Ask Lemmy

Mnemonics. Crazy powerful memory tool, stupid easy to use. Take a couple of seconds to imagine wild, surreal images around whatever you wish to remember. You'll remember that thing forever. Crazier the images, better. Often, you won't even remember that you used mnemonics in the first place, you simply remember.

Say you meet a guy named Mike. Imagine Mike choking down a giant microphone. Scott? Imagine him with a Scotty dog head. Funny enough, it works backwards. "Hi! I'm Scott. Just imagine a Scotty dog head every time you see me!"

Say you want to remember to bring a thing with you when you leave the house. Imagine that thing pouring out of your front door in a flood, tripping and stumbling over all those goddamned water bottles or whatever. You might not even remember firing off the mnemonic, but you'll remember the water bottle!

I learned about this reading a book 30-years ago. It promised you could easily recall all 50 American states, in alphabetical order, within 20-30 minutes, or less if you're practiced.

Alabama: Grinning, toothless redneck hammering his sister who's stuck in a washing machine.

Alaska: Imagine that redneck piloting a monstrous baked Alaska with laser beams, poised to destroy the capitol.

Arizona: Now that floating baked Alaska has turned into a dried out husk in a dry desert valley.

You get the idea. Chain ludicrous images together. All you need is the first link. Same principle as a memory palace.