The Jack System
How to memorize numbers as words and images
In my introductory post, I proposed that the origins of poetry are intimately connected with memory and song. I also suggested that the lost art of traditional poetry is a cultural analogue of the ground sloth or aurox – that is to say, a great extinct beast that has littered the earth with small, overspecialized, unimpressive descendants.
One of these is modern poetry: a wheezing overbred housepet, long divested of music and mnemonic properties, and now degenerating at the fundamental level of meter. Music is in a healthier state, but has taken to the air and turned to dandyism, blossoming aesthetically while shedding a lot of meaning. Yet a third descendant, almost never recognized as such, is mnemotechnics – the art of memorizing ideas by ‘encoding’ them as mental images.
The history of this art was written up by Frances Yates in The Art of Memory, at a time when it may have been in serious danger of being forgotten. Although Yates makes no attempt to trace the prehistoric origin of mnemotechnics, she drops many tidbits that hint at its descent from poetry. These include the purported invention of the art by an ancient Greek lyric poet (Simonides of Ceos); its emergence into Roman history as an aid to the verbal art of rhetoric; and last but not least, the suggestion that Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso may have originated as memory palaces containing visualized virtues and vices.
For of those of us who wish to ‘back-breed’ traditional poetry from one or more of its three modern descendants, the main attraction of mnemotechnics is its functionality. It has not become an ‘art for its own sake’, that is to say, a figurative dandy or housepet. But this is not to say that it has not degenerated from its ancestor; for while traditional poetry was a receptacle for the myth and lore of entire peoples, mnemotechnics deals in petty and disposable images forged for individual purposes.
Moreover, in a world that is doing its utmost to emancipate humanity from the practical need to remember anything at all, mnemotechnics has been forced to earn its daily bread by some very degrading work. Beyond party tricks and study knacks, its main employment is in competitive memory games, the object of which are to pointlessly memorize long strings of random words and numbers. Truth be told, I have never tried this sort of thing, and have never had much interest in it. We need mnemotechnics more than ever, but what we need is the Dantean kind, so that we can hold on to the sort of wisdom that is liable to be washed away in the tide of factoids, opinions and entertainment slop.
This, at least, has been my line of thought up to now. But it threatens to turn mnemotechnics into another plumaged dandy or overbred housepet. Competitions and party tricks might be pointless, but there is no reason why an ‘art for the sake of life’ should not be put to honest practical work. And the memorization of numbers has a wide range of everyday applications – to phone numbers, to road numbers, to passcodes – at least for those of us who do not wish to be fully emancipated, and thus atrophied, by modern technology.
There are many extant memory systems for encoding numbers as words and images. There’s the Major System, which uses sounds to form words; the Dominic System, which uses personal names paired with actions; and the PAO (Person-Action-Object) system, which derives subjects, verbs and objects from two-digit numbers and organizes them in such a way as to encode long numeral strings without repetition of imagery. These of course have all been tried and tested in the crucible of memory competitions.
Nevertheless, I decided to invent a new system, mainly for the reason that the tried-and-tested ones are just not very elegant – or, perhaps, are just not to my taste. Such things matter in mnemotechnics, for we are naturally inclined to forget all that which we find to be disorderly and distasteful. My preferences have led me into the ‘rookie error’ of using vague and abstract images; but in my system, these take on a new weight of meaning. It has not failed me in everyday use and casual random testing, and I suspect that it would not be too difficult to turn it to competitive use.
Apparently the convention in modern mnemotechnics is to call a system after the first name of its inventor (as in ‘Dominic System’, ‘Ben System’, ‘Katie Method’, etc.). So I have followed suit by christening mine the Jack System.
(Of course, I could call it something more self-effacing, but I’d rather indulge my vanity. I have little hope of making a fortune by my writing, but I’ll be damned if I don’t take what fame I can get.)
Lower Register: 0 to 99
The Jack System partly resembles the Mnemonic Association System, which pairs each number from 0 to 99 with a unique mnemonic image. The difference is that the choice of these images is not arbitrary, but instead governed by a consistent principle derived from the Chinese writing system.
