Amaze Your Friends

farmer (showing off his farm to a friend): "How many sheep would you say were in that flock? See if you can get close with a rough guess."

friend (after short pause): "I'd say there were about 497 sheep there."
"Why, yon hit it right on the head, that's exactly right! How in the world did you know?"
"It was simple, really, I just counted all the legs, and then divided by four!"

the memory stunt contained in this chapter may not be as astounding as dividing the legs of sheep by four, but it's certainly easier to do. You'll probably be glad to know that there are no mathematics involved at all—just a trained memory.

A friend of mine in the textile business here in New York has told me that he has gained quite a reputation for himself by remembering numbers. He goes to lunch with a few business acquaintances each day, and he invariably asks them to give him any four or five digit number to memorize. He usually has anywhere from three to six people with him, and he memorizes the numbers they give him. They interrupt him during the luncheon to see if he can still recall the numbers, and, of course, he does.

I don't mention this because it's a big deal particularly, but it is a good conversation starter, and it has accomplished a purpose for my friend. He tells me that everyone in his trade is talking about him and his remarkable memory. I do mention it, however, to show you how people are impressed with any sort of memory feat; only because they feel that they could never accomplish it themselves. If folks are so amazed when a man remembers a half dozen four or five digit numbers, you can imagine the fantastic effect upon them, after you've mastered the stunt contained in these pages.

That's right! You can memorize this list of four hundred digits, easily!! Not only will you know them in order, but also out of sequence! The idea is to give anyone a copy of this list, and have them test you on it. They may ask you to give the numbers across for letter G, or the numbers down, for column 4. They can ask for E7, and you will immediately give them the number 6720. In other words, you prove to them that you have thoroughly memorized the list; and so you have!

My good friend and memory expert, Bernard Zufall, was the first one that I know of, to use this type of stunt. He has been using it for many years with three digit numbers instead of the four digit numbers that appear here. He, of course, utilized his own methods to memorize the list. I will teach you here, the method that I use:—

You must realize by now that it would be almost impossible to accomplish this without the aid of the phonetic alphabet. Certainly, it would be definitely impossible to memorize and retain the numbers without it. As a matter of fact, this feat is so unbelievable to the uninitiated, that you will find some people examining the list to find some mathematical solution. Let them; since this is not based on mathematics at all, they'll be more impressed and confused than ever.

None of the four digit numbers in the list is repeated at any time, each one is used only once. The numbers have not been chosen at random, I've picked each one because it fits into the system. And, here is the system:— If someone were to call E7—here is the way my mind would work. My Key word for E7 must begin with the letter E, and it must have one other consonant sound at the end. That sound (in this particular case) must be the sound that represents #7, which is the k or hard g sound. My Key word for E7 is "egg." Eggs come from chickens—and the phonetic alphabet tells me that "chickens" stands for 6720. If you'll check the list, you will see that 6720 is the correct number!

If B5 were called, I would know that the Key word must begin with the letter B, and the ending consonant sound must be the 1 sound for #5. The Key word for B5 is "bell." A bell rings. Rings—4270! Can you see the simplicity of it? Don't get me wrong—it will take you a bit of time and study to master all the numbers, but the system is easy. Again, may I mention that this is not only a fantastic memory stunt, but a wonderful thinking and memory exercise. Each time you master one of the stunts in this book, whether you care to present them or not, you are improving your memory, exercising that muscle and sharpening your wits.

Well then, you know that each time a letter and number are called, you must transpose it into a Key word. It doesn't matter if the number is called first, the system is the same. The letter is always at the beginning and the consonant sound that represents the number is at the end of the word. This Key word is correlated to, or associated with another word; and this word gives you the four digit number, according to the phonetic alphabet. If someone were to call, "8C," you would know that the Key word starts with C and ends with the f or v sound. The Key word is "cuff." Cuff is correlated to trouser. Trouser—1404!

The entire list for the one hundred four digit numbers follows here. After you have looked them over, I'll explain some more about the presentation of the feat.

A1 — ate-burped A2 — awn-sunshade A3 — aim-rifles
A4 — air-vents
A5 — ale-drink
A6 — ash-cinder A7 — ache-limps A8 — Ave. -street A9 — ape-growls A10 — ace-clubs B1— bat-and ball B2 — bean-shooters B3 — bum-loafing B4 — boar-wild pig B5 — bell-rings
B6 — - badge-breast B7 — bag oranges B8 — buff-luster B9 — baby-dimple B10 — bass-fiddles C1 — cat-felines
C2 — can-crushed C3 — comb-baldhead C4 — car-cadillac
C5 — -coal-burns
C6 — cash-real money C7 — coke-tables
C8 — cuff-trouser
C9 — cap-covered
C10 — case-crates

D1 — dot-and dash D2 — den-wild lion D3 — dam -breaks D4 — deer-antler
D5 — dill-pickles D6 — dish-cracked D7 — dog-canines D8 — dove-white bird E1 — eddy-whirlpool E2 — en-alphabet E3 — em-emperor E4 — err-is divine E5 — eel-slippery E6 — edge-border E7 — egg-chickens E8 — eve-evening D9 — dope-stupid

