If I had to learn the addresses of a big city so that a customer in my [imaginary] cab could ask me to drive to an address then I would think about using mnemonics to learn the addresses.

Rote memory is the best memory but, if you have an exam coming up and you need to cram for it then it is good to have mnemonics. Let's imagine that I have to quickly learn 100s of street addresses.

Some memory experts might recommend visiting as many of the addresses as you can so that you have a visual memory of them; but to imagine a mnemonic of the road name happening in the street. Since 'Cavendish Avenue' sounds a bit like 'Cave' followed by 'Dish', one could imagine a small cave opening and a huge dish outside it - as if it is a big obstruction in the avenue.

When a passenger asks to be driven to Cavendish Avenue, what should happen is: Cavendish becomes Cave+Dish; and you have a chance of remembering the road(s) of the city where you pictured a cave and dish.

My approach of 'using mnemonic images for the spelling of the start of a word' would not fare well here. If I have imagined the image for CA at Cavendish Avenue or imagined an image for CAV or for CAVE then what happens when the customer asks to be driven to Cavendish Avenue? How can I turn that into CA and think of roads where the CA image was pictured? There would be so so many roads beginning with CA that the technique is very weak; although an image for a 4 letter prompt of CAVE has more hope.

So it looks like the Cave + Dish approach is best. I would say though that it can go wrong too...

Imagine a road is called Affleck Road and you think, "Affleck sounds like 'a flock'; and you imagine a flock of sheep in the road; then a customer one day asks you to drive to Affleck Road. What do you convert Affleck into? A flock of sheep or a flock of sea gulls? Or maybe Affleck reminds you of 'a flick'. The connection can be broken because there is no firm rule about how you will interpret Affleck in future.

That broken connection is one of the reasons why I would not tend to use that approach to memorise foreign language.

Having said that criticism, Cavendish as Cave and Dish was pretty good. So I would not reject the method completely; and, given several iterations of revision, the mental association would become strong.

Maybe there is no super mnemonic solution to the taxi driver question. Far better would be to know from a young age that I want to become a taxi driver; and then to learn loads of roads at my leisure rather than in a hurry.

I wonder if a combination of using a 3 letter image and a 2 letter image imagined in a street would work? Eg. Brooks Street might be thought of as BRO + OK (+ the S which we ignore). The problem with the 3 letter robots system or 3 letter musicians system is that the images are quite samey; they are fine for occasional use but, if 100s of roads are all expressed as robot images or as musicians playing a tune then the samey quality would creep in and make them less memorable, collectively.

If a three letter system is constrained to being just common three letter combinations then it is no longer a 26 x 26 x 26 letter exercise and maybe worth the time to develop - the images would hopefully not be samey. Maybe some of the 1000 male and 1000 women images could be used within it. Eg. a person meaning 'Well' could represent WEL. Any street name that does not fall into that system could be expressed as robot images, etc..

If the AA-ZZ system is made up of sketched cartoon-like objects then they could be imagined as different colours depending on which district of the city the road is in; or maybe colour could mean whether the road is a 'Road', 'Street', 'Hill', 'Avenue', etc..

And what if each AA-ZZ image has its own action? Then a story imagined at a street could be a 3 letter image from the 1000 people lists and that person would do an AA-ZZ action using a coloured AA-ZZ object; and that action could be performed on an AA-ZZ person. I could develop that action system by re-engineering the 1000 actions I already made (see the earlier article).

Another person I could be imagining could be one of the people from the 5000 peg system. So there are many ways to make a visualisation to represent a road name. (When I created the 5000 peg system, I deliberately used syllables that might be helpful in learning a foreign language that is consonant vowel consonant vowel in nature - but then it developed into a peg system rather than a spelling system.)

Since I wrote this article, I realised that the 5000 Person system can be interpreted as 3 letter words (but where the final letter is a gues from a range of 3 or 4 choices). This has tipped the balance, in my view, for arguing the case that a 5000 person system would be a core part of this memory system - and not a peripheral nice-to-have.

The following are words picked out from the Male 1000 and Woman 1000 lists. Remember that each word is intended to have a matching cartoon person image. Apart from representing actual frequently used words, their first 3 letters can be used to represent the first 3 letters of street names or other unusual words.

The 3 letter person can do a 2 letter action on an object that is an image representing a 1 or 2 or 3 letter combination.

