nobody gonna memorize a nostr pubkey, and virtually no nostr clients support contacts and labeling

That's BS. No one memorizes phone numbers these days. I dont know my wife's number. And she has had that number for over 15 years.

phone numbers are 10 digits in base 10. thats way easier than an nostr pubkey. even still, i agree most dont memorize numbers, and wish nostr users didnt have to memorize pubkeys to identify impersonation