# HackHaste mnemonics (main)

*Expedited Typing Across* **OS***es* *Integrated Natively Salvaging Home Rows*

![HackHaste](../source/visuals/hackhaste-hh-logo.png)

Version **0.2**. MIT License. Dr. Marcus Roe, [drm.cc](https://drm.cc/).

This is the memory-palace of the **right-handed** map: vowels `U I A E O` on the left home row, consonants `H R S T N P` on the right. The left-handed geometric swap has its own pamphlet, [MNEMONICS-LEFT.md](MNEMONICS-LEFT.md). The porch that explains *why* these hands exist is [README.md](../README.md). The tutors that will drill the phrases live in [LEARNING.md](LEARNING.md).

A mnemonic here is a sentence that already contains the keys, in the order the finger meets them, so that when the sentence is true in the mouth it is true on the board. You do not first learn a letter and then a story. You learn a **role**, and the letters are what that role does.

> Let no act be done without a purpose.
>
> - Marcus Aurelius, *Meditations* 12.20

Home, left pinky to right pinky:

```
`~   1!   2@  3#  4$ 5% 6^ [{   ]}    v    x z q Backspace
Tab   7&   8*  9(   0) -_ k l    c    g    y w ; \
L-Ctrl U    I   A    E o   h R    S    T    N p Enter
      pnky ring midl indx   indx midl ring pnky
Shift   '    ,    .    / =+ j m    d    b    f  Shift
Caps  Meta  Alt SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE  Alt  R-Ctrl  (etc)
```

Physical Caps is **Control**. Physical Left Ctrl is **Caps**. On Macintosh and NeXT, that pinky modifier is **Command** (Control stays in the corner). Shortcuts follow the letter. AltGr follows the letter.

---



## How to practise

This is a vocal memorisation drill, not a ritual. Say the phrase *aloud* once, looking. Repeat it, not looking. Then type only the letters the phrase names, still saying it. Then type English that uses those letters, and stop saying it. The phrase is scaffolding. The syllables constructed are the buildings and cities.

Each finger has **one phrase**. The phrase names every letter and digit that finger owns, in a sentence you can actually remember. The work is repetition. 

---



## Left pinky - Control, U, 7, quote, 1, grave

**Phrase:** `SEVEN-Up to quote the ONE!`

The weakest finger is given work that is real and not tyrannical. Home **U** is a vowel, but it is not E. Up is **7** (and with Shift, **&**). Down is the **apostrophe** / **quote**, which English uses for possession and contraction: `'s`, `n't`, `"string"`. The number row is **1** and **!**. 

Physical/QWERTY Caps, under this same pinky, is **Control**. We need no key that shouts so close. We need a key that *commands*.


| When you want | You strike |
| ------------- | ---------- |
| u, U          | home       |
| 7, &          | up         |
| ', "          | down       |
| 1, !          | number row |
| `, ~          | corner     |
| Control       | old Caps   |


**Lesson words** (this finger plus space): `u`, `uh`, `up` will have to wait for P. For now: `uuu`, then with later fingers `us`, `out`, `but`. The point of the first day is not vocabulary. It is that **U lives at home under the left pinky**, and **7** is the same finger standing up, as a man stands up from a chair without leaving his place.

Say it: *SEVEN-Up to quote the ONE!* The mouth already contains `7`, `U`, `'`, `1`. Grave and Tilde live in the attic of the same house: you know where the attic is because you know the house.

---



## Left ring - I, 8, comma, 2, @

**Phrase:** `I EIGHT @ TWO COMMAS.`

Imagine a fine restaurant. A close vowel, a digit that looks like the vowel if you squint, the commercial *at*, the number two, and the comma that keeps a list from becoming a pile.

Home **I**. Up **8** / . Down **comma** / **less-than**. Number row **2** / **@**.

