📕 Part 1: Memory

This episode's vocabulary

Transparent (adj.) - easy to perceive or detect/(of a material or article) allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen.

Selective memory (noun) - an ability to remember some facts while apparently forgetting others, esp when they are inconvenient

To make up (phrasal verb) - to reduce or replace something, usually an amount of time or work, that has been lost.

Life or death (adj.) - very important and serious.

Priority (noun) - something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things.

To outsource (verb) - If a company outsources work or things, it pays workers from outside the company to do the work or supply the things.

Mnemonic device (noun) - a mnemonic device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory.

Overwhelmed (adj./verb) - to be too much to deal with/to cause someone to feel sudden strong emotion.

Aptitude (noun) - a natural ability or skill.

To supplement (verb) - to add something to something to make it larger or better.

Questions and Answers

M: Do you have a good memory?

R: I have a better one than I did since I started organizing everything in my head. So I organize my head and my life, and my days more effectively now. I have a routine and planner, and I take notes a lot, and that helps greatly.

M: Do you have a good memory for faces?

R: I have a memory for faces, but I don't have a memory for names or numbers. I wish I could remember names better, but for me, it's always a challenge. I suppose it's because I meet new people so often that it's hard to recall some names. Especially if it's a lot of people at once like new classes, for example. And the other thing I don't have a memory for is numbers. I don't even know my own phone number. I can't even remember that and there's no way except repeating it, like I don't know what's it called. Road to learning, maybe that would help me remember it.

M: Do you do anything to improve your memory?

R: Well, like I said, I take notes when people tell me things that helps a lot in terms of sort of abstract concepts locations, and things like that. Sorry, more concrete things like locations. And, then I make sure the notes are displayed for I can see them. So I'll write something on a Post-it note and then I can stick that on the appropriate page in my diary and then I can see it there, because it's a bright color that highlights what I need to do. That usually means that the notes section of my planner is like overflowing, but at least I know what I need to remember.

M: Did you have a good memory when you were a child?

R: Oh, not in the slightest. I had a memory like a sieve. And I'd have forgotten my head, if it weren't attached to me, probably.

Has your memory changed over the years?

R: Oh, absolutely. Mostly due to having to deal with the consequences of having a bad memory. So I used to get in trouble for forgetting things, for example. So after that I would reflect on the situation and think how can I prevent that from happening in the future? And what I would do usually is things like make a note in my diary or set an alarm, and you can set reminders on your phones. I haven't done that in a while, but that's one of the things that I do or did to change.

M: Is it important to have a good memory?

R: I think it used to be, since you couldn't record everything with as much ease as these days. But now we have computers and phones and other things to help us, well, to help us out, so that you don't need a good memory so much. You don't need it as much as you need good organizational skills, perhaps. So if someone tells you something, then you can write it in your planner or you could put it in your phone. I think actually some phones have this like algorithm or it's an automatic setting where if someone sends you a date, it underlines it and sets up a kind of hyperlink. So you press the hyperlink and it opens up a page in your planner on your phone, and then you can input all the details there. So it happens almost automatically by default on your phone.

M: Rory, thank you so much for your memorable answers.

R: No problem. Hopefully they'll be memorable... There aren't many puns for this subject.

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Discussion

M: Rory, thank you so much for your memorable answers.

R: No problem. Hopefully they'll be memorable... There aren't many puns for this subject.

M: Ok, so let's talk about some memory, words and grammar. So first of all, we have a good memory or a bad memory. Memory can also be excellent, short, long term, short term, visual, photographic. Rory, do you have a photographic memory?

R: Well, I have a photographic memory. Like I say, I can remember what things look like. I just can't remember any of the other details that go with it. And we talked about long term and short term memory before, I think. Haven't we?

M: Yeah. So you are more like you have a visual memory, right. Rather than abstract.

R: Pretty much. Yeah, I think most men are like that. They can remember the visual markers, which is another good expression, actually. Visual markers are just what things look like in their memory, and that means that they can find their way around easily. But then if you ask where or like to give the directions in a sustained manner, then they can't do it.

M: Yeah, if you ask for details, then it's, oh...

R: Give me a map and I'll show you. I can't remember street names, for example, but I could tell you, I could find a place if I needed to.

M: Hmm. Ok, so we have memory of something. Right? But we have memory, a memory for faces. I have a good memory for faces. Rory has a good memory for faces, but he doesn't have a good memory for names or numbers.

