# Have you ever heard of Pelmanism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429 "2023-11-20T17:33:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/1 "2023-11-20T17:33:11Z")
I hadn’t. Until I saw a multipage advertisement in the back of a book I was reading. It was printed in 1920. The Pelman Institute was founded in the 1890s to help people develop their brains – in particular, their memories. The most lasting after effect was the card game they developed. When I played it as a kid, we called it Concentration. A grid of playing cards (16 cards were used in Pelmanism) are laid face down. Each player turns over two cards, and if they match, they remove those cards, and continue playing. Otherwise, the next player gets their turn. There was also an old TV game show based on this idea. The “system” was taught via twelve (later fifteen) “little grey books.” That phrase caught my attention. Since Pelmanism pre-dated Agatha Christie’s writing days, I was wondering if this phrase inspired Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells.” Had anyone else ever heard of Pelmanism? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/2 "2023-11-20T17:41:21Z")
I only know it because of the Ogden Nash poem “[The Strange Case of Professor Primrose](https://archive.org/details/redbook-v-062-n-02-1933-12/page/40/mode/2up)”. The Professor is incredibly absentminded, goes off to study at the Pelman Institute and disappears. He is later discovered working on a train, having accidentally gone to the _Pullman_ people and become a porter. ETA: Apologies for the accent ascribed to Pullman porters in the poem. It’s just a _wee_ bit racist. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/3 "2023-11-20T17:45:03Z")
I missed that particular poem, otherwise I’d have heard of it! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/4 "2023-11-20T17:48:29Z")
Never heard of it myself. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/5 "2023-11-20T17:54:55Z")
My aunt Winifred was involved in Pelmanism many years back. It was quite well-known at the time. This was in England. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/6 "2023-11-20T17:58:32Z")
I was wondering if that were the case. The book I was reading was published in the UK, and the Pelman Insitute was also founded there. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/7 "2023-11-20T19:30:14Z")
Not before yesterday, actually! A British source called what I call a “concentration game” (like the game show) a pelmanism. I thought, those wacky Brits! Why do they have to have a different word for everything. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/8 "2023-11-20T19:34:08Z")
If I’d ever heard of Pelmanism, I’ve forgotten it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/9 "2023-11-20T20:04:25Z")
Sure, I know the game, but I have never heard of what this Institute was up to. Are you saying they invented it? ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/10 "2023-11-20T21:13:06Z")
Linked from Wikipedia, here’s an online game for learners of English. Functions just like “Concentration,” but the webpage specifically calls it a Pelmanism game: > **[English Pelmanism matching game to learn/revise free online](https://www.englishactivities.net/englishgames/pelmanism)** > > Free Pelmanism English learning game: match pictures to English texts with audio to learn English and have fun. One of 13 free online English games @ englishactivities.net ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/11 "2023-11-20T21:13:47Z")
I panicked when I read about something culturally popular in the 20th century that I’ve never heard of. Then I saw it was British. I don’t do British. > [@carrps](#): > > The “system” was taught via twelve (later fifteen) “little grey books.” That phrase caught my attention. Since Pelmanism pre-dated Agatha Christie’s writing days, I was wondering if this phrase inspired Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells.” Cell greys came from early 20th century explorations of the brain. Grey matter was distinct from white matter, and found mainly in brains and the spinal cord. Therefore, they were linked to intelligence. Anybody keeping up with science, or more likely popular science, in the day would make the connection. Newspapers regularly carried articles on grey cells (or gray cells in America) and the more literary journals mentioned them whenever brains were being discussed. I think Christie may have been the first to use “grey cells” - the cells that process information - as a synonym for intelligence, though. It was a literaryism that caught on. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/12 "2023-11-20T23:08:23Z")
I was just saying that “little grey cells” sounds so much like “little grey books,” which was apparently very widely known in the UK in the early 20th century. From what I know, Pelmanism was a made-up word, and the Institute was intended to strengthen memory and “brain power.” ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/13 "2023-11-21T00:55:01Z")
We played it a lot in my family when I was growing up in the 1960s ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/14 "2023-11-21T22:19:59Z")
Never heard of Pelmanism. I did play Concentration as “Hüsker Dü” with the neighbor kids from Europe ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/15 "2023-11-22T14:25:53Z")
I also never heard the term “Pelmanism”, but I’ve known the game since I was a small kid as “Memory™” (in Germany, where English words for consumer products are frequently used). There are many thematically different variants of the game, ours had a nature theme and depicted native (to Germany) animals and plants. Here’s the German wiki: > **[Memory (Spiel)](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_(Spiel))** > > Memory (nach englisch memory ‚Gedächtnis‘) ist eine von Ravensburger eingetragene Marke für ein bekanntes Gesellschaftsspiel nach dem Pairs-Prinzip: Paare gleicher, verdeckt aufliegender Kärtchen müssen durch Aufdecken im Wechsel der Spieler erkannt werden. Kinder unter etwa zehn Jahren haben einen Vorteil gegenüber Älteren, der durch eine andere Struktur des Gehirns erklärt werden kann. > Das Memory von Ravensburger ist inspiriert vom „Zwillingsspiel“ der Autorin Berta von Schroeder, welches komm... ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-pelmanism/993429/16 "2023-11-22T14:32:37Z")
I remember playing the game as a kid, and later playing it with my kids. Never heard of Pelmanism though.