Fuck it/random storytime
I haven't had a "good day" at all this year to be honest. But here, have a random story:
Today my students were derping around and we started chatting about how we associate numbers. (One of them sees certain numbers as "sharp" and certain numbers as "round" and somehow in his head this all helps him subtract/add. XD)
Which made me think about how I've always strongly associated digits with colors. (Certain letters have color associations for me too but not nearly as strong.)
By strongly associate I mean I actually mentally "visualize" numbers written in colors every time I see them.
0 = neutral (silver? zero is the one exception actually, it's kind of a neutral "blank")
1 = pure white
2 = pastel blue
3 = salmon pink
4 = brown
5 = eggplant purple (sometimes lighter if paired with different letters/numbers)
6 = a pearish yellow-green
7 = neon green
8 = bright red
9 = pure black
I'm not sure why or how, but this has been a thing for me since childhood. XD I mean, some of them kind of make sense -- 8 and red are both strongly associated with good luck in Chinese culture, so that's probably where that comes from, and neon green just somehow suits "lucky number seven"..... but otherwise I have no idea. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with alphabet blocks or whatever either, because it's not like I had only one source of exposure to numbers as a kid.
And it doesn't actually affect the way I do math or anything, the colors are just kind of "there". And no, it doesn't really give me any sense of cognitive dissonance when I see numbers actually written in different colors than I associate them with either (well, not much more than one would experience with say, for example, the word "red" being written in blue text).
And yes, the colors still stick around in combinations. So like I'm looking at the date, and 13 is white+pink, 2015 is blue+blank+white+purple... And when I look at prices I'm overwhelmed with black due to the .99 endings.
And sometimes context does dilute the colors, as I hinted at above -- I see the 5 in "5E" as being more lilac than a standalone 5.
LOL.
(And the interesting thing is, this holds true for both 1234567890 as well as for the numbers in Chinese characters. Doesn't work with Roman numerals though. Wait no, it does work for I, II, III, but just not for the rest.)
comments at the original Dreamwidth post
Today my students were derping around and we started chatting about how we associate numbers. (One of them sees certain numbers as "sharp" and certain numbers as "round" and somehow in his head this all helps him subtract/add. XD)
Which made me think about how I've always strongly associated digits with colors. (Certain letters have color associations for me too but not nearly as strong.)
By strongly associate I mean I actually mentally "visualize" numbers written in colors every time I see them.
0 = neutral (silver? zero is the one exception actually, it's kind of a neutral "blank")
1 = pure white
2 = pastel blue
3 = salmon pink
4 = brown
5 = eggplant purple (sometimes lighter if paired with different letters/numbers)
6 = a pearish yellow-green
7 = neon green
8 = bright red
9 = pure black
I'm not sure why or how, but this has been a thing for me since childhood. XD I mean, some of them kind of make sense -- 8 and red are both strongly associated with good luck in Chinese culture, so that's probably where that comes from, and neon green just somehow suits "lucky number seven"..... but otherwise I have no idea. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with alphabet blocks or whatever either, because it's not like I had only one source of exposure to numbers as a kid.
And it doesn't actually affect the way I do math or anything, the colors are just kind of "there". And no, it doesn't really give me any sense of cognitive dissonance when I see numbers actually written in different colors than I associate them with either (well, not much more than one would experience with say, for example, the word "red" being written in blue text).
And yes, the colors still stick around in combinations. So like I'm looking at the date, and 13 is white+pink, 2015 is blue+blank+white+purple... And when I look at prices I'm overwhelmed with black due to the .99 endings.
And sometimes context does dilute the colors, as I hinted at above -- I see the 5 in "5E" as being more lilac than a standalone 5.
LOL.
(And the interesting thing is, this holds true for both 1234567890 as well as for the numbers in Chinese characters. Doesn't work with Roman numerals though. Wait no, it does work for I, II, III, but just not for the rest.)
comments at the original Dreamwidth post