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Edward M. Hubbard: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Edward M. Hubbard, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Most people, in any language, agree which nonsense word is spiky and which is round

  Shown a spiky shape and a rounded blob and asked which is 'bouba' and which is 'kiki,' around 95% of people across many different languages pick the same match — round shape 'bouba…

  — V. S. Ramachandran & Edward Hubbard, Synaesthesia: A Window Into Perception, Thought and Language

• Round shapes sound like 'bouba,' spiky ones sound like 'kiki' — everywhere

  Shown one spiky shape and one blobby shape, people overwhelmingly call the spiky one 'kiki' and the round one 'bouba' — a pattern that holds across languages, alphabets, and even i…

  — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Edward M. Hubbard, Synaesthesia — A Window Into Perception, Thought and Language

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