It’s a common misconception in the West that Chinese characters are pictographic, and that you can read the underlying image out of each one. In reality, only a few basic ones fall into this category, including 人 person, 木 tree and 水 water. Most of the other tens of thousands of characters consist of at least two components: one smaller ‘radical’ derived from a basic character and usually found on the left, and another larger component usually situated on the right. The first indicates the general category of meaning, while the second indicates pronunciation and serves to stamp that character with its unique identity.
So for example, 人 person is stylized into 亻, and plays its part in such words as 仁 humaneness and 僕 manservant. 木 tree is found in 林 wood, 森 forest, 根 root, 棒 club and many more names of plant species. And 水 water becomes 氵and is spliced into such words as 酒 wine, 海 sea, 河 river, 油 oil, etc. etc.
The Chinese system is not quite as simple as these examples would suggest, but that’s neither here nor there. What matters to us is that the basic principle behind it can be used to construct sets of ten number-images – hereafter called numages.
In the Jack System, only the first set of numages consists of true pictograms:
0 - hole
1 - tree
2 - spring
3 - heart
4 - earth
5 - hook
6 - cloud
7 - nose
8 - snake
9 - smoke
Most of these meanings can be read straight out of the Arabic numerals, although you may have to squint a bit at 6 cloud and 9 smoke and perhaps visualize 4 earth as a flag being stuck into the ground. These must be intuitive, or at least recognizable on sight, for they are our fundamental elements.
As such, their meanings are best not construed too narrowly:
0 hole can be an opening in the ground or anywhere else, but in combination with other numbers it signifies circularity, occlusion, or the locus of something.
1 tree connotes woody and plant life in some combinations, and straightness and singularity in others.
2 spring can be a natural spring, a leak, a tap, or simply water, but more widely it has to do with liquids and associated objects.
3 heart can be the physical organ, but also implies the soul, and in combinations usually implies the most central, concentrated or precious part of something.
4 earth can be the earth or soil (above ground, as opposed to underground), but more widely connotes solidity or earthiness.
5 hook can be a hook on the wall, or (depending on context) any spike, thorn or nail, but more widely implies all things deadly to life and apt to cause fear or aversion.
7 nose has much to do with air (and could be defined as such were it not for the insubstantiality of this image), hence connotes all sorts of things that fly aloft.
8 snake, which can also be a worm, connotes bodily and animal life.
6 cloud has much to do with inclement weather and descent from above, while 9 smoke connotes fire, heat and ascent from below. (These two often, though not always, mirror each other as do the shapes of their numerals.)
Now let’s show how the rest of the system works. In the next set of ten numages, 1 tree stands for the general category of meaning:
10 - seed
11 - wood
12 - gourd
13 - apple
14 - bread
15 - toadstool
16 - banana
17 - flower
18 - mouse
19 - corn
This is a good time to explain some more principles and conventions. One is that where numbers are doubled up, the numage is usually intensified or multiplied, as in 11 wood – by which is meant primarily forest, as in 林 wood, but can also be used for dead wood. Another is that numbers ending in 8 always create animal numages, as in 18 mouse, which is nonetheless consistent with the rest of the set (because the mouse is a typical woodland creature with a long thin tail at its back).
Another is that concepts are usually wider than the words chosen to evoke them. 12 gourd can also be a hollow bottle, and 13 apple can be any fruit (but recall the association of apples with the Fall of Man and the number 13 with bad luck). 18 mouse can be any long-tailed rodent, such as a rat or squirrel. But feel free to stick to a single word and narrow image if this helps with memorization.
The reasoning behind 14 bread is that a loaf resembles a stone (as in the saying of Jesus; but if this is is not intuitive enough you can instead use root, as in a yam or potato). 16 banana droops downward, whereas 19 corn rises upward. 17 flower is an obvious choice in light of its synonym nosegay, but the more important association is with fragrance and the scattering of pollen and petals into the air.
Let’s move on to the next set:
20 - pool
21 - fountain
22 - river
23 - wine
24 - ice
25 - acid
26 - bog
27 - wave
28 - lax
29 - lather
21 fountain should be visualized boldly, as spurting high, so as to rule out any confusion with 2 spring (in which the emphasis is on water). 22 river can be a little brook or generic flood of water, but it is perhaps best envisaged as a vigorous torrent because of the principle of intensification. If necessary, 20 pool can do double duty for lake and 22 river for sea, but these larger bodies of water are best kept unassigned because it may be necessary to use them as arbitrary ‘backdrop’ for memory scenes.