R: Yes.

M: But, Rory, you are into mathematics. So you don't remember...

R: I tried to get into mathematics. I can remember like the Vegas details of how to do things, but it's really difficult for me.

M: Oh, wow. Ok.

R: But we're going to talk about mathematics in a later episode or an earlier one. I can't remember what order we're recording them in, but maths is coming.

M: Spoiler! Spoiler! Ok, and then you said this I wish structure. Yay! On this podcast. I wish I could remember faces better.

R: Yeah.

M: There you go, dear listener. So if the examiner asks you a question. Do you have a good memory for faces? And you go, I wish I could remember names and faces better. Yes, I wish I could, but you don't. Because here with I wish we use the past simple. I wish I could remember or I wish I remembered, or I wish I had a better memory for faces. But the preposition is for faces. So, Rory, you've used a good synonym which means remember. Recall.

R: Yes. Paraphrasing effectively.

M: Yes, so recall some names, and recall numbers. So it's hard for me to recall names of people in my life. So really? You don't remember your phone number? Seriously?

R: I really can't remember my phone number. I'm really bad at it. I can remember that it ends in zero five, but apart from that it's lost on me. Which is another great expression. It's lost on me.

M: Which means what? You lose stuff in yourself, in your life.

R: Just if something is lost on you, then it's, it doesn't have any relevance or it's just something that you can't really remember in any great detail. Oh, actually, no. If something is lost on you, then it's not important. But if something is lost to you then you can't remember it.

M: Oh, ok. OK. So you said that you take notes. I take notes. You can say I make notes, like to remember things. And Rory has a routine and he has a planner. A planner on your phone?

R: I have a planner on my phone which tells me things. I don't really know what they are, but it tells me things. Um, but I have my diary planner, which is much more effective for me. I think writing things is much more useful for remembering things, physically writing them as opposed to typing them.

M: Yeah, I agree. And now we know that Rory's notes are displayed everywhere. Where he can see them and he writes things on post-it notes. And then you stick the notes everywhere. Like on the ceiling, on the floor, on your walls, in the shower.

R: Yes. And it's important like post-it notes are in particular, well, pieces of vocabulary for something that helps you remember things. That's the purpose of them.

M: Yes, so post-it notes like sticky notes. You know, they can be of different colors. Yellow, pinky, green. Yeah. So good for learning vocabulary, by the way. And your planner is overflowing? Rory does it mean that you have a lot of things to do.

R: Basically, yeah. If something is overflowing, metaphorically speaking, then there's a lot of things there.

M: Like you're cooking something and then like it's overflowing. Stuff is coming out.

R: Yeah, well, usually water if you're boiling something, for example.

M: Right. So you can say like, oh, my planner is overflowing, but I can't remember a couple of things. Your memory was like a sieve, Rory. So back to cooking.

R: Yeah, a sieve is, how best to explain. A sieve is like a net and it's got a really fine layer of metal with holes in it. And you use this to drain water from things. It's different from a colander. Colander is all metal and it's inflexible, and a sieve is flexible.

M: Colander could be plastic.

R: Could it? I don't cook.

M: Yeah, but a sieve does have metal. Yeah. So, you guys, you should Google it now, so go to Google, click images and write collander. How do you spell it, Rory? Yes, you should Google images, colander, take a look, and then you should Google sieve. So we can say that my memory is like a sieve. Or my memory used to be like a siave.

R: Sieve. Is that how you pronounce it? Either way, people know what you're talking about.

M: And you can say, for example, that my memory is like a sieve. Or my memory was like a sieve when I was a child. And then Rory used the conditional. I'd have forgotten my head if it weren't attached to me.

R: This is actually like a common phrase in English. So it's helpful to like you don't have to use it flexibly. You can just come out with this expression, like I would forget my head if it weren't attached to me, or you would forget your head if it wasn't attached to you.

M: Yeah. So attach. When you attach something to something, like you stick something to something or yeah. So your head is kind of attached to you, right?

R: Hopefully.

M: You can say if it weren't attached. Like were not or if it wasn't attached, like was not. Both are fine. We have consequences of having a bad memory. Consequences.

R: Oh, so many consequences. So consequences are usually just the outcomes of something. Usually it's negative. Usually we talk about negative consequences.

