Our next problem is to learn how to master names which are especially difficult to remember and for which we cannot easily find meaningful words of similar sound. How shall we set about memorizing, by a simple method, a rather long, collective series of difficult names? As a concrete example, let us take the forty-eight states of our country.

There are some people, of course, who visualize the map so clearly that they can name the states according to their geographical location, that is, reel off their names as though reading from an actual map. A person who can do this naturally does not need any mnemotechnical aid, since mnemotechny should be employed only when certain facts are hard or impossible to retain naturally. But even these persons will find it worth while to read the solution of this problem carefully, because the same method can be used for all sorts of other things difficult to memorize.

First of all, write down the complete list of names serially —in this instance, the states of the United States. Beside each state write words of similar sound which have a sensible meaning. The degree of similarity in sound is an individual matter. For the person who relies greatly on aid the sound must be very like that of the word to be memorized. The relationship here resembles that of actor and prompter. The actor who knows his part pretty well needs to be prompted only occasionally, but the actor who is just beginning to learn his lines has to rely on the prompter during the whole performance.

Taking the states in alphabetical order, we begin with Alabama. The word nearest in sound to Alabama perhaps is alabaster. Then there are allah, alas, alarm and all able. These rather exhaust the possibilities, although you may think of a few more. Going down the list of states in this way, we have something like the following:

1. Alabama                   Allah, alarm, alabaster, all able, alas, Alp
2. Arizona                    aristocrat, arithmetic, arena, area, arid arid  zone
3. Arkansas                  ark, arc, archaic, architect, archives,  archaeologist
4. California                  caloric, calibre, calico, calipers, call
5. Colorado                  color, college, colleague, collect, collision, colonist
6. Connecticut              connect, connexion
7. Delaware                  delegate, delectable, deliberate, delicious, deliver,
                                    delusion
8. Florida                     florist, florid, floor
9. Georgia                    George, geography
10. Idaho                     Ida, idea, idol, idle
11. Illinois                     ill, illness, illiterate, illogical, illicit, illegal
12. Indiana                   Indian, india-rubber, indicate, indigo, in direct,
                                    indiscreet
13. Iowa                      I owe, I.O.U., iota, iodoform
14. Kansas                   can (verb), can (noun), candidate, cancel kennel,
                                    ken, Kenneth, Kent
15. Kentucky               Louis, Louise
16. Louisiana                main
17. Maine
18. Maryland                Mary, married, marriage
19. Massachusetts        message, mass (a lot), mass (in church), massive,
                                    master, massage
20. Michigan                mischance, misshapen, Michel, mission
21. Minnesota              mineral, minister, minute, mingle, Minnie
22. Mississippi              misses, misuse, miss, missed
23. Missouri                 Miss Urey, miserable, misrule, misuse,
                                    misunderstand, miss
24. Montana                 mountain, month, Monday
25. Nebraska               nebulous, Neptune, nap
26. Nevada                  nephew, never
27. New Hampshire     ham, hemisphere, hamper
28. New Jersey            jersey, jerk, jerry, Jerry
29. New Mexico          maximum, mechanic, new mechanism
30. New York              York, yawn, yoke, yore
31. North and               cars, carols
32. South Carolina        doctors, code, day coach
33. North and               doctors, code, day coach
34. South Dakota         doctors, code, day coach
35. Ohio                       high road, Oh I
36. Oklahoma              oak, o'clock
37. Oregon                   origin, original, or, oar, orange, ore,
38. Pennsylvania           organ
39. Rhode Island          pencil, pen, paint, pensive
40. Tennessee              road, wrote, rode, rodent
41. Texas                     tennis, ten
42. Utah                       taxes, takes, taxi utter, to utter, utterance, you,
                                    utensil,
43. Vermont                 utopia verse, vermin, vermillion, very
44. Virginia                   Virginia, virgin
45. W. Virginia             Washington, wash, washing done
46. Washington            Washington, wash, washing done
47. Wisconsin               whisky, whisk, whisker, wish, wisdom
48. Wyoming                why, wine, whine, why omit

For the present we are not trying to memorize the states in any particular order. Our problem is merely to associate substituting words for the individual states, naturally one word for each state. The simplest way is to make up a story incorporating one of these key words for each state. Such a story might read:

George and Louis, two doctors, rode with the Misses Mary and Ida in taxis on the special mission. The two cars came from the arid zone of Mexico over the nebulous mountains and took the main road connecting Kentucky and New York.