Maybe one could use this list mainly but use the robot 3 letter approach if there is a 3 letter combination not covered by this list:

Word	Prefix
ability	abi
able	abl
about	abo
absorb	abs
accelerate	acc
achieve	ach
acid	aci
acquire	acq
across	acr
act	act
add	add
admit	adm
adult	adu
adverse	adv
affect	aff
after	aft
again	aga
age	age
aggression	agg
agree	agr
aim	aim
air	air
alcohol	alc
alert	ale
alive	ali
alkaline	alk
all	all
almost	alm
alone	alo
alphabet	alp
already	alr
also	als
although	alt
always	alw
amaze	ama
amends	ame
among	amo
ancient	anc
angle	ang
animal	ani
ankle	ank
annoy	ann
anti-	ant
anybody	any
apart	apa
ape	ape
appear	app
arch	arc
are	are
argument	arg
arm	arm
around	aro
arrange	arr
arts	art
ascend	asc
ask	ask
asset	ass
athlete	ath
atom	ato
attack	att
aunt	aun
authority	aut
Autumn	Aut
available	ava
avoid	avo
award	awa
axe	axe
baby	bab
back	bac
bad	bad
bag	bag
balance	bal
bamboo	bam
ban	ban
be a	be
bean	bea
because of	bec
bed	bed
before	bef
beg	beg
behave	beh
believe	bel
bend	ben
best	bes
better	bet
bias	bia
big	big
bill	bil
biology	bio
bird	bir
bit	bit
black	bla
blind	bli
blood	blo
blue	blu
board	boa
body	bod
boil	boi
bolt	bol
bone	bon
book	boo
border	bor
boss	bos
both	bot
bounce	bou
bow	bow
box	box
boy	boy
branch	bra
break	bre
brick	bri
brother	bro
brush	bru
budget	bud
build	bui
bulb	bul
bump	bum
bureaucracy	bur
bus	bus
but	but
buy	buy
calculate	cal
can	can
capable	cap
car	car
case	cas
catch	cat
cauldron	cau
cave	cav
ceiling	cei
celebrate	cel
censor	cen
certain	cer
chain	cha
check	che
child	chi
choke	cho
circle	cir
city	cit
civil	civ
claim	cla
clean	cle
cliff	cli
clock	clo
clue	clu
cold	col
combination	com
conceive	con
cool	coo
cope	cop
corner	cor
cost	cos
cotton	cot
cough	cou
cover	cov
cow	cow
crack	cra
create	cre
crime	cri
crop	cro
crunch	cru
cry	cry
cube	cub
culture	cul
cup	cup
curl	cur
cut	cut
cycle	cyc
cylinder	cyl
damage	dam
dance	dan
dare	dar
data	dat
daughter	dau
day	day
dead	dea
debt	deb
decay	dec
dedicate	ded
deep	dee
defeat	def
degree	deg
deity	dei
delay	del
demand	dem
denominator	den
depend	dep
derive	der
descend	des
detail	det
develop	dev
diagram	dia
did	did
die	die
differ	dif
dig	dig
dim	dim
dip	dip
direct	dir
disability	dis
divide	div
doctor	doc
dog	dog
domicile	dom
don't	don
door	doo
dot	dot
doubt	dou
down	dow
dozen	doz
draft	dra
drilldown	dri
drop	dro
drug	dru
dry	dry
due	due
during	dur
dusk	dus
dye	dye
each	eac
ear	ear
Earth	Ear
east	eas
eat	eat
edge	edg
effect	eff
eg.	eg.
egg	egg
eight	eig
either	eit
eject	eje
elbow	elb
electric	ele
else	els
embarrass	emb
emotion	emo
empathy	emp
enable	ena
encourage	enc
end	end
enemy	ene
enforce	enf
enjoy	enj
enough	eno
enter	ent
epidemic	epi
equal	equ
era	era
error	err
escape	esc
especially	esp
essential	ess
etc.	etc
ethic	eth
evaluate	eva
even	eve
evidence	evi
examine	exa
exchange	exc
exercise	exe
exit	exi
expect	exp
extra	ext
eye	eye
fable	fab
face	fac
fail	fai
fall	fal
fame	fam
fang	fan
far	far
fast	fas
fat	fat
fault	fau
favour	fav
fear	fea
feel	fee
female	fem
ferment	fer
fetus	fet
fever	fev
few	few
field	fie
fifty	fif
fight	fig
fill	fil
find	fin
fire	fir
fish	fis
fit	fit
five	fiv
fix	fix
flame	fla
flex	fle
float	flo
flu	flu
fly	fly
focus	foc
fog	fog
fold	fol
food	foo
force	for
foundation	fou
fraction	fra
free	fre
friction	fri
frog	fro
frustrate	fru
fuel	fue
fun	fun
fur	fur
fuss	fus
future	fut
fuzzy	fuz
gap	gap
gas	gas