23 wine can extend to all alcohol, and 25 acid to poison. The idea behind 26 bog is that it has descended into stagnancy and become clouded. 29 lather can be understood as soapy water, or free airborne bubbles, but the basic image behind it is that of bubbles rising out of hot water. 27 wave should be imagined as rising high into the air, or being whipped up by the air, so as to emphasise the analogy with other numages ending in 7.
28 lax is an old word meaning salmon; I revive it here because I want to use it more vaguely, to describe a trout or salmon or similar fish that can be found in fresh and sea water. It is better to a be a bit specific than to simply use generic fish, because it might be necessary to use this as arbitrary ‘backdrop’.
The theme of the next set might be somewhat hard to pin down. On the grounds that 3 heart implies soul, mind, and reduction to essence, I began by stripping the basic imagery down to an abstract set of shapes such as lines, triangles and squares. Since these were very difficult to visualize, I then replaced these with physical objects that somewhat resembled their original abstract forms.1
Here they are:
30 - ring
31 - wand
32 - bowl
33 - hat
34 - book
35 - sickle
36 - sack
37 - fan
38 - moth
39 - balloon
31 wand can be visualized as the thin white rod of a magician, but it can also be a longer staff or cane (just not the woody, leafy ‘wand’ of the Rider-Waite Tarot, for this would be too easily confused with 1 tree or 11 wood). 33 hat should be imagined as conical and pointed, like a wizard’s or witch’s hat (note the triangular shape and the resemblance of the word to heart). The idea behind 34 book is that it is cuboid and serves as the means to ‘solidify’ abstract ideas. 35 sickle is a short hook-shaped tool, not a long scythe (which is associated with a certain figure representing a longer number). 37 fan should be envisaged as an Oriental folding one.
38 moth embraces the concept of butterfly (I am biased towards monosyllabic words), and the choice has to do with the ethereal delicacy of this creature as well as its association with the soul (psyche). Perhaps this is a good time to clarify that all countable numages can be freely pluralized. So feel free to add weight to this numage by imagining a field full of butterflies (or a room infested with moths).
The next set has less to do with stones and rocks than with architecture (the reason being is that the role of the earth as the home of man is emphasized):
40 - house
41 - door
42 - well
43 - gem
44 - town
45 - tomb
46 - ruin
47 - bridge
48 - pig
49 - wall
41 door should ideally be an opening closed by a hinged barrier, not a mere hole in a wall. 44 town can be anything from a village to a large town. 45 tomb can be extended to a graveyard or narrowed down to a tombstone. The reasoning behind 46 ruin (preferably a heap of rubble) and 49 wall (preferably a high freestanding one) is that of descending and ascending architecture.
The next set is the main repository of negative numages in the system:
50 - trap
51 - sword
52 - piss
53 - shield
54 - shit
55 - noose
56 - arrow
57 - plague
58 - dog
59 - spear
The basic idea of 50 trap is that of a circular serrated leg-trap, but this can be extended to other types of trap or even to the mouth (preferably a monstrous maw, yawning wide open and filled with teeth). 55 noose is an intensification of 5 hook, and even resembles a pair of dangling hooks joined together; the idea behind it is of course the noose of suicide or the gallows, but it can perhaps be extended to any sort of knotted rope. 57 plague can be any disease, and it can be visualized as airborne germs, spiky virus particles, or toxic miasma.
The dominant idea of the following set is not airiness or skyborneness (which belongs to the one after it) but inclement weather:
60 - storm
61 - lightning
62 - rain
63 - eye
64 - snow
65 - hail
66 - fog
67 - rainbow
68 - sheep
69 - tornado
63 eye might seem arbitrary, but the idea behind it is eye of the storm, although in almost all contexts it is best visualized as the organ of sight. 66 fog is best distinguished from 6 cloud and 9 smoke by its extension into the entire field of a visual scene. 68 sheep is chosen for its resemblance to a fluffy cloud and its penchant for high places. The emphasis on 69 tornado is not on wind, but on cloud, and on its vague resemblance to an ascending column of smoke.
