Birthdays and Anniversaries

Remembering birthdays and anniversaries means associating the persons and events to the month and day. There are three methods available:

First, make a peg word for every day of the year, and use those pegs. That's a lot of work.

Second, associate the persons and the event to a peg for the month, and put a peg for the date into the picture.

Example:

Your friends John and Mary Smith married on May 23.

Your peg for May is "flowers" ("April showers bring May flowers"), so you picture John and Mary hip-deep in a giant wedding cake with flowers growing out of them and the cake.

A "gnome" (23) is trying to pull all the flowers out. Your picture gives you all the information you want: who, what event, what month, what date. Mission accomplished.

The third method is the simplest, but less exact.

Associate the persons and the event to the month and a symbol of the quarter of the month in which the event happens.

If the date falls in the second eight days of the month (9-16), put a quarter into the picture.

If the date falls in the third eight days of the month (17-24), put a half grapefruit into the picture.

If the date falls in the last part of the month (25-31), put three quarters of a pie (or just a pie) into the picture.

If the day falls in the first eight days of the month (1-8), put nothing extra into the picture. Lack of anything extra means the birthday or anniversary falls in the first eight days of the month.

Appointments

Memorizing appointments means making a picturable equivalent for the appointment (e.g., doctor) and associating in some ridiculous way with your peg for the day and time of the appontment.

Day/time pegs are mostly stolen from your number pegs. Most people treat Monday as the first day of the business week, so treat it as "one," Tuesday as "two," and so on. Then think of the hour as the second digit of a two digit number. So, Monday at 4 is "14." Tuesday at 9 is "29." If your doctor's appointment is at 4 on Tuesday, associate the doctor to "toro" and you will remember the day and time of the appointment by thinking of the doctor.

What about 10, 11, and 12 o'clock?

For ten, use zero. So Wednesday at 10 is "30," or "Mose."


For 11 and 12, treat them as "non-standard one and two." That is, make a peg words for them that are not your peg words for 1 and 2.

If your peg word for Monday at 2 is "tone" (12), then let your peg word for Monday at 12 be "thane" or "teen" or "ton" or "tuna" or anything that fits the pattern but isn't your basic peg word for 12.

If your peg word for Friday at 1 is "lota" (51), then let your peg word for Friday at 11 be "late," "light," "lute," or another word that fits the pattern but isn't your basic peg word for 51.

What about a.m. and p.m.? Not really necessary, since you'll know anyway. But if you feel you must, remember that you don't need markers for both a.m. and p.m. One or the other will do. For example, work one or more peas into your association for p.m. appointments, and you're covered. No peas in the association? Must be an a.m. appointiment.

What if the appointment isn't on the hour? Again, probably unnecessary (you'll remember naturally if the day and hours are recalled). But if you feel you must, put a quarter in the picture if the appointment is in the second quarter of the hour (between minutes 15 and 29). Put a half grapefruit into the picture if the appointment is in the third quarter of the hour (between minutes 30 and 44). Put three quarters of a pie into the picture of the appointment is between minutes 45 and 59. That's close enough. Worst case, you're fifteen minutes early.

What about appointments within the first fifteen minutes after the hour? Well, if there's no quarter, half grapefruit, or pie in the picture, the appointment must be in the first quarter of the hour!

(This principle of "close enough" applies to memorizing birthdays and anniversaries as well. If you associate the persons and the event to the month, and put a quarter in the picture for 9-16, a half grapefruit for 17-24, and (three-fourths of) a pie for 25-31, you'll either trigger your recollection of the exact date, or you'll be close enough to send a card or gift in timely fashion.)

Peg works for playing cards

Playing card peg words are constructed from a consonant representing the suit and a consonant representing the card value, connected by the vowel "a." The numerical value of the tens is zero, for convenience. There are exceptions for the royals. The pegs for the jacks are the suit names: club, heart, spade, diamond.

The consonants for the suits are C, H, S, and D. Mnemonic: "chased."

Whether the "a" is long or short varies by suit. Clubs, generally short. Hearts, generally short. Spades, generally long. Diamonds: generally long. Mnemonic: "The Cat in the Hat Saved the Day."

Here's the list:

Clubs

CA = cat
C2 = can
C3 = cameo
C4 = car
C5 = Cal (Coolidge, California)
C6 = cash
C7 = caca
C8 = caff (cafe, cafeteria)
C9 = cap (baseball cap, redcap)
C10 = Cass (Elliot of the Mamas and Papas)
CJ = club
CQ = cream
CK = king

HA = hat (of Cat in the Hat)
H2 = Han (Chinese; Chou Enlai)
H3 = ham (pig)
H4 = hare
H5 = hail
H6 = hash
H7 = hag (witch)
H8 = half (grapefruit)
H9 = Hap (smiling Gen. Hap Arnold)
H10 = haze (note long "a"; exception to rule)
HJ = heart
HQ = queen
HK = hinge (exception)

Spades

SA = sate (a happy, sated Buddha)
S2 = sane (Sigmund Freud)
S3 = same (Siamese twins)
S4 = Sayre (Dorothy Sayre typing with glasses on)
S5 = sail
S6 = sage (tumbleweed)
S7 = saki (rice wine; note short "a"; exception)
S8 = safe
S9 = sabe (= Kemo Sabe = Lone Ranger; exception to long "a" rule)
S10 = sase (self-addressed stamped envelope)
SJ = spade
SQ = steam (exception)
SK = sing (Elvis; exception)

Diamonds

DA = date (fruit)
D2 = Dane (Hamlet - Olivier?)
D3 = dame
D4 = dairy
D5 = Dale (Evans)
D6 = Daitch (grocery)
D7 = dago
D8 = Dave
D9 = dabe (a painter; made-up word)
D10 = daisy
DJ = diamond
DQ = dream (sleeper; exception)
DK = drink (golden goblet)

Peg words (nouns) from 00-99

The peg words in the following list are constructed from the consonant sounds of the two digits, connected by a long "o." There are some necessary exceptions.

