Thursday 29 October 2009

The Man who Tastes Words

I caught an item in the press the other week, which I thought might interest you.

It concerns a man called James Wannerton, from Lancashire in England, who since the age of four, has had the ability to taste words, yes that's right, he actually has the physical sensation of taste.

There are apparently around 2.5 million people in the World with this condition, which is called, Gustatory Auditory Synaesthesia.

He says that it wasn't until later in life that he discovered that he was not alone in having this condition.

For him, specific words, phrases and languages have distinct tastes, not all of them pleasant; indeed his whole life and his selection of friends is determined by this.

He gives some examples:

The Lord's Prayer apparently tastes of bacon!

The French language is eggy!

And German is just pure marmalade!

What drew me to the item in the first place was his assessment of the taste of words spouted by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He says that budding President of the EU, Tony Blair's words taste of dessicated coconut and that our glorious Prime Minister's words taste of mud and marmite ( a disgusting beef yeast paste spread).

How positively apt!

4 comments:

  1. sometimes words do have taste, but in my case it's more of a mental thing than on my tongue. it's interesting to know.

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  2. Such an interesting concept! Wouldn't it be wonderful if he could use it to detect thieves, liars and scoundrels? We have a few here in the States I think he should meet.

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  3. Detecting thieves and scoundrels would be very good,however the political classes would probably have them imprisoned as lunatics.An addendum to the post is this.Apparently there are some sufferers who visualise smells! can you imagine the social implications of this!

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  4. Lol I have tasted too.

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