The ring finger now does what a ring finger does in speech: it keeps time and identifies you. A close vowel and a stop. English lists (`red, white, and blue`) and English vocatives (`yes, sir`) live here. So does `@`, which is not a letter and not quite a digit, and therefore belongs with the vowel hand’s mechanical suit, not with the consonant clusters.


| When you want | You strike |
| ------------- | ---------- |
| i, I          | home       |
| 8, *          | up         |
| , <           | down       |
| 2, @          | number row |


**Lesson words:** `i`, `ii`, later `is`, `it`, `in`, `if`. Type `8`, `@`, `2`, `,` as themselves. Type `I ate at 2, 8.` once you have E, A, T. Until then, type the phrase’s skeleton: `i 8 @ 2 , ,`

The two commas are not a joke at the language’s expense. A ring finger that owns **I** and **comma** owns the *identification* of a clause and the *pause* of a clause. That is one job.

---



## Left middle - A, 9, period, 3, hash

**Phrase:** `A THIRD period of the NINTH degree.`

A is the open vowel; the period is the open air after a sentence. Putting the full stop on the vowel hand is logical. **Most English words end in a consonant**: T, N, S, D, R especially, all of them right-hand letters here. If the period lived among those consonants, every sentence would end with two right-hand strokes and a little stumble. The vowel hand that gave the syllable breath also ends the sentence.

Home **A**. Up **9** / **(**. Down **period** / **greater-than**. Number row **3** / **#**.

Nine and three are the same family: a triangle, a trinity, a period of a degree. Hash is the programmer’s third-person: `#include`, `# comment`,  `#`. Parenthesis-open lives on 9, so the middle finger that opens a vowel also opens a group.


| When you want | You strike |
| ------------- | ---------- |
| a, A          | home       |
| 9, (          | up         |
| . >           | down       |
| 3, #          | number row |


**Lesson words:** `a`, later `as`, `at`, `an`, `aha`. Type `3.9` and `9.3`. Type `A.` as a sentence of one letter, because that is what a period is *for*.

Together with the ring finger you already own `i, a.` - identification, article, stop.

---



## Left index - E O, 0 -, / =, 4 5, brackets

**Phrase:** `So divide the Egg to subtract the gO0se and equate it with dirt.`

The strong left finger. Home **E** and **O** (E is the heaviest letter in the language; O is not far behind). Up **0** / **)** and **-** / **_**. Down **/** / **?** and **=** / **+**. Number row **4** / **$** and **5** / **%**.

For Pythagoras four was composed of ten elements, as per his tetractys. The two heaviest vowels and the girding of code, on the strongest left finger.

Here, between the hands now, is the whole fraud of the old number row exposed. Since the left hand owns the vowels, it is **free, in the same posture, to own the numbers, symbols, parentheses, and the punctuation**. The right hand need not move to type `2026`, nor to close a sentence. A programmer does not need ten digits on a shelf above everything like a poorly thought-out firmament. He needs his work to be within **the digits**. `7 8 9 0` stand on the old QWERTY Q W E R. Combined with `1-6` directly above, the left hand types any number from home. Parentheses live on **9** and **0**. Brackets `{[` `]}` sit on the number row just after 6, still on the way to the rare letters: a stretch you pay for a *block*, not for a *word*.


| When you want | You strike          |
| ------------- | ------------------- |
| e, E          | home (inward)       |
| o, O          | home (outward)      |
| 0, )          | up, inward          |
| -, _          | up, outward         |
| /, ?          | down, inward        |
| =, +          | down, outward       |
| 4, $          | number row, inward  |
| 5, %          | number row, outward |
| 6, ^          | number row, outer   |
| [, {          | number row, after 6 |
| ], }          | number row, after [ |


**Lesson words:** `e`, `o`, `ee`, `oo`, later `the`, `to`, `of`, `one`, `zero`. Type `4/5=0.8` once 8 is willing. Type `e-o` as a subtraction of vowels, which is a joke and also the phrase.

