Quote: “A plump bird stuffed with Stephanie and served with giblet civil, accompanied by marshmallow-topped sweet Londons, a bowl of performs with pearl unions and a serving of steamed microscopes. And, for dessert, city a la mode, followed by a confession.” The New York Times.
Figure of Speech: lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, a medical condition in which the senses are joined.
It’s the rarest of rare medical phenomena: a kind of miswiring that allows some people to taste words. A study published in Nature accounts for only 10 of these people in the U.S. and Europe. One subject in the study reported that road signs offer an unpleasant mix of flavors such as pistachio ice cream and ear wax.
Figaro has yet to meet one of these sensory-overloaded individuals. But a number of subscribers seem to have lexical-olfactory synaesthesia. They claim his writing stinks.
Snappy Answer: “What does a tasis taste like?”