gate	gat
gave	gav
geek	gee
gender	gen
gesture	ges
get	get
ghost	gho
girl	gir
give	giv
glass	gla
glide	gli
gold	gol
gone	gon
good	goo
got	got
govern	gov
grab	gra
great	gre
grief	gri
groan	gro
guarantee	gua
guess	gue
guilt	gui
gum	gum
guts	gut
habit	hab
had	had
hair	hai
halberd	hal
hand	han
happen	hap
hard	har
hat	hat
have	hav
head	hea
heel	hee
help	hel
hemp	hem
here	her
hesitate	hes
hide	hid
high	hig
hill	hil
him	him
hip	hip
hire (out)	hir
history	his
hit	hit
hold	hol
home	hom
hone	hon
hook	hoo
hope	hop
horizon	hor
host	hos
hot	hot
hour	hou
however	how
hue	hue
huge	hug
hum	hum
hundred	hun
hurry	hur
husband	hus
hygiene	hyg
hypothesise	hyp
ice	ice
idea	ide
ignorant	ign
image	ima
imitate	imi
immature	imm
implicate	imp
include	inc
independent	ind
infect	inf
inhabitant	inh
innocent	inn
input	inp
insect	ins
intellectual	int
invade	inv
inward	inw
irritate	irr
isolate	iso
its	its
jade	jad
jagged	jag
jar	jar
jerk	jer
job	job
join	joi
joke	jok
journey	jou
judge	jud
jump	jum
junior	jun
just	jus
keen	kee
key	key
kick	kic
kidney	kid
kill	kil
kind	kin
knee	kne
knife	kni
knock	kno
lack	lac
ladle (spoon)	lad
lame	lam
land	lan
large	lar
last	las
late	lat
laugh	lau
law	law
layer	lay
lead	lea
leek	lee
left	lef
leg	leg
leisure	lei
lend	len
less	les
let	let
level	lev
lid	lid
lie	lie
life	lif
light	lig
like	lik
limit	lim
line	lin
liquid	liq
list	lis
literal	lit
live	liv
load	loa
location	loc
logic	log
lonely	lon
look	loo
lord	lor
lose	los
lot	lot
loud	lou
love	lov
low	low
loyal	loy
luck	luc
lust	lus
machine	mac
magnet	mag
main	mai
major	maj
make	mak
male	mal
mammal	mam
man	man
march	mar
master	mas
match	mat
maximum	max
may	may
meal	mea
mechanism	mec
media	med
meet	mee
melon	mel
member	mem
menstral	men
mercy	mer
met	met
micro	mic
midday	mid
might	mig
military	mil
mind	min
misbehave	mis
mix	mix
mock	moc
mode	mod
mold	mol
moment	mom
monastery	mon
mood	moo
more	mor
most	mos
mother	mot
mound	mou
move	mov
much	muc
multiply	mul
muscle	mus
mute	mut
name	nam
nation	nat
near	nea
neck	nec
need	nee
negative	neg
neither	nei
nephew	nep
nerve	ner
net	net
neutral	neu
never	nev
new	new
next	nex
nice	nic
niece	nie
night	nig
nine	nin
nobody	nob
nod	nod
noise	noi
non-	non
nor	nor
nose	nos
not	not
noun	nou
now	now
nullify	nul
number	num
obey	obe
object	obj
obscure	obs
obvious	obv
occur	occ
odd	odd
of a	of
off	off
oil	oil
old	old
once	onc
one	one
only	onl
onto	ont
open	ope
opinion	opi
opportunistic	opp
orange	ora
orbit	orb
order	ord
organ	org
origin	ori
out	out
oval	ova
over	ove
owe	owe
own	own
oxygen	oxy
page	pag
pain	pai
palm	pal
pan	pan
paper	pap
pardon	par
pass	pas
pat	pat
pause	pau
pay	pay
peace	pea
pen	pen
percussion	per
phenomenon	phe
philosophy	phi
physics	phy
pick up	pic
piece	pie
pig	pig
pile	pil
pin	pin
pipe	pip
pity	pit
place	pla
please	ple
plough (plow)	plo
plug	plu
poem	poe
point (1)	poi
poke	pok
polite	pol
pool	poo
popular	pop
pork	por
position	pos
poultry	pou
powder	pow
practical	pra
precede	pre
prick	pri
probability	pro
psychology	psy
puberty	pub
puddle	pud
pull	pul
punctual	pun
pure	pur
push	pus
put	put
qualify	qua
question	que
quick	qui
race	rac
radio	rad
rag	rag
rail	rai
random	ran
rare	rar
rash	ras
rather	rat
raw	raw
re-	re-
reach	rea
rebel	reb
receive	rec
red	red
refer	ref
regard	reg
reject	rej
relapse	rel
remain	rem
rent	ren
repay	rep
request	req
resemble	res
retire	ret
revenge	rev
reward	rew
rhyme	rhy
rib	rib
