Making a word on the spot is slow. So most people who use the Major System choose one picture word for each number from 00 to 99 and learn it until it is instant. Then 1492 is not four digits to code; it is two pictures.
Here is a list we wrote for this course. Every word was checked against its sounds. Choose your own if another word is easier to picture, but keep each one fixed.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0_ | sauce | suit | sun | sumo | sore | sail | sash | sock | sofa | soap |
| 1_ | toes | toad | tuna | team | tire | tail | dish | duck | dove | tub |
| 2_ | nose | net | onion | gnome | winner | nail | notch | neck | knife | knob |
| 3_ | mouse | mat | moon | mime | mower | match | mug | movie | map | |
| 4_ | rose | rat | rain | ram | rower | roll | ridge | rock | roof | rope |
| 5_ | lace | light | lion | lime | lawyer | lily | leash | lock | leaf | lip |
| 6_ | cheese | sheet | chain | jam | jar | jelly | judge | chalk | chef | ship |
| 7_ | goose | cat | can | comb | car | coal | cage | cake | cave | cub |
| 8_ | vase | foot | fan | foam | fire | file | fish | fog | fife | fob |
| 9_ | bus | bat | bone | beam | bear | bell | beach | book | puff | pipe |
Key idea
Read the row for the first digit and the column for the second: 47 is row 4_, column 7: rock.
Worked example: Worked example
Which words stand for 1492?
- 14: tire.
- 92: bone.
Answer: Tire, bone: a tire rolling over a bone.
Why it works
A fixed list turns every two digits into one picture, so a number half as many images. Twenty digits become ten pictures.