The next set somewhat contrasts with the last, as it is one of calm celestiality and clarity of weather:
70 - sky
71 - comet
72 - moon
73 - sun
74 - star
75 - darkness
76 - aurora
77 - wind
78 - dove
79 - mirage
The concept behind 71 comet is that of a shooting star traversing the sky, though depending on context this can also be a falling meteor. The reasoning behind 72 moon and 73 sun is that the moon is traditionally linked to water, and the sun to the heat and centrality of the human heart. 74 star (or stars) has to do with the idea of the stars as the ‘landscape’ of the sky, as well as with the fixity of the polestar. 75 darkness can be extended to eclipse. 77 wind should be imagined as a strong gale on a clear day, not the sort of cloudy hurricane liable to be confused with 69 tornado (it can also be visualized concretely as airborne arrows). 78 dove can also be pigeon (in many languages the two are not differentiated). 79 mirage can extend to holograms, hallucinations, etc. – basically any type of illusion.
The next set is a bit ‘different’, like the other numages derived from 8 snake. It consists of various body parts, not only those of humans but also those of animals:
80 - egg
81 - bone
82 - blood
83 - chest
84 - foot
85 - tail
86 - gut
87 - wing
88 - octopus
89 - head
In order to incorporate these, it is sometimes best to imagine yourself as directly witnessing a visual scene, in which case they become the parts of your own body. They can also be imagined as dead and severed, placed upon animals, or surrealistically growing from the landscape or roaming about (like the giant ear in Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra).
81 bone can be extended to skeleton.2 83 chest is most striking when envisaged as female tits, but can also extend to the meaning of a wooden box. 84 foot can also extend to leg (many languages do not distinguish the two), as well as to the talons of birds and the legs of tables and chairs. 87 wing can be extended to feather, and might conceivably be used where necessary for arm and hand. 85 tail can be extended – or rather retracted – to arse. The idea behind 86 gut (or belly) and 89 head is that the one droops down and thunders with emotions, while the other rises up and seethes with thoughts. Needless to say, the one can be a haggis and the other a decapitated skull.
I doubt that 88 octopus will prove unmemorable as a concatenation of 8 snakes. But you might also want to visualize it surrealistically as traversing land, so that it does not drag unwanted sea-imagery in its train.
Hang in there, we’re almost done:
90 - fire
91 - gun
92 - oil
93 - light
94 - sand
95 - ash
96 - bomb
97 - heat
98 - cat
99 - rocket
93 light is a bit abstract, but can be imagined concretely as a lantern (though preferably not an oil lamp, as that would risk confusion with 92 oil). 97 heat can be imagined as a visual effect in the air, or as a physical feeling, and the concept can be extended to the heat of anger and sexual passion. 94 sand can be extended to the landscape of the sahara3 (just as 24 ice can extend to that of the tundra). 96 bomb is best envisaged as a black ball with a fuse, and 99 rocket as a firework.
Okay, that’s enough for now. Let’s say you’ve paid attention to all my reasoning, scrolled through the text several times, and actually managed to din these numages into your memory. How do you use them to memorize a phone number, a sequence of road numbers, a passcode, a random number string?
Well, the simplest method is to chain them together in a visual scene or story.4 Obviously you must place other words and concepts between them, or the result would be a gibberish of unrelated nouns. And it is here that we see the advantage of constructing the numages according to such a tight set of rules, and rigorously excluding all verbs from the sets (as well as all adjectives, prepositions, proper names and the vast majority of nouns). As long as the 100 numages are used only to represent numbers, all other words and concepts can be freely employed to link them together, much as cement is used to stick bricks together.
Let’s begin with strings of numbers between 1 and 99, created by a random number generator:
Number string: 91, 53, 66, 30, 42, 81, 19, 49, 3, 68
Memory tale: I fire my gun (91) at the shield (53) of my enemy, and fog (66) rises up from it [i.e. the shield] as small metal rings (30) fall onto the ground. Then, out of a well (42) climbs a skeleton (81) and chases me through a field of corn (19). I hide behind a wall (49), my heart (3) pounding, and a sheep (68) comes to stare at me.
Number string: 31, 17, 5, 97, 57, 82, 33, 81, 16, 23
Memory tale: With my cane (31) I strike a flower (17) from its stem and hang it on a hook (5). A great heat (97) is emitted from it and I catch a plague (57). My blood (82) is let by someone in a tall pointy hat (33), until I am cut down to the bone (81). He gives me bananas (16) to eat and alcohol (23) to drink until I make a recovery.