M: Of your actions. Yep. So and to avoid having these consequences, what do we do to help our memory? We set an alarm clock. Right? Or we set a reminder.

R: Yeah, or we set, set an alarm clock. Set a reminder.

M: A reminder on your phone, right? So kind of, oh, remember.

R: Yeah.

M: There is this nice thing as Google tasks. Have you heard of this?

R: No more technology, please.

M: Ok, ok. Yeah. And the question was like, is it important to have a good memory? And Rory said, like, I think it used to be blah blah blah, since you couldn't recall. Since he is means because. It's a good synonym. Used to be. Well it was before, but it's no longer true. So this is a nice chunk. And, Rory, tell us about this algorithms in your phone.

R: Well, isn't an algorithm just, it's like a, it's like a system on your phone and it follows a pattern of logic that's programmed into it. So it's designed to respond when you put in information to give you an answer that's more personalized to you or that's more relevant. So, for example, if your phone sees that there's a date being mentioned in your messages, then it might highlight it and provide you with some options to remember things because it thinks that this is something important connected to that date.

M: Wow. Yeah, but algorithm is a nice word.

R: It is.

M: So I know that there are some algorithms in your phone.

R: I don't know. I don't know, this is the best description of algorithms. There's probably some computer scientists having a nervous breakdown listening to this podcast. Like that's not what it is, but it's something to do with that. It's to do with automated processes on your phone. And that is another piece of band nine vocabulary. Automated processes. So if you're uncomfortable with algorithm, then just say automated processes and it's the same thing.

M: When you answer this question about improving your memory, you can also talk about food, which Rory didn't mention. So, Rory, if you were to boost your memory, what food would you go for? Apples, darker green, leafy vegetables, peanuts, dark chocolate, walnuts, blueberries or fatty fish? Which one?

R: Probably the fish.

M: The fish? Fatty fish.

R: Yeah, fish contain omega three oils, which are supposed to be good for your memory.

M: Fat, fatty, fatty fish. Fatty means like it has this fat, you know, but in a good way.

R: Well, all fat is good for you. This is the. Oh, no, sorry, I have believes about diet that I'm not going to impose on the podcast. But people shouldn't have a nervous breakdown that they eat fat. It's good for you. You need this to live and not, you know, and be healthy.

M: Yeah, it helps us with the depression and unhappiness if we eat all this fatty foods, comfort foods. Yeah. But anyway, food to improve your memory, to boost your memory. So you would go for the fish, right? Bananas, by the way, Rory. Did you know that bananas, according to BBC good food, have memory enhancing properties.

R: Yes. Because they traumatize you into remembering them when you eat them. And I'm not doing it. I don't care.

M: Dear listeners, Rory hates bananas, and Rory also hates peanuts. Rory, and peanuts also have memory enhancing properties.

R: I don't. Did I say I hate peanuts?

M: Or raisins was it? Oh, God.

R: I hate raisins. Peanuts are fine.

M: Oh, you're fine with peanuts. Oh, OK.

R: Yeah, I have peanut protein bars. So that's OK.

M: Yeah, Rory, and also, like, if you want to improve your prospective memory. It means your ability to remember to do things in the morning. You should eat rosemary.

R: I don't know what that is. And I already remember what I have to do in the morning, because it's the same thing every day.

M: Dear listener, I don't remember what I have to do in the morning, so I should eat rosemary. Yum, yum, yum. It's a herb - rosemary. OK, and about verbs. So we remember things. We recall things. We also can say memorize. OK? Memorize or we learn things by heart.

R: Yes. Oh, I talked about rote learning, which is when you memorize things by heart as well.

M: Oh yeah. But when you memorize things like a robot.

R: Yeah.

M: Then you forget everything you've memorized.

R: Well, not necessarily. It can be quite effective for some things like phone numbers, but it's not very effective for me because I have a memory like a sieve.

M: You can commit something to memory. So for example, we've discussed all this beautiful, gorgeous vocabulary, so you can commit this vocabulary to memory.

R: However, it's important that we commit to the end of this particular recording.

M: I'm going to go get myself some rosemary to eat. Don't forget to check our Patreon where we post exclusive parts one, two and three episodes. And if you'd like to say thank you without subscribing to our Patreon, you can also do that on Patreon. Click on the link in the description! Bye!

R: Bye!

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