skittles, and the word 'think' tastes like chocolate milk.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00At gatherings, at social events, I'm always kind of taking people's names and people enjoy me for it.
00:05You don't struggle with synesthesia, you kind of, it's like a superpower, it's like a party trick.
00:14I'm Henry Gray, I'm 23 from Newcastle and I've got a condition called
00:19lexical gustatory synesthesia. I can taste, smell, feel or kind of see
00:26sounds, particularly names. As early back as I can remember, I always got something with names,
00:33I just thought it was normal. I think it was about when I was about nine or ten,
00:38that was when I first was told that this was something that no one else had. Because I
00:42remember in primary school in the playground, I would pick and choose friends because of what I
00:47got their name and certain things that I'd said, oh I don't play with you Fergus, your name's too
00:53itchy. Or a new boy called Martin joined the school and on the register his name was was
00:58called out and my teacher heard me say something like, oh that tastes like Smarties. So these
01:03things that I'd said that my mum had heard, that my teacher had heard, eventually they came together
01:07on parents' evening, told each other, that's when they realised and then they told me, that's when,
01:13that's when I realised. So I went into my early teens kind of like being like, okay this is
01:18something that just I have. Some people get really fascinated in me, I'll get like a random text from
01:23them saying, look I need you to just taste my friend's names that I'm with because I've gone
01:27on holiday and I've met people and I've told them that I know a boy who has synesthesia,
01:31please can you tell them what my name tastes like? My own name, I imagine it being white bread,
01:36no crusts, kind of soft, sort of something like cheese and lettuce inside of it and it's wrapped
01:43in cling film and it's slightly squashed in a lunchbox and that's so specific isn't it? Like
01:48it's just, that's always just been Henry to me. My favourite male names are, first of all Bailey,
01:54I love Bailey, it's like, it tastes like warm milk. I love Niall because Niall, it's like when
02:01you go into like a JD shop, you get like a fresh tennis ball and you just sniff it, like Niall
02:06smells like a fresh tennis ball. Tony as well, Tony smells like freshly cut grass. My favourite
02:10female names are Alice, Alice tastes like sliced apples. Francesca, it's like silky smooth,
02:18kind of chocolatey ice frappuccino but it's like filling every crevice of my mouth, especially
02:23like here. So some of the worst male names, Ian is horrible, I can feel Ian here, it's like having
02:31like a gummy blocked kind of aching ear. Harrison is absolutely horrible, I don't even like to say
02:38it, it's horrible but it's like an itch on my body that I just can't scratch. Elijah makes my skin
02:45crawl to say it because it's like licking an eyeball. Some horrible girls names, Natalie's
02:49horrible, it's like wooden splinters in my mouth. Kirstie's horrible, it smells like a faint sort
02:54of urine smell. I wouldn't date someone who had a bad tasting or spelling name, it's actually a very
03:00very influential factor in my attraction to people because I couldn't possibly date Kirstie
03:07because I just always associate her with the smell of urine. I don't think there's anyone with
03:12synesthesia who's like I wish I didn't have this because you don't struggle with synesthesia,
03:16you kind of, it's like a superpower, it's like a parting trick. You know at gatherings, at social
03:20events, I'm always kind of tasting people's names and people enjoy me for it so for other people
03:25with synesthesia I'd say you're lucky, you know enjoy it, be grateful because it's an amazing
03:31thing to have.