Number string: 39, 84, 27, 45, 29, 19, 2, 65, 55, 51
Memory tale: The balloon (39) that I am holding lifts me off my feet (84). I fly over the waves (27) and come to a graveyard (45). Looking down, I see bubbles (29) come rising from the graves; then corn (19) grows over them; then springwater (2) splashes up over them. Hail (65) begins to fall from above, and the noose of a gallows (55) forms over me [i.e. from the balloon string that I am holding], but I cut myself free with a sword (51).
In everyday life, of course, we are much more likely to encounter single numbers. Ideally these should be broken up into strings of two-digit numbers, to be encoded with numages in the manner shown above. If there is an odd number of digits, necessitating the use of one of the first ten basic numages, then this should as a rule be placed at the end so that no confusion arises as to how to break up the digits.
For example:
9-digit number: 788489763
Memory tale: A dove (78) lands on my foot (84), then on my head (89), then flies up into the aurora (76) above me, which forms the image of a heart (3).
9-digit number: 686424956
Memory tale: A sheep (68) traverses snow (64), then ice (24), then volcanic ash (95), and at last dissolves into a cloud (6).
10-digit number: 2826650228
Memory tale: I see a lax (28) dying in a bog (26); I walk on and hail (65) starts to fall; I turn back and see a silver (02) lax (28) flying upwards.
10-digit number: 1551690705
Memory tale: I cut down a huge toadstool (15) with my sword (51), but a tornado (69) emerges from it and whirls broken glass (07) at me. My weapon corrodes into rust (05).
In the case of a sequence of road numbers, you would presumably also intersperse between the numages many arbitrary mnemonics, representing towns, directions, landmarks, etc. But such mnemonics stand outside this system, and so we shall leave this example aside.
For the memorization of phone numbers, many of which incorporate several zeroes, we must introduce one more set of numages for two-digit numbers derived from the basic meaning of 0 hole:
00 - cave
01 - lith
02 - silver
03 - gold
04 - lead
05 - rust
06 - bell
07 - glass
08 - crab
09 - trumpet
01 lith (as in monolith) means a ‘standing stone’ – a menhir, stele, pillar, column or stalagmite. The reasoning behind 02 silver and 03 gold is that the one symbolizes the moon and so is related to water, while the other is analogous to the sun and the heart. 04 lead is heavy and implies the gravity of earth. 05 rust can be imagined surrealistically, as spreading upon and corroding things other than iron.5
07 glass can extend to mirror, window and conceivably to a drinking glass (though this water-related meaning is dispreferred). The choice of 06 bell and 09 trumpet has to do with their ‘cavernous’ hollowness; the trumpet should probably not be imagined as long and straight, but as curved and widely flared.
Armed with these last ten numages, we can now deal with any number of zeroes that might come up on phone directories or bank cards. For example:
Phone number: 0118-315-0367
Memory tale: Up a pillar (01) climbs a mouse (18), holding a wand (31) with a hook (5) on the end. It finds [i.e. at the top of the pillar] some gold (03) at the end of a rainbow (67).
Phone number: 0800-808-5883
Memory tale: I follow a crab (08) into a cave (00). I find an egg (80) there, from which a snake (8) hatches. I turn to run, but a dog (58) attacks me and tears at my chest (83).
One other thing to mention is the possibility of running across repeated numbers. One way to deal with them is by pluralization; but since numages are not necessarily countable, and all countable ones flow freely from singular to plural, this may be less feasible in some cases than in others. For example, 0000 might well be encoded as two caves, but 8484 is better encoded as a foot upon a snake upon the earth than as two feet. However, there is another option for solving these problems.
Higher Register: 100 to 999,999
By this point I might have persuaded you that it is feasible to create unique memory images for every number from 0 to 100. But the idea of carrying this method into hundred, thousands, and tens and hundreds of thousands must strike you as completely bonkers. Yet I can assure you that there is much less memorization work involved in the Higher Register than there was in the Lower Register.
This is because we do not really have to create individual numages for all of these numbers. All we need to do is to memorize four new sets of ten to represent hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands, and use them in conjunction with those that we have already learned. The contents of these higher sets are derived from the analogies that permeate the whole system.
