[net.nlang] the Pillsbury list

colonel@gloria.UUCP (George Sicherman) (08/17/84)

[Emiyel uge, Veriyer ende]

Here is Chernev and Reinfeld's account of an incident well known to
chess players (_The Fireside Book of Chess_, Simon and Schuster,
1949):

	Dr. Threlkeld-Edwards of Bethlehem and Prof Merriman of Lehigh
	University once tested [grandmaster H. N.] Pillsbury's memory
	for things other than chess, by giving him this list of words
	to memorize:
	  Antiphlogistine, periosteum, takadiastase, plasmon, ambrosia,
	Threlkeld, streptococcus, staphylococcus, micrococcus, plas-
	modium, Mississippi, Freiheit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati,
	athletics, no war, Etchenberg, American, Russian, philosophy,
	Piet Potgelter's Rost, Salamagundi, Oomisillecootsi, Bang-
	mamvate, Schlechter's Nek, Manzinyama, theosophy, catechism,
	Madjesoomalops.
	  Pillsbury looked at the list for a few minutes, repeated the
	words in the order given, and then backwards!

This incident has been retold many times, yet I have never seen an
explanation of the words and phrases in the list!  Some are medical,
some historical, and some philosophical.  How many can YOU identify?

I will post a summary.  This in an open question - I do not have all
the answers!
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...seismo!rochester!rocksanne!rocksvax!sunybcs!gloria!colonel