Q. I have a lot of trouble with memory aid techniques, especially the associational kind. For instance, in order to remember the name of a client I was recently introduced to, by the name of Henderson, I told myself the following short story: “der is German for the, which is so neutral that I had better not think about it at all, but turn to a gender sound like the syllable that follows: son, imagined as a big, strapping, hungry fellow who audaciously craves a chicken.” But I came out with--Wilcox. Of course, I wound up contacting a rival firm instead of a customer. This is embarrassing.

A. Please, no emotions--even in long questions. I believe that you are just trying too hard. Don’t be so sophisticated or polysyllabic in your associations; never use a word like “audaciously,” for instance. Use very simple words and concepts. For example, here’s how I remembered a man named Phillips: first “screwdriver,” then the logical sequence “hammer--nail--dead,” with the switch pair “head/hat,” turning to “parasol--sunburn--skin oi,” pivoting on the doublet “oil/petroleum” toward “energy--cartels--OPEX,” with a last diptych “OPEC/Gulf,” leading straight to “Houston, Texas--Bartlesville, Oklahoma”--the headquarters of: “Phillips”! Always take the line of least psychic resistance, and you’ll be all right--and normal. As in Norman, Oklahoma(!) again. See what I mean? God help you.