Let’s begin with the hundreds:
000 - child
100 - king
200 - outlaw
300 - priest
400 - peasant
500 - knight
600 - shepherd
700 - eunuch
800 - ape
900 - whore
As you can see, we have now ascended to the realm of characters.
Some of the analogical developments will seem obvious (500 knight, 600 shepherd), but others draw on secondary associations. One might be forgiven for thinking that 200 outlaw and 900 whore should be fisher and smith respectively, but such characters would be less versatile and harder to visualize. These are instead based on secondary associations: that of water with piracy, and that of smoke with sexual heat.
700 eunuch, which has to do with the myth of Uranus, is perhaps best imagined as an effeminate ladyboy. 800 ape can be anything from an organ-grinder’s monkey to a silverback gorilla.
The characters also be freely switched between sexes (where possible), so 100 king can be queen and 300 priest can be priestess, and so on.
The thousands are represented by great beasts:
0,000 - turtle
1,000 - unicorn
2,000 - hippopotamus
3,000 - sphinx
4,000 - elephant
5,000 - wolf
6,000 - panda
7,000 - eagle
8,000 - dragon
9,000 - tiger
They should be imagined as large and imposing, so that – for example – there is no risk of conflating 5,000 wolf with 58 dog. 8,000 dragon ought to be imagined as a serpentine Oriental dragon, without the wings and flames of the European type. 3,000 sphinx – which in my understanding is a composite creature with a human head, an eagle’s wings, and a lion’s body and legs (like this) – may bear little resemblance to 38 moth, but it evokes the tripartite structure of the soul according to Plato’s Republic.
The tens-of-thousands are represented by vehicles:
00,000 - cage
10,000 - sedan
20,000 - boat
30,000 - chariot
40,000 - plough
50,000 - ballista
60,000 - wagon
70,000 - aircraft
80,000 - sled
90,000 - carriage
10,000 sedan can be a palanquin drawn by animals, or a howdah mounted upon an animal’s back, or even a throne placed upon terra firma. 60,000 wagon is best imagined as a covered wagon (or ‘prairie wagon’), in order to emphasise its resemblance to 6 cloud. 70,000 aircraft can be imagined as a blimp, a plane or a simple glider. The reasoning behind 80,000 sled is that it slides across the ground like 8 snake, or (if conceived as a magic sleigh) through the air like 8,000 dragon. 90,000 carriage is to be visualized as an ornate coach, suitable for the use of a courtesan.
And finally, the hundreds-of-thousands are represented by gods:
000,000 - Pluto
100,000 - Jupiter
200,000 - Neptune
300,000 - Apollo
400,000 - Saturn
500,000 - Mars
600,000 - Mercurius
700,000 - Uranus
800,000 - Medusa
900,000 - Venus
In order to evoke memorable images, I have had to use the Roman nomenclature (as opposed to ‘king god’, ‘water god’ and so on), but this should be taken with a pinch of salt. Some of the associations conflict with traditional ones, but they are more defensible if you merge certain gods with others (e.g. 600,000 Mercurius with his Norse analogue Odin, or 900,000 Venus with Vesta). 800,000 Medusa (whose mortality evokes the association of 8 snake with bodily life) can be imagined as a horrible Gorgon with snakes on her head, or more subtly as a dark beauty with living strands of hair.
(If the proper placement of these new sets of numages is confusing, you can remember that hundreds and hundred-thousands are persons; that thousands are beasts; and that tens and ten-thousands are things.)
So why exactly we are memorizing all of this? As you may already have guessed, the use of the Higher Register is to construct highly formulaic memory scenes involving gods, vehicles, characters and props (by which I mean the numages of the Lower Register). Let’s demonstrate this on some randomly-generated numbers, starting with three digits and moving up to six.
3-digit number: 219
Memory scene: An outlaw (200) stealing corn (19).
4-digit number: 9,712
Memory scene: A tiger (9000) attacks a eunuch (700) and he throws his drinking gourd (12) at it.
5-digit number: 66,558
Memory scene: A caravan of wagons (60,000) is attacked by a panda (6000), but a knight (500) distracts the beast by setting his dog (58) on it.
