So here we go:
| Palace | Letter | Morse Code | Encoding via Simon’s System | Binary For Decoding | Major System for Decoding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| driveway | A | . _ | Abs | 01 | SeaT |
| sidewalk | B | _ . . . | Bread | 1000 | DiZZy SoSa |
| front steps | C | _ . _ . | Cobra | 1010 | DoZy DeSi |
| wreath | D | _ . . | Dole | 100 | oDySSeuS |
| blue couch | E | . | Ed | 0 | Saw |
| fireplace | F | . . _ . | Flash | 0010 | ZeuS ToeS |
| dining table | G | _ _ . | Gore | 110 | TooTSie |
| fridge | H | . . . . | Heidi | 0000 | SaSSy SuZy |
| stove | I | . . | Ice | 00 | SauCe |
| coffee maker | J | . _ _ _ | Jenny | 0111 | SaD TeDDy |
| sink | K | _ . _ | Knit | 101 | ToaST |
| stair railing | L | . _ . . | Lathe | 0100 | SooTy SeuSS |
| shower | M | _ _ | Mop | 11 | ToaD |
| toilet | N | _ . | Nye | 10 | DiCe |
| medicine cabinet | O | _ _ _ | Ozzy | 111 | DDT |
| closet | P | . _ _ . | Pasta | 0110 | ZiTTy TaZ |
| dresser | Q | _ _ . _ | Quran | 1101 | TieDye SaT |
| bed | R | . _ . | Ring | 010 | CD’S |
| lamp | S | . . . | Sale | 000 | SoySauCe |
| water heater | T | _ | Ty | 1 | Tee |
| washing machine | U | . . _ | Uber | 001 | CyST |
| freezer | V | . . . _ | Vicar | 0001 | SauCy SoDa |
| workbench | W | . _ _ | Wasp | 011 | CiTaDel |
| garden | X | _ . . _ | Xraay | 1001 | DaiSy SiT |
| shed | Y | _ . _ _ | Yukon | 1011 | TaZeD Di |
| lawn tractor | Z | _ _ . . | Zoned* | 1100 | DeaD Sea Scroll |
Ok, what does all this mean?
I’ll walk through the process of learning the letter A.
- Create a palace with 26 loci, one for each letter of the alphabet.
In our example the first loci is the parking spot in the driveway. We will store the imagery for the letter A here.
- Fuse the image from Simon’s system into that first loci.
For “A,” the codeword is “Abs.” By following the “first-half” / “last half” differentiation, we see that for the word “aBS,” the A represents the letter we’re trying to code, the “B” is in the first half of the alphabet, so it corresponds to a “dot” and the “S” is in the second half of the alphabet, so it corresponds to a “dash.”
Abs = A(dot)(dash)
We imagined just a mannequin’s limbless and headless torso blocking the parking spot. This torso has massive muscular abs like a bodybuilder, glistening with oil thats dripping onto the pavement.
Note: Simon’s original list has some different words than mine. I changed a few of the original words that were a bit too “abstract” for me so that they all could be fairly easily represented visually.
- add in the “decoding” imagery
Here’s where the next level happens. I realized that while Simon’s coding system works ingeniously for being able to ENcode letters into Morse Code, it didn’t seem to offer a way to easily DEcode it. If I received the message “dot-dash,” all that would tell me is that the code word is three letters, the second letter is in the first half of the alphabet, and the third letter is in the second half. I feel its extremely difficult to come up with “Abs” from that clue. Yes, I suppose with practice and repetition, you’d get used to associating that, but I wanted an instantly translatable option for the initial learning phase.
So, I realized that since Morse Code is just a binary system, then much like Simon is differentiating dots and dashes by representing them with first-half / last-half letters, I associate them with major system number sounds.
I turned each letter code into just a binary type sequence of 0’s and/or 1’s. 0 for dot (round like a dot.) 1 for dash (a straight line like a dash.) So, Morse for the letter “A” is dot-dash, which converted to “binary” is 01.
Once you convert to 0’s and 1’s, use the major system to build an image with those consonant sounds (S/Z for 0, T/D/TH for 1.)
So dot-dash = 01 = S-T = SeaT.
We’ve got our mental image of the mannequin’s torso ABS on the driveway, now picture that torso strapped into a child’s car SEAT.
- Encode or decode in either direction!
If you want to encode the letter A:
With a few reps, you’ll easily associate the letter A with “Abs.” Now you have the option of using that word and Simon’s encoding technique to translate the b-s into dot-dash, OR that mental image of Abs should ALSO easily trigger the element of the “SEAT” and if you’re somewhat fluent in major system phonetics, you can easily recognize SEAT as 01, and 01 is easy to translate to “dot-dash.”
If you want to decode “dot-dash”:
Dot-dash = S-T via the major system.
This should trigger the word/image SeaT.
The image of “seat” should trigger the image of the mannequin “abs.”
Abs starts with A.
Dot-Dash = A.
If you already have a 1 and 2-digit Major System PAO list (or a PAAO with adjectives as part of it) you can easily create unique imagery for all 26 binary series.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m using the term “binary” to just indicate that only two numbers are used. We’re NOT translating the “binary sequence” into an actual base10 number. So 010 (dot-dash-dot) would not translate to “2 / N,” it would be read literally as “010 / S-D-S.” This is because binary translation to base10 typically disregards the leading zeros. 10, 010, 0010, would all be read as “2” if we completed the translation. We need them to be distinct for our Morse purposes. Every image word you translate here is solely constructed out of 0 and 1 sounds, with leading zeros included.)
This process (like most mnemonic techniques) sounds insane and overly complicated at first, but if you try it I think you’ll find that it works really well and is surprisingly easy to learn. The thing that took the most time for us was just coming up with a new palace to store it in!
If you REALLY want to take the associations to the next level, you could create an imaginary palace where each loci starts with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. For example, the palace is a military base. Loci 1 is the Airfield, 2 is the Barracks, 3 is a Checkpoint station, 4 is a Dining hall… etc. Then you can very quickly jump around to different letters, and may actually be able to skip the “Simon technique images”, as the loci will give you the Letter, and the major binary will give you the code in either direction.
Happy learning!
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