*So divide the Egg to subtract the gO0se and equate it with dirt.* The mouth already contains `/`, `E`, `-`, `O`, `0`, `=`. Dirt can wait for D; the index does not need D to know what it is *for*.

Angle brackets `<` `>` are comma and period shifted: they belong to ring and middle, the same fingers that pause and stop. Parentheses belong to **90**. Square brackets belong to the number-row stretch after 6. That is the whole punctuation doctrine of the left hand: **pause, stop, group, index, assign**.

---



## Right index - H R, K L, J M

**Phrase:** `Realise oLd "HoMe" was Just a Kite.`

H remains on its QWERTY key: even a revolution should not move a Hill that is already in the right place. Mountain, too, stays as righteously homed. H and R are the rough and the wash. English *th*, *her*, *the*, *there*, *which*; the index finger of the right hand is in those words like a modern hammer that holds the next nail for you before you set it.

Home **H** and **R**. Up **K** and **L**. Down **J** and **M**.


| When you want | You strike    |
| ------------- | ------------- |
| h, H          | home, inward  |
| r, R          | home, outward |
| k, K          | up, inward    |
| l, L          | up, outward   |
| j, J          | down, inward  |
| m, M          | down, outward |


**Lesson words:** `her`, `the` (with E), `there`, `here`, `hr` as a breath and a liquid, `old`, `home`, `just`, `kite`, `realise`. The phrase is already a sentence in English. Type it. That is the lesson.

H stays where English put it; R is the liquid in Latinate verbs and Germanic gravity. J is rare enough to live downstairs. K and L are the commoner upstairs neighbours, not common enough to evict H and R.

---



## Right middle - S, C, D

**Phrase:** `Stay Calm, Dude.`

C sits directly above S: a same-finger pair. S is a consonant that bumps against nearly everything, and so it was placed next to the fewest others on the home row. SC happens; CS almost never. D one row down is still a neighbour of S at the turn of a plural. The hiss, the affricate, and the past tense.

Home **S**. Up **C**. Down **D**.


| When you want | You strike |
| ------------- | ---------- |
| s, S          | home       |
| c, C          | up         |
| d, D          | down       |


**Lesson words:** `s`, `ss`, later `as`, `is`, `us`, `so`, `see`, `sad`, `cad`, `scad`, `dude`, `stay`, `calm`. Type `sc`, never practising `cs` as if it were a citizen. It is a tourist.

Ctrl+C lives on physical I, because shortcuts follow the letter C. The phrase does not mention I. The letter does.

---



## Right ring - T, G, B

**Phrase:** `VeGeTaBle.`

T is given a finger of its own on home. QWERTY put T above the left index, where it quarrelled with R, F, G, B, and V. Here T is a specialist. G and B are the voiced stops of *go* and *be*; they are not rare enough for the number row and not common enough to evict T. T is the commonest consonant; it deserves a dedicated finger that does not also carry a vowel.

Home **T**. Up **G**. Down **B**. (V is *not* this finger. V is the attic stretch of the right pinky’s number-row, named in the pinky phrase. The vegetable is a *memory*, not a finger-map of V.)


| When you want | You strike |
| ------------- | ---------- |
| t, T          | home       |
| g, G          | up         |
| b, B          | down       |


**Lesson words:** `t`, `tt`, later `the`, `to`, `it`, `at`, `get`, `got`, `big`, `bag`, `bet`, `vegetable`. Type `gt` as a start, `tb` as a stumble you will not need often.

---



## Right pinky - N P, Y W ;, F, V X Z Q, backslash

**Phrase:** `No Problem, You're Welcome, Friend. Xeno Zenith Questions.`

N is the other common nasal; it stays home. P is the modest partner of it. F is down, which is fair: commoner than K, rarer than T. **Y** and **W** and **semicolon** live upstairs on the old QWERTY P `[` `]` neighbourhood. **V, X, Z, Q** are sent to the far right of the number row. A stretch that happens once a page or once a file is a bit of fun rather than a hassle. A stretch that happens once a word or once a line of code is a vice.

