If you use the symbols that are used, frequently, you get better at using them. It's much like the way if you play a round of golf at a course that you're unfamiliar with, it's a lot harder to recall a shot-by-shot recap of your round than if you play the course regularly. The mind builds little registers for keeping track of the meanings of Greek letters if you use those little friends often enough.
I find your choice of analogy a little amusing. In these circles, I think more people would have significant exposure to dense mathematical notation than significant familiarity to a particular golf course.
Yeah, well, yeah. It just happens to be the only way that I've measurably and comparatively observed this sort of memory phenomenon in my personal experience.
