PRESENTATION OUTLINE
ORDINAL LINGUISTIC PERSONIFICATION
Ordinal linguistic personification (OLP) is a special form of synesthesia where numbers, months, letters etc. are associated with personalities and/or genders. They can have families, relationships, friendships, siblings etc.
BUT, WHAT IS SYNESTHESIA?
Synesthesia is where you see letters, numbers etc. in color. You can taste music and/or color.
I researched OLP because it came up in a conversation in my family and I realized I had it so I wanted to know more. I also wanted to spread the word about it because it is a pretty cool thing.
HOW LONG HAS OLP BEEN AROUND?
OLP was recorded as early as 1890, but scientist have just now started to pay little attention to it.
On season 31 episode 1 of Jeopardy, Elizabeth Williams states that she has OLP
During the unofficial “fun facts about me” chatter portion of the show, Williams revealed that she has “ordinal linguistic personification,” which means that she imagines numbers as having distinct personalities. In her mind, six, for example, is mischievous. And when Williams pictures the number nine, she says, it has a mustache.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO HAVE OLP?
Have you ever seen a stranger and immediately knew what they where like? Or at least think you knew? That's what it's like for me. I look at a letter/number and know its personalities rights away. It's like looking at a bunch of people. I know how they are interacting with each other and what's going in between them. Yes, I still read letters normally, but when I read I see the letters/numbers with their personalities and genders.
Sorry if that was confusing. It's really hard to explain. Most people find it hard to understand the way people with synesthesia or OLP think/read. Even scientist. So don't feel bad if you don't understand it
I always thought everyone thought like this. Everyone associated personalities/genders to letters/numbers. But when trying to explain it to friends, I found out that no one really knew what I was talking about. So I stopped talking about it. Just this year it came up in a conversation with my family and I pointed out what I do. I then found out my dad does the same thing! We talked for a while, debating what each letter and each number was like. He even talked about music, and colors and taste.
1- athletic guy who I thinks he is all that
2- quite, artistic, creative
3- stands out, loud, colorful
4- smart, modest
5- athletic, mean, bossy, leader
6- kind, popular,
7- speaks his mind, communist
8- goes with the crowd, follower
9- bossy and mean
10- leader, mature