00 Sosa
01 soda
02 Sony (a boom box)
03 soma (a pill)
04 sore (a scab)
05 sole (of a shoe)
06 soja (soldier)
07 soak (in a tub)
08 sofa
09 soap

0 sew (needle & thread)
1 dough
2 Noah
3 Mo (Three Stooges)
4 roe (fish eggs)
5 Lo (Jennifer Lopez)
6 Joe (St. Joseph statue)
7 Go (shiny black stone)
8 foe (devil)
9 Poe (Edgar Allan)

10 toes
11 tote
12 tone
13 tome (dictionary)
14 toro (bull)
15 toll (booth)
16 Tojo
17 toga
18 tofu
19 tope (drinking man)

20 nose
21 note
22 nun
23 gnome
24 knower (brain)
25 knoll
26 notch
27 Nokia (cell phone)
28 nova
29 nope (naysayer shaking head)

30 Mose
31 moat
32 moan
33 mome
34 mower
35 mole
36 mojo (doll)
37 mocha (w/Mickey on side)
38 mauve (a grape)
39 Moby (a whale)

40 rose
41 rota (helicopter rotor)
42 roan (red horse)
43 Rome (capitol dome)
44 rower
45 roll
46 roach
47 rogue
48 Rove
49 rope

50 Loew's (movie marquee)
51 lota (crystal goblet)
52 lone (Lee Harvey Oswald)
53 loam
54 lore (book of spells)
55 Lola
56 loge
57 logo
58 loaf
59 lobe

60 shoes
61 shoat
62 Shona
63 chum
64 shore (straight; see 78)
65 shul
66 judge
67 choke
68 Jove
69 shop (an exception; note short "o")

70 cosy (a teapot wrapper)
71 coat
72 cone
73 comb
74 core
75 coal
76 coach
77 Coke
78 cove (curved; see 64)
79 cope (hooded cape)

80 foci (foe-see: burning points under magnifying glasses)
81 photo
82 phone
83 foam
84 fore (golf ball)
85 foal
86 voyage
87 folk (an acoustic guitar)
88 fauve (wild animal -- Taz)
89 phobe (shivering coward)

90 pose (Rodin's Thinker)
91 poet (Homer)
92 pone (cornpone)
93 pome (apple)
94 pore
95 pole
96 poach (egg)
97 poke (hot poker)
98 pauve (impoverished ragged man; Raggedy Andy)
99 Pope

Peg words (nouns) from 00-99

The peg words in the following list are constructed from the consonant sounds of the two digits, connected by a long "o." There are some necessary exceptions.

00 Sosa
01 soda
02 Sony (a boom box)
03 soma (a pill)
04 sore (a scab)
05 sole (of a shoe)
06 soja (soldier)
07 soak (in a tub)
08 sofa
09 soap

0 sew (needle & thread)
1 dough
2 Noah
3 Mo (Three Stooges)
4 roe (fish eggs)
5 Lo (Jennifer Lopez)
6 Joe (St. Joseph statue)
7 Go (shiny black stone)
8 foe (devil)
9 Poe (Edgar Allan)

10 toes
11 tote
12 tone
13 tome (dictionary)
14 toro (bull)
15 toll (booth)
16 Tojo
17 toga
18 tofu
19 tope (drinking man)

20 nose
21 note
22 nun
23 gnome
24 knower (brain)
25 knoll
26 notch
27 Nokia (cell phone)
28 nova
29 nope (naysayer shaking head)

30 Mose
31 moat
32 moan
33 mome
34 mower
35 mole
36 mojo (doll)
37 mocha (w/Mickey on side)
38 mauve (a grape)
39 Moby (a whale)

40 rose
41 rota (helicopter rotor)
42 roan (red horse)
43 Rome (capitol dome)
44 rower
45 roll
46 roach
47 rogue
48 Rove
49 rope

50 Loew's (movie marquee)
51 lota (crystal goblet)
52 lone (Lee Harvey Oswald)
53 loam
54 lore (book of spells)
55 Lola
56 loge
57 logo
58 loaf
59 lobe

60 shoes
61 shoat
62 Shona
63 chum
64 shore (straight; see 78)
65 shul
66 judge
67 choke
68 Jove
69 shop (an exception; note short "o")

70 cosy (a teapot wrapper)
71 coat
72 cone
73 comb
74 core
75 coal
76 coach
77 Coke
78 cove (curved; see 64)
79 cope (hooded cape)

80 foci (foe-see: burning points under magnifying glasses)
81 photo
82 phone
83 foam
84 fore (golf ball)
85 foal
86 voyage
87 folk (an acoustic guitar)
88 fauve (wild animal -- Taz)
89 phobe (shivering coward)

90 pose (Rodin's Thinker)
91 poet (Homer)
92 pone (cornpone)
93 pome (apple)
94 pore
95 pole
96 poach (egg)
97 poke (hot poker)
98 pauve (impoverished ragged man; Raggedy Andy)
99 Pope