Tasting Words
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
Liz, Blondulla, and Fred were talking to each other. Blondulla and Liz have been friends for many years, but they just met Fred a week ago and were trying to get to know him.
They started talking about computers, and after Fred had repeated the word, "Chip" a few times while talking about computer chips Blondulla told him to stop saying it, as it tastes bad. Fred thought she was full of it, but Liz knew she was telling the truth. How could Blondulla taste the word?
HintThe fact is Blondulla tastes every word spoken. This word just doesn't taste good.
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Answer
Blondulla has a very rare ability called Synaesthesia. It is where people are "Wired" a different way, and two senses come together. In her case, she tastes what she hears. There have also been cases where people feel what they hear, people hear what they smell, etc. In fact, the majority people who have this case are usually unaware that they even have it. Some of you may be shocked to learn as you read the answer that you have this condition.
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Comments
Brainy_1   
Jan 01, 2006
| Interesting!  I never heard this before.  Good one! |
TheEarthling  
Jan 01, 2006
| Wow, really?  |
DaveC 
Jan 01, 2006
|  |
mr_brainiac
Jan 01, 2006
| What a colorful story!  Ive even heard of a person who perceived words with visual color images. I was thinking in that direction, but didn't feel so bold as to tell myself that that was the answer. With a name like "Blondulla", I was thinking it might me a "dull (dumb) blonde" joke. |
medster99
Jan 01, 2006
| I really like this one, even though i have heard of the condition before. i wish i had it to music, as i've heard of a few having  |
WJSMama
Jan 01, 2006
| Wow, what a really wierd fact. I want to research this now and learn more about it. Great teaser. |
froggygg
Jan 02, 2006
| Great teaser tinman!  |
renae
Jan 02, 2006
| Yay, finally a useless fact that I know comes in handy!
(Once I'd checked that it wasn't in the trick category - I thought it might have something to do with alphabet soup if it was a trick ) |
davelink
Jan 07, 2006
| my mom has it, she also tastes what shee heers. |
metallicman
Jan 07, 2006
| Shas two different kinds? I really doubt that. There hasn't been a single documented case (I did my homework) where someone has two different cases. |
Warrior_Poet
Jan 12, 2006
| He didn't say she had two different kinds. His mother tastes what she hears also, just like the girl in the story. |
lessthanjake789
Jan 13, 2006
| amazing! i would have not believed you ahd i not jsut done a paper in this in psychlogy class. i loved the topic. numbers had colors, like, the number 2 in type was green, (even though it was black) and 5 was red, chicken tasted pointy, all these other amazing things. i got it right away, but loved it. |
OMNi
Feb 12, 2006
| I'm shocked. I looked this up after reading about it...
Wow...
I have this! In my case, I can see what I hear. I can hear just about anything and some kind of image comes to mind.
And I seriously thought that everyone did this! |
PunnettSwears
Jun 09, 2006
| Wow...COOL. |
GebbieRose
Jun 20, 2006
| Very interesting - and scary - stuff! Like this teaser! |
lmurray 
Nov 03, 2006
| ???? |
OldChinaHand
Nov 03, 2006
| Interesting, metal man, thanks for an insightful teaser. Well done. |
Phalanx
Nov 03, 2006
| Oh... I didn't read the category... Supposed she was talking about french fries, which are called chips in Britain, or something... |
schmedley9
Nov 03, 2006
| SPOOKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
bradon182001
Nov 03, 2006
| Is this for real? Amazing!! |
Pizzazz2u
Nov 03, 2006
| Amazing! Isn't it?!! Superb teaser. You seem to have even stymied 'ol LM' .....lol WTG! The powers some of us have. |
Synlapse
Nov 03, 2006
| Actually, Blondulla thought Fred meant buffalo chips and she didn't want him to have to eat his words. |
coachpisco
Nov 03, 2006
| WOW! You really do learn somethihng new everyday. Thanks for the information. |
jabdr
Nov 03, 2006
| Hmmmmmm.... |
phyllisa
Nov 03, 2006
| This is true, I have read a magazine article about it. Thanks for some new thoughts. |
zaya
Nov 03, 2006
| Thanks Cliff, you're really smart! Can someone please explain how this is a teaser, versus just some statement of random fact.  |
locutus13ds
Nov 03, 2006
| By me.. I can barely taste what I eat!!!!??? |
FatHead
Nov 03, 2006
| Wow, I just learned something! |
wordmama
Nov 03, 2006
| I agree with Zaya. To me a teaser is something you can figure out. This was a condition you either had heard of or not.
 |
tchershelly
Nov 03, 2006
| I do these teasxers as a way of making me use my brain. This was just some fact, keep to the spirit of the game. |
tchershelly
Nov 03, 2006
| excuse me "teasers" |
udoboy
Nov 03, 2006
| I too agree with Zaya. I knew about the condition, but figured that wasn't the "teaser" and was off on a tangent trying to figure out what made "chip" taste bad v. some other word, like computer, which wouldn't taste bad. |
4kai2lyn6
Nov 03, 2006
| I actually got this one right, when I thought my answer would be wrong (I was also contemplating that maybe the girl just didn't like junkfood or something). I thought the subject was cool, but I didn't really like how the teaser itself was set up...still, a very wicked cool piece of trivia! Thanks! |
hoyty
Nov 03, 2006
| I found this through google. This web site claims that it is possible to have more than one kind of synaesthesia.
