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Synesthesia is a strange condition where one of your senses (e.g. sight) is perceived as if by another sense or senses (e.g. taste and sound).
People with the condition may hear the color orange, or smell the number 10. As skeptical as people are about the condition, it's a real and surprisingly common thing. The first account of the condition dates back to 1690, when philosopher John Locke wrote about a blind man who "saw" the color scarlet whenever he heard the honk of a trumpet.
Weirdly, your name may "taste" of something to a synesthete.
One woman with synesthesia took to Twitter and offered to tell people what their names taste like.
"I put 'taste' in inverted commas," she explained on Twitter. "90 percent is taste. Some sensations or images get through."
Gloriously, she doesn't sugarcoat her answers either, telling one person their name tastes like "a child's roundabout moving slowly in the breeze. No kids on it." Sorry to any Rowenas out there.
Jesus tastes like Maltesers by the way.
So here you go, look at her answers to find out your taste. Brace yourselves because your name might not have the taste you were hoping for. Especially if you're named Duncan.
I hope you braced yourselves like we told you to, Duncans.
Austins, as if your name didn't sound ridiculous enough, brace yourselves because you taste like crap food that's been sat on.
Poor Luke tastes of violence that's been done to a reptile.
Congratulations Zoes, you taste like an obese bee.
Brian get out of our teeth, BRIAN!
To be honest the names Ian and Darren taste just as awful as we imagined.
Marks, you are disgusting.
Sometimes it's festive, it's not all hair dye and cold stew.
Antonio is past his prime.
James is great by the way, as you'd expect.
And Donald is somewhat appropriate.
This synesthete has eaten a lot of scabs in her time.
And our personal favorite...
If your name isn't here, check out the full thread which has nearly 2,000 replies so far and is by no means over yet, as Julie says she'll reply to more in the morning.
"For those interested, my sister's synesthesia has an added quirk," she added as a side note before she went to bed.
"She sees 'personalities' and genders attached to numbers and letters. As a child, she'd get annoyed that no one could understand that 'Seven fancies four', and Nine is a bloke."
If you aren't happy with tasting like cold stew or earache, another synesthete has been telling people what their names look like. Maybe your name is more favorable to her.
If you're called Ian though, don't hope for too much.
