Modern Smart Phones and an Ancient Roman Profession
It seems that in social settings it’s almost impossible to go 10 minutes without someone nonchalantly showing off their mobile super gadget. This of course prompts a dull conversation about the latest and greatest smartphone technology. You can liven up this predictable discussion with a fascinating historical antidote…
Roman aristocrats had an effective solution for a problem most of us have faced at one point or another…
Getting drunk at a party and forgetting details about the people we have met.
In modern times, when we meet someone at an event we bust out our iPhone or Android and enter them as a contact with some notes written in exceptionally poor grammar for our sober selves to read later.
Roman aristocrats employed a nomenclator, a personal social assistant. This person who remained sober had the job of remembering and getting contact details for everyone the inebriated aristocrat met. The next morning as the Roman emerged from their hangover the nomenclator would tell who they had met and what was discussed.
Have you ever met someone or made a friend while in the state of intoxication who later turned out to be completely undeserving of your friendship? I have! Part of a nomenclators job was to tell their master who was worthwhile to continue talking with.
You’re probably not going to hire a nomenclator anytime soon but fortunately, there’s a couple of obvious and not so obvious solution to this problem…
- Drink less in social settings, you’ll remember more.
- Go out with a sober wingman (or wingwoman) — you can joke that they are your nomenclator!
- Record your conversations with your smartphone (if the music isn’t too loud) with an audio recording app, when you get into a good conversation, stealthily activate your recording app, turn the screen off, and just leave your phone on the table. Then listen back to the conversation, don’t share the recordings though.
- Instead of boozing, take Phenibut a nonprescription Gabaergic drug that has a social lubricant effect similar to alcohol. It will take the edge off and make you more social without retarding your memory (or giving you a nasty hangover).