George was an architect and the son of a minister. His business flourished, he drank whisky and wine to prevent illness and ate two Virginia ham sandwiches, which were delicious. He played tennis, had a daily massage, lived in a Utopian world and played the organ in his alabaster home.

Louis was a vermilion Indian, who wore a colored jersey over a calico shirt, which he never washed. He wrote an I.O.U. with his pencil and canceled his 10 o'clock date with Miss Urey in Ohio.

The names of all forty-eight states are in this story. Every boldface word was chosen from the key words previously given. Only forty-five words are given in boldface because the Carolinas, Dakotas and Virginias are introduced only once, but in every instance the word two appears with it (two doctors, two cars, two Virginia ham sandwiches).

As you will see, this little story can be memorized merely by reading it through four or five times. It will take only ten or fifteen minutes if you have improved your memory steadily by doing our exercises. It usually takes hours to memorize the names of the forty-eight states, and anything learned so tediously and arbitrarily is apt to be forgotten in a few weeks or months. The little story quoted here is so easy to remember that you run no risk of forgetting it. Merely note: the first paragraph tells about the trip George and Louis made; the second describes George's personality; and the third, Louis's personality.

But let me again remind the reader: one remembers best the stories he invents himself. If you would like to remember the states, I suggest that you make up a story yourself, using the key words given above or others of your own choosing. You will remember this story more easily because your own creative activity is involved. I should be pleased to have you send me any little stories you write.
In order to show you that the story given above is not the only possible one, I cite a second, built on the same system and following the same rules. This example is better because it incorporates the states in geographical order. It begins with the Eastern states and progresses through the Middle West to the Far West.

A man rode down to Main street where he bought some very delicious hams. Then he put on his new jersey and went in a pensive mood to hear mass in a New York church.

In connection herewith he observed on the floor two paintings of the Virgin Mary by Michel, heard two carols and listened to the wisdom of a preacher. He met George and Louis, but alas he missed Kenneth.

Outside under an oak he said to Miss Minnie: "Oh, I want to tell you, you can collect the ten dollars I owe for the new arc, since I was ill, but I never could understand why it takes so much new mechanism to put it up."

When he got home, he said to Ida: "You call to that Indian hiding behind those two day coaches to wait for a nebulous day before washing the ore in those arid mountains.”

Now that you have memorized the states, suppose you take the next logical step and learn their capitals. Because we remember those things best which have meaning in themselves, we choose substituting words for the capitals as well as the states. The factors we have considered before hold true for these words too, that is, the more nearly they sound like the original word and the more simply they can be connected in meaning with the original word, the better they are. Let us begin with the first state in alphabetical order:

The capital of Alabama is Montgomery. Montgomery reminds us of mountain (if one knows French, so much the better, for mont means mountain), and among the key words for Alabama we have Alp. Alp and mountain are closely connected in our minds. So we can easily impress the following on our memories:

Alabama—Alp—mountain—Montgomery.

Here are some further examples:

Florida                                     floor, tall house, Tallahassee
Georgia                                    Atlantic seaboard—Atlanta
Idaho                                       idle boys—Boise
Illinois                                       ill—spring fever—Springfield
Iowa                                        I owe money—Des Moines
Maine                                       May—August—Augusta
Minnesota                                minister—preach—St. Paul
New Jersey                              jersey—cloth tent—Trenton
New Mexico                            sandy—Santa Fe
North Dakota                           Nordic—Bismarck
Ohio                                         high in history—Columbus
Pennsylvania                             pencil—hurry—Harrisburg
Texas                                       taxi—car—Austin
Wyoming                                  O Ming—Chinese—Cheyenne
Washington                              Capitol—seat of law—Olympia

The associations suggested here are so easy to formulate that further explanations are unnecessary. It is possible to learn and remember the names of the forty-eight state capitals by this method in about one half-hour, while memorizing them in the traditional manner would consume many hours and even then be unreliable.

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