6-digit number: 638,996
Memory scene: The god Mercurius (600,000) in his chariot (30,000), drawn by a dragon (8000), chases a whore (900) while throwing bombs (96) at her.
(This last illustrates a common pattern in which the god is envisaged riding the vehicle. It is also common to envisage the character mounted on the beast, or riding the vehicle in the absence of a god.)
At this point you might be thinking that these new sets of numages are a lot less useful than those that preceded them. We have already shown that it is possible to break up a 6-digit number and memorize it as three Lower Register numages, and this is a lot more speedy and efficient than using five Higher Register numages to the same purpose. Moreover, were we to try to memorize long chains of numbers using only the Higher Register, we would be liable to mix up certain details because the visual scenes generated by it are so stereotyped.
But to admit that the Lower Register is more useful in most situations – like the basic vocabulary of a language – is not to imply that the Higher Register is useless. The main use for it is to serve as a secondary memorization system to be used in conjunction with the primary one, so as to work around the problem of repeated numbers and excessively repetitive imagery.
Let’s say we are trying to encode the following number string: 15419046242424. We might begin by breaking it up into two-digit numbers, like so: 15-41-90-46-24-24-24. We might start laying out a memory tale – involving a toadstool (15), a door (41), fire (90), and a ruin (46), only to be confronted at the end with ice (24) in triplicate. Although we could certainly envisage three blocks of ice or something, we might instead break up the number as 15-41-90-46-242,424, and construct the memory tale as follows:
I throw a toadstool (15) at someone’s door (41), which bursts into flames (90) that burn the building down to a ruin (46). The god Neptune (200,000) rides over it on a plough (40,000) drawn by hippopotamuses (2,000), followed by peasants (400) who sow it with ice (24) to freeze it all solid.
If this still seems more laborious than envisaging three blocks of ice, consider the possibility of encountering multiples of numages like 77 wind or 97 heat, which are more difficult to pluralize:
10-digit number: 7797977797
Memory tale: It is windy (77) and extremely hot (97). The goddess Venus (900,000) descends down in an aircraft (70,000) drawn by eagles (7,000), laughs at me and calls me a eunuch (700). I burn up in a heat (97) of shame.
Awkward as this may be, it is still preferable to using the Lower Register in this case!
The Higher Register, then, is comparable to the occasional use of specialized words in normal speech to describe more difficult concepts. It can also be used to vary up the memorization options according to preference; for example:
6-digit number: 464260
Memory tale (Lower Register): In a ruin (46), I find a little well (42), and shelter there from the storm (60).
Memory phrase (Higher Register): Better a peasant (400) in the snow (64) than an outlaw (200) in the storm (60).
I find the second option a lot more memorable than the first.
To tell the truth, there is a longer version of the Higher Register that contains eight new sets of numages and goes up to a billion (thousand million). But I’ll keep that one to myself. It’s harder to use, and pretty much the only practical use for it is to generate a numerical passcode and hold it in memory.
One last thing. I must confess that I am an extreme perfectionist, and have already made countless amendments to the Jack System (some in the course of writing this post). I can’t promise that I won’t change anything in the future, yet I am well aware that this would be a real pain in the neck to anyone who is referring back to this page in order to learn the system. Consider, then, saving a hard drive copy and perhaps even making your own changes. This is essentially a conlang for number-images, and there is no reason why it should not have dialects.
My first thought was to fill this set with religious objects, but I later purged these out of the system for fear of creating blasphemous imagery. This was the accusation levelled at mnemotechnics by the Puritans and I’ve no intention of proving them right.
If you don’t mind obscene imagery, 80 and 81 can be nook and cock, that is to say vulva and penis. These are not entirely related to their ‘cleaner’ meanings.
I’m using this word in lowercase to denote any hot and sandy desert, which is apparently its original Arabic meaning. We are badly in need of a word for this in English other than generic desert, which refers to any deserted or sparsely populated wilderness (as in e.g. desert island) whether it is hot or cold or somewhere inbetween.
You could also place them in a memory palace using the method of loci.
We might instead envisage most of the 0-numages as the metals of alchemical symbolism: 01 as tin, 05 iron, 06 quicksilver and 09 copper; 07, perhaps, could be platinum. But not all of these are particularly evocative to most people or easy to use in practice.