Gladys Taber and the color of words

I was reading Stillmeadow Daybook in a doctor's office this week and ran across a passage which made me smile:

"...a fine word...friable.  It sounds the way the garden feels, and it is, curiously enough, a dark cinnamon-colored word.

Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too.  You can also get into rather warm arguments over a definitely dark green word that some insists is beige. Also it is not a good idea to go around explaining about the color of words in strange company. Some people give you such a sad critical look, and their heads shake slightly."

It was the last sentence that made me smile, and almost laugh aloud. I try hard not laugh out loud to myself in public, for the same reason I usually don't go around telling people that I know exactly what she's talking about, down to the shade of dark cinnamon. 

She goes on:

'I can imagine that if I ever got into the witness box, my kind of testimony might drive judge and jury mad. The prosecuting attorney would ask in the silky voice prosecuting attorneys are supposed to use, 'and how, might I ask, are you so sure he said the word "murder"?'

'Because I noticed right away it was a slush-brown word edged with magenta," I would say. I would sit there in a quiet grey dress (it is always best to be in a quiet grey dress, or black with a neat white collar, freshly laundered and starched slightly.) I would look easily at the attorney through the better part of my bifocals and say gently, "you see my ears might misunderstand but as long as I also SAW the color of the word--'

A few years ago I discovered that this mental habit actually has a name, synesthesia, and possibly a basis in neurology. I don't know that it means that much.  It's just a colorful way to visualize words; it helps you remember them, and it's the sort of thing that makes some people nod in recognition and others give you a funny look.  And Gladys Taber smiles in recognition. Do you?