Wednesday, my daughter-in-law said, impressed, when I got a flashcard right, "You're understanding."
😂No, actually. She understands. What I do on is memorize the syntax of the question, where the blank is and certain key terms that provide context. The blank for "decidua basalis" is always at the end of the flashcard. I recognize some preceding key words and instantly say decidua basalis. I don't understand. I can't tell you what decidua basalis is. I can't tell you what words precede decidua basalis on the flashcard, but like Justice Potter Stewart on obscene material, "I know it when I see it." Don't understand Chinese either. But know 宋彬彬 when I see it.
A retired doctor friend of Ana's who I just met said I had an eidetic memory. Told me to look it up. I did: photographic memory. No I don't have that either. It's just repeated viewing of the flashcard questions. What I am is the illiterate Krook in Bleak House who would copy from memory on a chalkboard the letters he had seen over and over in Jarndyce v Jarndyce without ever knowing the whole name, much less what the law suit was about.
I amaze D-2. "Look at you" is her stock phrase when I get a flashcard right. Wednesday she just mutely stared at me. She thinks I understand. I don't.😂
