And for a rare few, taste is in the ear

To some ears, this menu sounds — and tastes — absolutely scrumptious: plump bird stuffed with Stephanie and served with giblet civil

To some ears, this menu sounds — and tastes — absolutely scrumptious: plump bird stuffed with Stephanie and served with giblet civil, accompanied by marshmallow-topped sweet London’s, a bowl of performs with pearl unions and a serving of steamed microscopes. And, for dessert, city a la mode, followed by a confession.

If only you were a “lexical-gustatory synaesthete”, you could savor those words.

People who have “synaesthesia” – a rare condition running in families – have joined senses. They may “see” letters, numbers or musical notes as colours – a capital A will be tinged red, or 5 plus 2 will equal blue, or B B King will play the yellows.

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A rarer few, said Julia Simner, a cognitive neuropsychologist at the University of Edinburgh, involuntarily “taste” words when they hear them.

In a study, “The Taste of Words on the Tip of the Tongue,” published in the journal Nature this week, Dr Simner reported finding only 10 such people in Europe and the US.

The condition may sound enviable, but it can be unpleasant. One subject, she said, hates driving because road signs flood his mouth with the flavors of things like pistachio ice cream and earwax. And Dr Simner has yet to spot a pattern.

For example, the word “mince” makes one subject taste mincemeat, but so do rhyming words like “prince.” Another subject, hearing “castanets,” tastes tuna fish. Another tastes only proper names: John is his bread, William his potatoes.

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They cannot say why, she said. The flavors just come.

When Dr Simner checked her word list, she came up with the salivary triggers for the meal mentioned above. “Stephanie” linked to sage stuffing, “civil” to gravy, “London” to potato, “perform” to peas, “union” to onions, “microscope” to carrots, “city” to mince pie and “confess” to coffee.