Q.5 Is it possible for a synaesthete to have more than one type of synaesthesia?
Yes, around half of all synaesthetes have more than one type of synaesthesia, such as taste, sound and touch all producing colours (Day, 2002). Chains may potentially exist, such as speech producing taste and taste then producing colour. It would be very interesting to speak to people who think that they might have this. ^ |
rea14sambo48
Nov 03, 2006
| I thought the person just didn't like chips!!! Them again what do I know I'm in Junior High!!! |
MalcolmReynolds
Nov 03, 2006
| According to Wikipedia, it isn't rare at all; closer to 1/23, with females having by far the highest concentration, of 6:1. I might have a sort of form of it, where I sort of associate words with pictures that don't correspond with the meaning of the word at all.
Wiki also noted though, that estimates had ranged from 1/23 to 1/20,000, though, 1/23 was more accepted.
Interesting. |
(user deleted)
Nov 03, 2006
| gabbo gabbo wooooot? |
FeaerFactorY666
Nov 03, 2006
| nice! |
violingirl77
Nov 03, 2006
| Whoa! That's so cool! I've never heard of it though. I thought she was a computer or something and he was typing the words in. I don't know. |
POPS
Nov 03, 2006
| My IQ just went for a LOOp!!!!! |
bhssoccer23
Nov 03, 2006
| Awesome!!! |
settra626
Nov 03, 2006
| Good teaser!
I, myself, have heard of the condition, but didnt even think about it when it came to the teaser! Brilliant! |
luvdoritos706
Nov 03, 2006
| wow!!!!!!!! thats interesting....never knew...thats for the new information |
blonde_genius
Nov 03, 2006
| Great teaser!!! I actually knew this. I read a really good (fiction) book in which the main character had synesthesia. |
twixy
Nov 03, 2006
| yeah i heard about this too. great teaser! |
vlerma
Nov 03, 2006
| Great information but I guess I didn't see the teaser part of it other than I didn't know the answer. Factual inforation is great tho so good job tinman.
Wonder if that is what it is called when you accidentally touch a fork to a metal filling and your mouth goes all drooly? Just a thought.
Keep them coming as we are never too old to learn something new. |
lilazn3rd1500
Nov 03, 2006
| I read a novel about a girl who has this condition. The teaser wasn't too hard after I read that book. But great teaser anyway. |
tdbrsun
Nov 03, 2006
| Very Interesting. I did not know this. I ofcourse did not quess an answer. Thanks for info. |
ragdol13
Nov 03, 2006
| wow...
my guess was that the girl was on LSD... i was close though! kind of.. |
Trishgal
Nov 04, 2006
| Hey, this was great. And since the category was plainly marked SCIENCE-understanding of phisical and biological laws required- nobody needs to gripe and hey I learned something. THX. |
i_luv_2_read
Nov 04, 2006
| that is so crazy....i have never heard of this before....but you learn something new every day! cool teaser....or whatever it is....it is still cool.... |
speedqueenkmw
Nov 19, 2006
| not really a "teaser" but enjoy all new info |
Qrystal
Dec 07, 2006
| I too had to double-check the category thinking it had to be Trick. Since it wasn't, I just knew I didn't know.
And now I know something new! What a wild concept!! It's amazing how the brain works sometimes. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for peculiar associations in my experiences, in case I have anything like this. Wicked teaser! |
Qrystal
Dec 07, 2006
| I too had to double-check the category thinking it had to be Trick. Since it wasn't, I just knew I didn't know.
And now I know something new! What a wild concept!! It's amazing how the brain works sometimes. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for peculiar associations in my experiences, in case I have anything like this. Wicked teaser! |
sarita01
Jan 18, 2007
| i thought she was eating chips and thought they tated bad hile he was in the middle of talking to her
i dont know anyway i read a book in 7th grade about a girl and her grandmother who both saw colors to music.
but still didnt get it though |
racoonieboy
Jul 03, 2007
| Maybe i have that rare thing. i sometimes can taste what i hear, feel what i hear. |
AndrewWalker
Dec 16, 2007
| I knew this one. I don't know if I see what I hear, or if I just have a vivid imagination, but if I did have it then it would another brain disfuntion I have |
uhhhh
Apr 06, 2008
| There is a period missing. Otherwise, ho hum, pretty obvious. |
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