Some might call this an heroic deed. It was `No Problem, You're Welcome, Friend.`


| When you want | You strike          |
| ------------- | ------------------- |
| n, N          | home, inward        |
| p, P          | home, outward       |
| y, Y          | up, old O           |
| w, W          | up, old P           |
| ; :           | up, old ]           |
| ,             |                     |
| f, F          | down                |
| v, V          | number row, after ] |
| x, X          | number row, after V |
| z, Z          | number row, after X |
| q, Q          | number row, after Z |


**Lesson words:** `n`, `p`, `np`, later `no`, `on`, `in`, `an`, `pen`, `pan`, `pun`, `you`, `we`, `few`, `fun`, `quiz`, `vex`. Type `;` as the end of a C statement once you are in the mechanical suit. Type `vxzq` once, slowly, as a joke you are in on.

Vim’s `hjkl` are not on this pinky: they sit on the right-hand home and index (`H` home inward, `J` down index, `K` up index, `L` up index outer). Emacs’s `C-b` `C-f` `C-n` `C-p` follow the *letters*, so they have moved with B, F, N, P. Both editors remain oriented. That is not an accident of the pinky. It is a consequence of following the letter.

---



## The choir, then the engine

Before you own every attic key, you own the pulse.

**Day of the choir.** Left home only: `u i a e o`. Type `aeiou` backward. Type `'I. a,'` then type `O, /0- aeiou?` . Play with the vowels. Add consonants like telephone poles flying past on the road.

**Day of the engine.** Right home: `h r s t n p`. Type `th`, `st`, `nt`, `ns`, `rt`, `rs`, `tr`, `pr`, `sp`. These drills were not invented by some maniac calling himself a tutor. They are just English as is.

**Day of the syllable.** Both homes. Type `the`, `to`, `a`, `in`, `is`, `it`, `and`, `on`, `as`, `at`, `or`, `an`, `he`, `her`, `she`, `not`, `one`, `our`, `out`, `so`, `no`, `yes` (Y will come). Three quarters of the letters will not have left home.

**Day of the stops.** Add comma, period, apostrophe, slash. Type `it is not, is it?` Type `I can't.` Type `the son's.` The vowel hand ends the sentence and owns the possession. That is poetry of form. `i,i,i,i,i.a.a.a.a.a.u'u'u'u'u'u'u'` repeat x10. That is poetry of rote and physical memory.

**Day of the digits.** `7 8 9 0` on the letter row, `1 2 3 4 5 6` on the number row. Type `2026`, `8080`, `443`, `127.0.0.1` once period is willing. The right hand rests, so let it. Rest is important to speed.

**Day of the suit.** `-` `_` `=` `+` `/` `()` `[]`. Type `f(x)=0`, when X and F have become your friends. Type `a[i]=0`. Type `--help`. The left index attaches the tools as primary actuator.

**Day of the clusters’ upstairs.** C D, G B, K L J M. `Stay Calm, Dude.` `VeGeTaBle.` `Realise oLd "HoMe" was Just a Kite.` Type those three sentences.

**Day of the rare.** `No Problem, You're Welcome, Friend. Xeno Zenith Questions.` Type it once. Then go back to *the*. The attic is for *quiz*, not for *the*.

