To some extent, this is because it enables us to indulge in a form of mental shorthand which is convenient, if unimaginative, for communicating with others.

It wasn't exactly an empire, but whatever it was was too complicated for Jack to assimilate at the moment, so he used the term as mental shorthand.

A "contented calm," shared values and an "eerily on-target mental shorthand" make her short time with him an unexpected delight.

It was a process that provided more questions than answers, a mental shorthand akin to that of Mentats.

According to these ideas of Mach, the relations of objects in nature were not guaranteed but known only through a sort of mental shorthand.

It is a brief description in mental shorthand of as wide a range as possible of the sequences of our sense-impressions.

He is merely trying to reproduce, or at least suggest, the mental shorthand that we all use in our private thoughts.

In some shorter, simpler mental shorthand, these thoughts passed through his brain.

It was a key thought, in mental shorthand - a condensation and abbreviation of the life-pattern or ego of that particular Eddorian.

The old saw that 'style is the man' may be mental shorthand but the sentiment is right.