Professor Chomsky’s Memory

There is already an entry in this blog (and there will be more soon) that relates to an individual who has the powerful memory that I lack. In this case it belongs to Professor Chomsky. He can best be described as a ‘noted disputant’ (the polite way of saying ‘highly argumentative’) in many disputes, but I am sure that all of those who have argued with him over a large variety of subjects would agree that he has a good memory. It was recently described by his assistant, but the clues provided will likely be unhelpful for people like me since we will forget them. She says:

“I could see from his work that his memory was a force of nature, and one day I dared to ask him about it. He told me he has what he calls "buffers," or little drawers in his brain that he opens to retrieve conversations and correspondence from as long as 50 years ago. He told me he thought for a long time that everyone had this ability.”

Well, we don’t, so there you go. Now I have to admit that it took me forever to write the few sentences above which contain too many parentheses. The reason it took me a while is because: a) I had to go back and check the article, because of my poor memory and, b) while doing so I was reminded (because naturally I had forgotten) of the interesting fact that the interesting assistant has the ability to “talk backward fluently.”

Unfortunately I went looking for more about such an intriguing subject and found it. Let me just say that you too can find videos with fluent backward speakers and a good wikiHOW article about how to write backward. There is even an app (isn’t there always) for ‘Reverse Talk’. By the way, whenever people say “There is an app for that”, I  try to respond with “There is also a book for that”, but usually cannot remember the example. I will provide one here should this subject ever come up in a conversation in which you are involved: The Cattle Guard: Its History and Lore.

I also almost spent additional time waiting for a friend to awaken so I could ask him about it. This former professor of classics and squash player emeritus at the university down the road a bit, had skills at reading and writing backward that rivalled those he possessed as a player of that fine sport. As I recall, Professor ‘Reciffo’ (as he will be known here) honed these skills while doing a stint as a lonely sentinel somewhere along the Alberta border during the summer for Canadian customs. Apparently he was often bored and opposite a mirror which displayed the sign “Customs OFFICER”. Unfortunately we will never know if this is how it was because I thought I should stop waiting and start writing.

For the good piece about Chomsky and more about the author see “What It’s Like to be Chomsky’s Assistant,” by Beverly S. Stohl, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 18, 2015.