New parents paint the walls of their sonB次元官网网址檚 nursery blue. Or theyB次元官网网址檒l dress their infant daughter in pink.

Unless youB次元官网网址檙e interested in sparking a discussion on gender norms, it doesnB次元官网网址檛 seem worth second-guessing that society identifies baby boys and baby girls by assigning a pastel colour to each sex.

But to me, itB次元官网网址檚 a no-brainer that blue is a boyB次元官网网址檚 colour and pink is a girlB次元官网网址檚 colour. ThatB次元官网网址檚 because my mind works different than most peopleB次元官网网址檚.

I have a neurological condition known as synesthesia. More specifically, I have the ordinal-linguistic personification form of the condition.

Without an ounce of mental effort or requirement of thought, my brain assigns genders to colours, letters and numbers. ItB次元官网网址檚 second nature to me. My brain has done this since as far back as I can remember.

The genders never change B次元官网网址� C is always female, 7 is always male B次元官网网址� and some letters and numbers have personalities (G, for example, is a burly, angsty female). Blue has always been male, and pink is always female.

It wasnB次元官网网址檛 until I was 20 that I realized the way my mind treated numbers, letters and colours was unusual.

I figured everyone else did the same thing B次元官网网址� but after quizzing my friends, family and co-workers, nope, apparently not.

ItB次元官网网址檚 actually quite comical how people respond when you rattle off the sexes of all 26 characters of the alphabet. Most people will sit silently, thinking, and then defensively say, B次元官网网址淣o, M should be a guy!B次元官网网址�

No, to me theyB次元官网网址檙e wrong. M is a gal.

And so are A, C, D, G, L, N, O, Q, V and Y.

B, E, F, H, I, J, K, P, R, S, T, U, W, X and Z are male.

As are 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and the colours blue, green, brown, beige, black and grey. 3, 4, 8, 9 and 0 are female, along with red, yellow, orange, purple, pink, white B次元官网网址� you get the idea.

WhatB次元官网网址檚 my justification for these gender assignments? IB次元官网网址檓 not sure, and IB次元官网网址檝e tried to analyze it all.

Most people I chat with about my synesthesia disagree with me on green, orange and purple.

They think I should think greenB次元官网网址檚 a girly colour, and orange and purple are manly.

I canB次元官网网址檛 reverse or switch the genders my brain doled out decades ago, so theyB次元官网网址檙e really wasting their breath attempting to change my mind.

Ordinal-linguistic personification is a very mild form of synesthesia. The condition, as itB次元官网网址檚 defined, is a B次元官网网址渦nion of senses.B次元官网网址�

Some synesthetes taste words, while others see sounds.

B次元官网网址淭he male singerB次元官网网址檚 voice (is) gray and the femaleB次元官网网址檚 (is) white, both fading in and out of the darkness while the percussion makes the background ebb and flow. ItB次元官网网址檚 like watching a birds-eye view of a black ocean during the nighttime with strobe lights flickering on and off coming from underwater.B次元官网网址�

ThatB次元官网网址檚 how a sound-colour synesthete, who posted about his experience online, described listening to one indie British pop bandB次元官网网址檚 songs. That seems pretty sensational.

It would be problematic to have a gustatory banquet stimulate your taste buds with every conversation you have or book you read. But I think tasting words would be a really neat form of synesthesia to have.

IB次元官网网址檓 not sure if the strength of oneB次元官网网址檚 synesthesia is ever so powerful that itB次元官网网址檚 handicapping, but when I think back on my childhood and formative years, I realize my synesthesia did impact my day-to-day life.

I wore, almost exclusively, blues, blacks, greens and greys, and shied away from purchasing anything purple, pink, orange or red. I wasnB次元官网网址檛 consciously trying to dress one particular way, I just didnB次元官网网址檛 want to wear the colours that I thought everyone else, like me, perceived to be female.

Having been a synesthete since childhood, I canB次元官网网址檛 imagine living a life where I donB次元官网网址檛 harmlessly and naturally segregate colours, numbers and letters by gender.

I just wish everyone else could experience what we synesthetes experience B次元官网网址� your senses donB次元官网网址檛 know what theyB次元官网网址檙e missing.

Kyle Slavin is a reporter for the Saanich B次元官网网址.

kslavin@saanichnews.com