# Idea if you have problems coming up with words/sounds for "X" and "Q" in your lists.



## toastman (Feb 6, 2011)

I've started working on some 2-letter memo lists. An "images" one, and a "one syllable words" one (a-la Pochmann) for audio memo. I intend to do both single and multi-bld, as well as other memory sports, so I think both lists will have their uses.

For a while I had a hard time coming up with words/sounds for "X" and "Q", and today an answer hit me. Might not work for everyone.

I learnt some Chinese when I was a kid. If you're primary language is English, you start out by "Romanatizing" the Chinese characters (I think when you learn Japanese, this is called "Romanji")

X sort of sounds like the English "Sh"
Q sort of sounds like the English "Ch"
Z sort of sounds like the Engligh "J" as in "Jump"
Also C is done as "an explosive fricative" like "TS" as in "Tsuji" and "Tsunami".

It's the first two that are more useful, so for a single syllable "audio" word list, some examples are
QQ = Cheech / Church
XX = Shoosh, Shush, Shish(Kebab)
XQ = Sheech (It's not a word, you remember the sound)
QX = Chorsh (It's not a word, you remember the sound)
BQ = Batch
QP = Chip
XR = Shar (or Shark or Shard)
PX = Push

Obviously this isn't going to work for everyone, but I'm liking the results so far. If you're going to use it, you need to make a rule that "S" words never start with "SH" and C words never start with "CH".

There is still the potential for confusion between c/s and c/k, but I think it's easy enough to remeber that "car" starts with "c" and not "k". I don't bother swapping "C" or "Z", although theoretically you could swap it with "Th" or something.

For visual memo, I was thinking of something similar as well.

Anyway, I'm going to complete my list and start training with flashcards. Will let you know how it goes in practice.


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## Reisen Bunny (Feb 6, 2011)

Just click for X and Q


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## Julian (Feb 6, 2011)

I did something similar. When I was still using two letters per piece (the two colours, the method in badmeph's vid), the letter Y always made life difficult. I go to French immersion school, and in French, yellow is "jaune". So, I could choose between Y or J.
Do whatever works best for you. What you desribed sounds like it'll work great for you, so go ahead and use it.


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## Yes We Can! (Feb 6, 2011)

I use Z instead of X.

For Q you could use Y.
(A cube only has 24 stickers to label)


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## Cubenovice (Feb 6, 2011)

For some Q words I have words starting with CU of KU...

Kubus (Dutch for Cube) QB
Kuwait QW
Kumquat could be QQ if you have a list with double letters


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## toastman (Feb 6, 2011)

Reisen Bunny said:


> Just click for X and Q


 
Oh man, you've reminded me of a Russell Peter's routine:






"The guy's name was spelt 'Exclaimation-mark-X-O-B-I-L-E'"


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## Julian (Feb 6, 2011)

Oh and, btw, I use oculus for OQ for some reason.


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## cmhardw (Feb 8, 2011)

@ the OP: I like way of handling some of the weirder cases. I'm currently pretty happy with my Q and X lists, but I imagine not everyone will like the choices I picked. If you already have some familiarity with the associations you mention (those who have learned some Chinese for instance) then your method would be far easier to learn. Very cool!


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## riffz (Feb 10, 2011)

For the letter Q in my sounds list I associate it with the sound "uck" in most cases but there are some exceptions due to interference with other letter pairs. Here's what I use:

QA	quake
QB	quib (made up word)
QC	quick
QD	quad
QE	queer
QF	quaff
QG	Quag (Quagmire)
QH	quench
QI	quite
QJ	quedge (made up word)
QK	quirk
QL	quill
QM	qualm
QN	queen
QO	quote
QP	quip
QS	quiz
QT	quit
QW	Quinn (Pat)
QX	quacks


AQ - auk
BQ - buck
CQ - cheque
DQ - duck
EQ - yuck (e-uck)
FQ - f***
GQ - gleek (GC is guck)
HQ - hack
IQ - lick
JQ - jerk
KQ - cluck
LQ - luck
MQ - muck
NQ - Nuk (baby soother)
OQ - lock
PQ - puck
SQ - suck
TQ - tuck
WQ - week
XQ - zuck (made up word)


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## johnstan (Feb 11, 2011)

I let the less common letter stand for a subject. For example, when X comes first in the letter pair I memorize something from Star Wars. XL=Lightsaber. I got the idea from Chris Hardwick. He uses X to stand for something in x men.


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