The Maverick's Mind-Space

At last, I've completed my GRE. I never thought it would be so difficult. Having written CAT, I felt GRE would not be much of a burden. But it really had me taxed a lot. Unlike CAT, where you can omit the questions you don't know, GRE smirks at you with a mind-boggling question which you will have to attempt in order to go to the next one. I also learnt that to do well in GRE, you need something called luck, which I've never had for the past few years; not without a prefix 'bad' attached to it. Anyways, it is over now. Let bygones be bygones.
The most important part of the prep. was the wordlist. I tried every method to memorise the words; methods ranging from the conventional 'mugging up' and the 'roots method' to the most unconventional but popular 'Norman Loose method'. Here are some of the words I memorised using the 'Norman Loose' method.

pastiche- imitation of another's style in musical composition or in writing.
"What do we say when someone copies another's music? He has 'cut..copied..and PASTED"

hegemony-dominance
" Strikingly similar to Tamil "Ejamaan", meaning 'leader'"

husband- use sparingly, conserve, save
" I've watched many movies where the husband is a miser. (Its a loose connection; But anyways..I couldnot find a better way to remember it). This word always reminds me of the graffiti 'Before marriage, a man yearns for a woman; after marriage, the 'Y' becomes silent'"

monarchy, oligarchy etc.. relating to govt.
"Rhymes with tamil 'Aatchi', meaning 'rule'

hardy- sturdy, robust
" Now...Dont ask me if 'Laurel' means 'lank' or 'gaunt'

Well, there are so many other words. But Iam planning to publish a book on how to remember GRE words using 'Norman loose' method, and I dont want any copyright problems later..