F1 — fat-stomach F2 — fun-laughter F3 — foam-bubbles F4 — fur-bearing F5 — foil-tinfoil F6 — fish-angler F7 — fake-magician F8 — five-dollars

E10 — ess-curves F9 — fib-fibbing F10 — fuse-blend

G1 — gat-pistol
G2 — gown-material G3 — game-football G4 — grow-flowers G5 — gall-bladder G6 — gush-geysers G7 — gag-comedian G8 — gave-donated G9 — gap-opening G10 — gas-tanks H1 — hat-bands
H2 — hen-crowing H3 — ham-sandwich H4 — hare-rabbits H5 — hill-climbed H6 — hash-corned H7 — hack-driver
H8 — have-ownership H9 — hop-skipped H10 — hose-nylons I1 — it-article
I2 — inn-tavern
I3 — I'm-myself
I4 — Ira-Gershwin I5— isle-Manhattan I6 — itch-scratch I7 — Ike-Capitol I8 — ivy-cling
I9 — (y)ipe-scream I10 — ice-buckets

J1 — jot- write down J2 — John-Barrymore J3 — jam-spread
J4 — jar-contain
J5 — jail-prison
J6 — judge-condemn J7 — jack-lifts
J8 — jive-dancer
J9 — Jap.-Japanese J10 — juice-rinds

You'll notice that there is only one slight exception in the system, at 19. There is no word beginning with I and ending with the p or b sound. So I use the word, "yipe," which serves the purpose just as well. Also, in every possible case, the sounds representing the four digit numbers are contained in one word. There are only eight instances where I found it necessary to use a phrase of two words.

I'm sure that you all can see the simple associations or correlations with each Key word. If you go over them once or twice, concentrating on them as you do, you should remember most of them. Each Key word should lead you logically to the associated word. Coke, for C7, is short for Coca-Cola, which is usually found on dinner tables. En, for E2, is just the name of the letter itself, which is part of the alphabet. I don't think that any of the others need any explaining.

You must learn all these words thoroughly before you can present this feat for your friends. After you've learned them, practice the transposing of the associated words or phrases into numbers. Once you can do that quickly, you're ready to present the feat.

You can have the list printed on a card, if you like, so that you can hand them out to your friends. Then after you've demonstrated your fabulous powers of retention and recall, you can let them keep the card as a souvenir. Let them try to memorize it, if they can!

Aside from simply allowing your spectators to call the letter and number, you can go further. They can ask you to call out all the numbers diagonally from, say, A1 to J10. All you have to do, is give the numbers for A1, B2, C3, D4, etc. They might ask for row F backwards—you just give them F10, F0, F8, etc. If they want the four digit numbers backwards also, you can do that too. For example, you know the associated word for F10 (fuse) is blend—instead of giving the number 9521, give it as 1259! F9 is fibbing— backwards the number is 7298, and so on.

If you're asked to give row #6 backwards, simply call off, J6, I6, H6, G6 down, or up, to A6. I know that it is difficult for some people to work backwards with the alphabet. I can solve that problem for you, easily. You can learn the representative number of any letter in the alphabet by utilizing the first twenty-six peg words in conjunction with a representative adjective. This is what I mean:—

Awful tie
Brave Noah Cute ma
Damp rye Excellent
law
Neat tire Old towel Pleasing
dish
Quiet tack Red dove Funny shoe Guernsey cow Heavy ivy
Idle bee
Jagged toes Korean tot
Loud tin
Marble tomb Solid tub
Tough nose
Ugly net
Virtuous nun
Wonderful name X-rayed Nero Yellow nail
Zig-zag notch

Notice that the adjective for the peg word for #3 begins with the third letter of the alphabet (c); the loth adjective begins with the tenth letter J, etc. If you make a quick picture in your mind of each of these, you will know the position, numerically, of all the letters! Of course, you can use any adjective you like, as long as it begins with the proper letter. If you wanted to know the position, say, of the letter "o"—just think of the adjective that you used: old towel. You know that "towel" is #15, therefore "o" is the fifteenth letter of the alphabet.

You can use this idea, or, elsewhere in this book (Chapt. #12) you will find an idea of how to use the twenty-six letters themselves in order to have a list of twenty-six secondary peg words. You can tie these words to your basic peg words, and you will have accomplished the same thing. You will know the numerical positions of all the letters.

Either one of these methods will enable you to use the letters of the alphabet to a much better advantage. Just thinking backwards from peg word #26 to peg word #1 will make it easy for you to recite the entire alphabet backwards. This in itself is a good stunt, since most people cannot recite the alphabet backwards, without quite a bit of effort. However, the important thing is that this idea will be of use when you're asked to give a numbered row backwards^ or diagonally from J10 to A1, or J1 to A10.

After doing this stunt for awhile, you will find that eventually you will not even think of your Key words and associations! As soon as a letter and number is called, the four digit number will pop into your mind.

That is the beauty of mnemonics, it is just an aid to your true memory. It is a means to an end, and once you've reached or acquired that end, you can forget the means!!