A Tribute to What's His Name

A couple of months ago, I met a young man who was then boarding for a short period with a friend of mine. A student of music, he had met an Israeli professor of music online, and after some exchanges, the two agreed to meet. So this man came to Israel for a few weeks, during which time he and the Israeli professor met a number of times and discussed their common field of interest.

On the few occasions that I had the opportunity to speak to him while he was here, I found him a highly intelligent and playful conversationalist and enjoyed some rather stimulating conversations with him.

The other day, I decided to send him an email in order to keep in touch. Problem: I had forgotten his name.

So I decided to try a memory device I came up with (or "up with which I came", for you grammar aficionados) 25 years ago, and have since used from time to time. At that time, my then-roommate had had a dinner party, and one of the guests had brought a homemade pie which I enjoyed immensely, so I wanted to get the recipe from him -- but had forgotten the guest's name.

I have no idea how on earth the idea entered my head, but here is how it works:

• Relax your mind and focus gently on the task.
• Very slowly, recite the letters of the alphabet.
• As you recite each letter, notice whether any catches your attention.
• When you get to a letter which does, focus on it, and see if a name beginning with that letter enters your mind.
• Hopefully, a name will enter your head which you recognize as the correct one.

Now even though this method had worked on that occasion, and on at least one or more others, it had been many years since I had used it, so I was not sure whether it would still work for me. So I began: A, B, C, ...

Sure enough, when I got to the letter S, my mind said: I think we're there. And almost immediately thereafter, a name popped into my head which I recognized as the name of my young musical friend: Sam.

Two notes about this method:

1. Be quite passive when you use it. Don't try to force the letter or the name. Let your subconscious mind do the work, and do not help it.
2. There seems to be a statute of limitations on the efficacy of this method, for I have just tried to recall again the name of the baker of that delicious pie from 25 years ago, fruitlessly, although the letter H does seem to be calling at me...

I'll be happy to hear whether this device works for you.