Mnemonic peg system

A Peg system is a technique for memorizing lists. It works by pre-memorizing a list of words that are easy to associate with the numbers they represent (1 to 10, 1-100, 1-1000, etc.). Those objects form the "pegs" of the system. Then in the future, to rapidly memorize a list of arbitrary objects, each one is associated with the appropriate peg. Generally, a peglist only has to be memorized one time, and can then be used over and over every time a list of items needs to be memorized.

The peglists are generated from words that are easy to associate with the numbers (or letters). Peg lists created from letters of the alphabet or from rhymes are very simple to learn, but are limited in the number of pegs they can produce. The Major System is often used to create pegs. While it is more complicated to learn than simple rhymes or alphabetic pegs, it is limitless in the number of pegs it can produce. Furthermore, a recent modification to the Major System introduces the concept of dimensions, which increases the size of the list by a factor of ten with the addition of each new dimension.

Some authors classify lists of items in a room, or list of rooms in the house as well as their contents, as peg lists but prefer to treat these as part of the method of loci. However, in every respect, the concepts underlying the two systems are identical: in each, a new piece of information gets pegged to something that is already known.

Henry Herdson is credited with developing the mnemonic peg system in his short 1651 work "Ars Memoriae; the Art of Memory Made Plaine," Lectio V, reprinted in full in Gregor von Feinaigle's 1812 Art of Memory

Peg Lists

A rhyming example

• 1-gun Visualize the first item being fired from a gun
• 2-shoe Visualize an association between the second thing and a shoe
• 3-tree Visualize the third item growing from a tree
• 4-door Visualize the 4th item associated with a door
• 5-hive Visualize the fifth item associated with a hive or with bees
• 6-bricks Visualize the sixth item associated with bricks
• 7-heaven Visualize the seventh item associated with heaven
• 8-weight (or height) Visualize the 8th item on a weight (or height) as if you are heavy (or high)
• 9-wine Visualize a glass containing the 9th item
• 10-hen Visualize the 10th item associated with a chicken.
• 11-tot Visualize the 11th item associated with a wisel
• 12-tin Visualize the 12 iteam associated with tin
• 13-tomb Visualize the 13th item associated with a graviad
• 14-tyer Visualize the 14th item associated with a tyer.
• 15-towel Visualize the 15th item associated with a towel.
• 16-taj Visualize the 16th item associated with a taj mahal.
• 17-teak Visualize the 17th item associated with a timber.
• 18-teaf Visualize the 18th item associated with a robber.
• 19-tub Visualize the 19th item associated with a bateing tub.
• 20-nose Visualize the 20th item associated with a nose.
• 21-net Visualize the 21st item associated with a net.
• 22-Nun Visualize the 22nd item associated with a blessing.
• 23-Neem Visualize the 23rd item associated with a neem paste.
• 24-Nero Visualize the 24th item associated with a war.
• 25-nail Visualize the 25th item associated with a nail.

When it's 7 × 3, the 7 and the 3 are too won (21).

For example to remember the following grocery list of 10 items:

• Apple: Picture an apple being fired from a gun
• Butter: Picture yourself stomping up and down on a stick of butter
• Razor Blades: Picture a tree with razor blades for leaves
• Soap: Picture a door made from soap
• Bread: Picture bees flying from a loaf of bread as if it is a hive
• Milk: Picture a brick house with milk jugs where the bricks should be
• Cat food: Picture an open can of cat food with angel wings and a halo
• Bacon: Picture bacon on a plate
• Batteries: Picture a wine glass filled with batteries
• Orange juice: Picture a hen being squeezed, and orange juice coming out

Rhyme may also help with memorizing a peglist. Here is another example that includes an element of rhyme:

• one is won
• two sits too
• three for free
• four on the floor
• five is alive
• six on sticks
• seven in heaven
• eight comes late
• nine down a mine
• ten in a pen

Shape example

Based on the shape of the digits.

• 1 - candle, straw, pencil, streetlamp, stick, leg, lighthouse, finger
• 2 - swan, duck, goose, flamingo
• 3 - sideways handlebar mustache, heart, camel's hump, worm, snake, butterfly, handcuffs, two hooks
• 4 - sail boat, chair, flag, flamingo's legs
• 5 - sea horse, hook, cymbal and drum, wheelchair, pregnant woman, pulley, animal mouth (opened right)
• 6 - cherry, golf club, snail house, elephant's trunk, pipe, ram's horn, giraffe's neck (lifted right), combination lock, whistling device, cannon
• 7 - boomerang, cliff, hammer, axe, scythe, gun, giraffe
• 8 - snowman, hourglass, spectacles, two plates, two holes in a cup, two holes in a glass, two donuts, wheels of skate, winding key,
• 9 - floating balloon with string attached, comma (filled-in), hunting horn, lollipop, tadpole, tennis racket
• 10 - road sign and ball, lamppost with light, stick and donut, bat and ball, knife and plate

Note: Since the images for six when flipped upside down would also resemble a nine (and vice versa), it is helpful to select an image for the six and the nine that naturally or usually goes in the same direction as the number you want the image to represent. For example, a floating balloon with a string attached will usually resemble a nine instead of a six. In contrast, a tennis racket is not always facing the same direction, making it more difficult to remember whether you wanted it to represent a six or a nine.

See also

• Method of loci
• Mnemonic link system
• Mnemonic major system
• Mnemonic dominic system
• Mnemonic goroawase system
• Haraguchi's mnemonic system
• Linkword
• Memory sport

External links

Making pegs from rhymes:

• Human Memory
• Memory Improvement and Learning Information

Making pegs from shapes:

• Human Memory
• Memory Improvement and Learning Information

Alphabet Pegs:

• Human Memory

Major system peg list

• Numzi Peg Words for 0 - 100, with Peg Word Story
• Peglist Tutorial
• Very personalized Peg list. Up to 100
• Peg list up to 1000 pegs