Page 130 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

134 What's in a Name?
substitute word for it. That's why the anecdote that heads
this chapter may be good for a laugh, but can't happen in
actual practice.
Recently I had to remember the name, Olczewsky, pro-
nounced ol-chew-sky. I simply pictured an old man (I always
picture a man with a long, flowing white beard to represent
an old man) chewing vigorously, while he skied; old-chew-
ski—Olczewsky. The name Conti might suggest soap,
(Conti Castile), or you might picture someone counting
tea bags. Count tea—Conti. For the name Czarsty, you
could picture a Russian Czar with a sty on his eye; the name
Ettinger might suggest someone eating, or someone who
has "et" and injured himself, perhaps hurt a tooth, etc. Et
injure—Ettinger.
It doesn't matter how silly you get; more often than not,
the sillier the better. I've often said that if I could explain
on stage, the silly associations that I've made to remember
names, among other things, I'd have a very funny routine.
A name like D'Amico, pronounced Dam-ee-ko, is not too
unusual a name. I've come across it a few times, and I've
remembered it by picturing a woman seeing a dam over-
flow and screaming, "Eek" and "Oh." Or, picturing myself
going towards an overflowing dam (the overflowing gets
action into the picture) and saying, "me go." Dam eek oh,
dam me go—D'Amico. This all sounds quite ridiculous.
Good! The more ridiculous, the easier to tie the picture
onto the face, as I will explain in a moment, and the easier
to remember and retain the name.
After meeting a lot of new people, and using my systems,
you will find that you'll have certain pictures or thoughts
for names that you come across very often. I, for example,
always picture an ice cream cone for the name Cohen or
Cohn. I see a blacksmith's hammer for Smith or Schmidt.
Yes, I use the same picture for Smith and Schmidt; true