---



## A table of every printing key


| Physical QWERTY | HackHaste | Finger   | Phrase it belongs to                |
| --------------- | --------- | -------- | ----------------------------------- |
|                 | ~         | L pinky  | SEVEN-Up… (attic of the same house) |
| 1               | 1 !       | L pinky  | SEVEN-Up to quote the ONE!          |
| 2               | 2 @       | L ring   | I EIGHT @ TWO COMMAS.               |
| 3               | 3 #       | L middle | A THIRD period of the NINTH degree. |
| 4               | 4 $       | L index  | So divide the Egg…                  |
| 5               | 5 %       | L index  | So divide the Egg…                  |
| 6               | 6 ^       | L index  | So divide the Egg… (outer)          |
| 7               | [ {       | L index  | brackets after 6                    |
| 8               | ] }       | L index  | brackets after 6                    |
| 9               | v V       | R pinky  | Xeno Zenith Questions.              |
| 0               | x X       | R pinky  | Xeno Zenith Questions.              |
| -               | z Z       | R pinky  | Xeno Zenith Questions.              |
| =               | q Q       | R pinky  | Xeno Zenith Questions.              |
| Q               | 7 &       | L pinky  | SEVEN-Up to quote the ONE!          |
| W               | 8 *       | L ring   | I EIGHT @ TWO COMMAS.               |
| E               | 9 (       | L middle | A THIRD period of the NINTH degree. |
| R               | 0 )       | L index  | So divide the Egg… (gO0se)          |
| T               | - _       | L index  | subtract                            |
| Y               | k K       | R index  | Realise oLd "HoMe" was Just a Kite. |
| U               | l L       | R index  | Realise oLd "HoMe" was Just a Kite. |
| I               | c C       | R middle | Stay Calm, Dude.                    |
| O               | g G       | R ring   | VeGeTaBle.                          |
| P               | y Y       | R pinky  | You're Welcome                      |
| [               | w W       | R pinky  | You're Welcome                      |
| ]               | ; :       | R pinky  | (the C-suite stop)                  |
|                 |           |          | R pinky                             |
| A               | u U       | L pinky  | SEVEN-Up…                           |
| S               | i I       | L ring   | I EIGHT @ TWO COMMAS.               |
| D               | a A       | L middle | A THIRD period of the NINTH degree. |
| F               | e E       | L index  | Egg                                 |
| G               | o O       | L index  | gO0se                               |
| H               | h H       | R index  | HoMe                                |
| J               | r R       | R index  | Realise                             |
| K               | s S       | R middle | Stay                                |
| L               | t T       | R ring   | VeGe**T**aBle                       |
| ;               | n N       | R pinky  | No Problem                          |
| '               | p P       | R pinky  | Problem                             |
| Z               | ' "       | L pinky  | quote                               |
| X               | , <       | L ring   | COMMAS                              |
| C               | . >       | L middle | period                              |
| V               | / ?       | L index  | divide                              |
| B               | = +       | L index  | equate                              |
| N               | j J       | R index  | Just                                |
| M               | m M       | R index  | Ho**M**e                            |
| ,               | d D       | R middle | Dude                                |
| .               | b B       | R ring   | VeGeTa**B**le                       |
| /               | f F       | R pinky  | Friend                              |


Space is both thumbs. Enter is the right pinky’s long key. Tab is the left pinky’s long key. Backspace is the right pinky’s long key on the number row. None of these need a phrase. They already had jobs.

---



## Three sentences that contain the layout

Type these until they are not clever:

1. `I EIGHT @ TWO COMMAS.`
2. `A THIRD period of the NINTH degree.`
3. `SEVEN-Up to quote the ONE!`
4. `So divide the Egg to subtract the gO0se and equate it with dirt.`
5. `Realise oLd "HoMe" was Just a Kite.`
6. `Stay Calm, Dude.`
7. `VeGeTaBle.`
8. `No Problem, You're Welcome, Friend. Xeno Zenith Questions.`

When those eight can be typed in the dark, you do not need this file. You need English, and a compiler.

---



## Against looking

> It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
>
> - Epictetus, *Discourses* 2.17

HackHaste puts the nucleus in one hand and the clusters in the other. If you look, you will learn a map. If you repeat the phrases aloud, you will learn a **role**. Roles survive looking away, the map only assists in this.

The tutor files for applications in this folder will not say the phrases for you. They will only ask for the letters. Say the phrase yourself until the finger is insulted to be reminded, rinse and repeat.