rice	ric
ride	rid
right [first set of meanings]	rig
rise	ris
ritual	rit
river	riv
road	roa
rob	rob
rock	roc
rod	rod
role	rol
romantic	rom
roof	roo
rope	rop
rough	rou
row	row
rub	rub
rude	rud
ruin	rui
rule	rul
rumour	rum
run	run
rural	rur
sad	sad
safe	saf
salient	sal
same	sam
sand	san
satisfy	sat
save	sav
say	say
scab	sca
science	sci
scold	sco
scrape	scr
sea	sea
second	sec
see	see
self	sel
send	sen
separate	sep
serious	ser
set	set
seven	sev
sew	sew
sex	sex
shadow	sha
sheep	she
shine	shi
shock	sho
shut	shu
shy	shy
sick	sic
side	sid
sight	sig
silent	sil
similar	sim
since	sin
sister	sis
sit	sit
six	six
size	siz
skeleton	ske
skill	ski
sky	sky
slave	sla
sleep	sle
slice	sli
slope	slo
small	sma
smell	sme
smile	smi
smoke	smo
sneaky	sne
so .	so
sociable	soc
soft	sof
soil	soi
soldier	sol
some of	som
son	son
soon	soo
sore	sor
sound	sou
space	spa
spear	spe
spiral	spi
spot	spo
sprain	spr
spy	spy
square	squ
stable	sta
steal	ste
stick	sti
stop	sto
straight	str
stubborn	stu
style	sty
subject	sub
success	suc
sudden	sud
suffer	suf
suggest	sug
suit	sui
sum	sum
Summer	Sum
sun	sun
supply	sup
sure	sur
suspect	sus
swap	swa
swear	swe
swing	swi
symbol	sym
synthetic	syn
system	sys
table	tab
tackle	tac
tail	tai
take	tak
talk	tal
target	tar
task	tas
tax	tax
tea	tea
tell	tel
temperature	tem
ten	ten
term	ter
test	tes
text	tex
than	tha
their	the
thick	thi
thoughtful	tho
thread	thr
thumb	thu
tidy	tid
tie	tie
tiger	tig
tile	til
time	tim
tingle	tin
tip	tip
tired	tir
to a	to
toe	toe
together	tog
tone	ton
too many	too
top	top
torso	tor
touch	tou
town	tow
toxin	tox
track	tra
treat	tre
trick	tri
trouble	tro
TRUE	TRU
try	try
turn	tur
twist	twi
two	two
type	typ
ugly	ugl
un-	un-
uncle	unc
under	und
unfold	unf
uniform	uni
unknown	unk
unless	unl
until	unt
unusual	unu
update	upd
upon	upo
upset	ups
urgent	urg
urinate	uri
use	use
usual	usu
vague	vag
valid	val
van	van
variable	var
vegetation	veg
verb	ver
vibration	vib
video	vid
view	vie
village	vil
violet	vio
visible	vis
vocabulary	voc
voice	voi
vote	vot
vulgar	vul
waist	wai
wake	wak
walk	wal
wander	wan
war	war
was	was
watch	wat
wave	wav
way	way
weak	wea
week	wee
weigh	wei
welcome	wel
went	wen
west	wes
wet	wet
wheat	whe
which	whi
who	who
wide	wid
wife	wif
wild	wil
win	win
wire	wir
wise	wis
with	wit
woman	wom
won't	won
wood	woo
word	wor
would	wou
wrap	wra
wriggle	wri
wrong	wro
yawn	yaw
year	yea
yellow	yel
yes	yes
yet	yet
yield	yie
your	you
zero	zer

If you are learning a paragraph of 30 words of text (using 30 visual peg locations to imagine the 30 words in) and you see in the paragraph the word 'Refute' or 'Refactor' then you could imagine the REF person at the peg location scene. Rather than mean 'Refer', it can mean 'a word beginning with 'Ref..'.

You could imagine the person facing left when he/she is a 3 letter prefix but imagine the person facing right if the intended meaning is 'refer'.

Musical Spellings

The Musical Spellings article can represent letter pairs AA to ZZ as 676 songs. Any mnemonic image of a person can have its spelling of letters augmented by imagining the person singing one of those songs. So, rather than use the 'palm' PAL person to represent a long word like 'Paleozoic', the EO after the PAL could be imagined as the PAL person singing the EO song. Or maybe an action can be performed by the person so that even more letters of the word are represented visually.