Friday, January 9, 2009

I've always wanted synesthesia

It’s always been just one more thing to be jealous of Nabokov about – which, believe you me, I’m already jealous enough of Nabokov. But my sister just emailed me some things about ordinal linguistic personification. I never knew that this phenomenon a) has a name; and b) is a form of synesthesia. Did you? It’s fascinating!

I do not have this with numbers. It's all about months and days. Some months and days are just better than others, and the reason is that the nice ones are nice and the bad ones are bad. For instance, I always like Friday better than Saturday, even though I work Fridays and not Saturdays. Friday is a clever, arty, interesting girl day (Friday is the only day that reminds me of a letter (C)); and Saturday is a loud boisterous shouty boy day. Like the Ghost of Christmas Present. You really have to be in the mood for loud and boisterous and shouty, which is why I sleep late on Saturdays (but not usually Sundays) and try to fill up my day with people and things, so I won’t have to be alone with Saturday. Doing nothing all day on Saturday gives me a headache. Doing nothing on Sunday is soothing. Sunday and Friday are my favorite girl days. (Monday is very nice, but I feel so sorry for poor little insecure Monday that I can’t get comfortable with it.) Tuesday and Thursday are my favorite boy days – Tuesday has depths to plumb, and Thursday is an expert on dozens of things – but Wednesday, which is diffident, not so much.

I would advise April and October against living with each other even though they are good friends. February has a good sense of humor and deadpan delivery. June is cocky, but July is arrogant and they always try to outdo each other. August is one of those people that are really really nice but you can never think of anything to talk to them about for some reason. December is gracious, and November does not have time for you.

I have always tried to repress this, because it seemed self-consciously whimsical (nothing worse than self-conscious whimsy - I mean, apart from the dozens of things that are much much worse than self-conscious whimsy, like pretentiousness and genocide), and also because people tend to think you are insane if you tell them things like November does not have time for you. But see, I didn't need to bother. It's ordinal linguistic personification.

I was just reading what some other people who have OLP were saying about months, and it's totally different to mine. It says August is "a boy among girls". Ridiculous. August is definitely a girl. July is a boy (June too), but September is a girl. September is cool and fun and thinks of interesting things to do. Oh, but wow, this person with letters has exactly my same ones for J and K - "J [is] male; appearing jocular, but with strength of character; K [is] female; quiet, responsible…” Weeeeeeeird. Oo, and here's another one, that says K is energetic and bubbly but not always approachable, which is completely wrong.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, I may think you're crazy, but I am curious to know what you think about MY birth month. And what about May? I'm thinking cheerful and overweight girl, who occasionally surprises you with her unexpected skill sets.

Jenny said...

Oh, March is a little boy. He's naughty and mischievous, and April is his older sister. May is their mother, and she is plump, depressed, and not that interested in the kids. Mainly because she'd rather be doing other things. A slightly depressing vision of my own birth month, but there you go.

Anonymous said...

No. May is a bratty little girl. April is a whimiscal little girl. March is a boisterous drinking sort of guy in his early 20s--probably has something to do with Mardi Gras. February is a bookish snobby girl who is quiet and reading important things. February is # 1. January is a jock, by the way, who is really into rowing.

Jenny said...

*sigh* You're just so wrong. January, a jock? Please. January is a girl, and she's very unfinished and does not trust herself very much. It is probably not good for her to be friends with February, but she thinks February is funny. She would be terrible in a relationship. She would end up being in a relationship with someone like November, and it would never go well for her. (Poor January.)

Anonymous said...

This is so fascinating. Although I have to agree with Jen that January is NOT a jock. Definitely a girl.

Fiona said...

I've got OLP, but it's mainly for numbers. For example, 7 is this comically pathetic evil villain. 8 is a jovial king. 5 is this teenage female who's really strong-willed and stands up for what she believes in. I always see her holding a sign and protesting against something - usually number 9's cruel ways.

It's not as strong for other stuff, but it's still there in a way.

Nini said...

I know I have synaesthesia and OCD, but I may also have OLP. But, only for numbers; months and days just don't do it for me. Like 8 is always nice, trustworthy, dependable, and a good friend, but knows how to turn on you because you trust it so much, but it almost never does. 5 has almost the mind of a serial killer. 5 likes hurting others, and cannot be trusted, and if you're stuck with it, it gets painful. 4 is good-hearted and calm, but sometimes does things without thinking. 2 is kind, fun,and a little excitable, but kind of dependable. 7 is devious but hiding the fact it's vulnerable and shy. 9 doesn't care, but is sort of a follower, and just likes getting others into trouble. 1 is depressed, helpless, and indifferent. 6 is like the sibling that is your age and knows you very well, and knows just what to say and how to deal with things. 0 is the problem solver, and somehow can even out any problem between the others. But 5 is undoubtedly the enemy, and sometimes weasles it's way around 0's peace treaties. After all that though, none of my numbers have really distinct genders. And even numbers are waaayy better than odds.