#49546
12/08/2001 1:20 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
This summer I'll have to put together a big project on mnemonics. Hope I remember how to do so.
More to the point, from what I've been reading about mnemonics, often the more ridiculous the association, the more holding power the memorized material will have.
Thirty days, hath September...and all that jazz.
What I'm wondering is: What mnemonic devices do you use that you call upon from time to time? I'll read with great interest here, and will hope to come across some that will stimulate my thinking in this area.
I'll give you a very ridiculous one off the top of my head that will permanently cement the position of one of the US presidents in your mind, if he's not already there firmly ensconced:
Hold out your three centermost fingers on your left hand in front of you; and do the same with your right hand. You should see three next to three.
Think of those two sets of three as "33." Now look at each set as the teeth of a 3-toothed comb. Comb back your hair on each side of your head with each of your combs.
Now think of the hairiest president in US history. Right!! The hairiest president in US history was Harry S. Truman...and he was the 33rd president (33, your fingers; combs to comb the hair of Hairy, or Harry).
That's a ridiculous mnemonic device, but it works, if I've given you halfway decent instructions.
Anyway, I hope that you'll share some mnemonics here with the forum and me. This is kind of a passion of mine, and I'd love to mine some new ones...simple, humorous, meandering. I may quote you in my paper!! (Most likely read only by my prof, but what the heck!)
Best regards,
DubDub (with two three-toothed combs in her hair)
|
|
|
#49547
12/08/2001 2:17 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
My two rats leap no jelly meal fopcap, my name for John Shar's mama famine kitchen police. Luzon Fifi.
|
|
|
#49548
12/08/2001 4:11 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Sheriff - is a really funny fellow. (one "r", two "f"s)
Accommodation - rates are based on double occupancy so double "C"s and "M"s
Liaison -- to work properly needs a pair of eyes (two "I"s)
And the famous quote from writer Alexaner Woollcott when a reporter asked the correct spelling of his name : "When in doubt put in two of everything."
|
|
|
#49549
12/08/2001 9:17 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Noodle Puding!
But the lastest i have read about astronomy indicated that maybe Pluto isn't a planet, but just a large object in a second asteroid belt.. in which case, i guess my mother just sat upon Noodles.. or napkins.. or needles..
|
|
|
#49550
12/08/2001 9:27 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
and not as neat, but fork has 4 letters, just like left, and knife and spoon have 5 letters just like right.. and now you know how to set (lay) the table!
fork(s) to the left, knife(s) and spoon(s) to the right!
--i have a real big problem with right and left.. if it weren't for the fact the your left hand makes an L, i still wouldn't know the difference.. until i learned that little trick, i used to have to pull out an etiquette book each time i had company to set the table!
|
|
|
#49551
12/08/2001 9:49 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars...
All are plan-ets -- not stars!
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto...
All revolve around the sun -- in tune and tempo.
(from a Richmond Symphony Orchestra brochure for students attending a performance of Holst's Planets even though Pluto hadn't been discovered when Holst wrote the work)
|
|
|
#49552
12/08/2001 10:06 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
and on any clear night this month, rising in the east, and clearly visible by 8:00PM-- Jupiter..
if you are lucky, you can even see it set in the AM. at 7AM, (the sun has already risen in NYC at that time)- but, low in the western sky, jupiter is not quite set yet.. it is about as bright as the moon.. clearly visible! in all my years i have never seen venus as morning star, still visible after the sun rose!
Jupiter's "day" is 9 hours (to our 24) and later this month, when it rises even earlier, it will be possible to watch a full day on jupiter (if you stay up all night)
It's enough for me to catch sight of the red spot (you need only the simplest of telescopes--i don't have one that needs a tripod.-- its barely more than a child scope)
|
|
|
#49553
12/09/2001 12:03 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
In anatomy medical student devise many mnemonics. For instance, the bones in the wrist were remembered by "Never Lower Tilly's Pants Her Mother Might Come Home." Navicular, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, Hamate, Greater Multangular, Lesser Multangular.The Internet site I looked at uses a couple different names.: Scaphoid,Lunate,Triquetral,Pisiform,Trapezium,Trapezoid, Hamate. I'm not ingenious enough to make up a mnemonic to fit the new names.
They were fun in a subject with very little to chuckle about.
|
|
|
#49554
12/09/2001 3:54 AM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
credit to my wife for this one (and blame me for any errors)
The cranial nerves, in the proper order for nerves 1-12:
On Old Olympus's Towering Top
A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops.
ocularmotor; optic; olfactory; trigeminal; trochlear;
abducens; facial; acoustic; glossopharyngeal; vagus; spinal accessory; hypoglossal
|
|
|
#49555
12/09/2001 8:04 AM
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me (star types)
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (the colours of the rainbow)
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
#49556
12/09/2001 9:37 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Along the same line, my daughter's home made version - well, it helps her remember it and that is the point
Many volcanoes erupt mulberry jam sandwiches under no pressure.
I thought of changing the middle to "marbles, jasper and stones" but she wasn't impressed!
PM me with other improvements if you don't want to clutter up the board.
Jo
|
|
|
#49557
12/09/2001 10:47 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Bingley:
About "Oh be a fine girl and kiss me..." what are the types? The phrase is positively memorable.
And colors of the rainbow: They're the person called,
"Roy G. Biv," too.
DubDub
|
|
|
#49558
12/09/2001 1:11 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
My two rats leap no jelly meal fopcap, my name for John Shar's mama famine kitchen police. Luzon Fifi.
OK, Faldage, I'll bite.
|
|
|
#49559
12/09/2001 1:24 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Now I need a large container of coffee.
The number of letters, in each words, provides 3.1415926.
|
|
|
#49560
12/09/2001 1:38 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
About "Oh be a fine girl and kiss me..." what are the types? http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/startypes.shtml: "Stars are classified by their spectra (the elements that they absorb) and their temperature. There are seven main types of stars. In order of decreasing temperature, O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. O and B stars are uncommon but very bright; M stars are common but dim. An easy mnemonic for remembering these is: "Oh be a fine girl, kiss me." The Sun is a as a G2V type star, a yellow dwarf and a main sequence star. [sic]" Great phrase, bingley!
|
|
|
#49561
12/09/2001 3:00 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
In the days of Cicero, there were complicated ways by which long speeches could be remembered by a complicated mnemonic process. I can't remember where I read about it, most likely in Scientific American. Maybe some of our Latin and Greek scholars can tell us about it.
A sample might be the orator enters a room, the door reminds him of his first paragraph, the table reminds him of the second, each item on the table reminds him of successive sentences or paragraphs.
|
|
|
#49562
12/09/2001 3:21 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
my two rats leap...
The number of letters, in each word
I get 2344254624345467654. Is this pi in heptasemigisemal?
|
|
|
#49563
12/09/2001 4:05 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
This from Google about pi:
3.142857
My two rats leap no jelly meal fopcap, my name for John Shar's mama famine kitchen police. Luzon Fifi.
I fail to see how we get even 3.1 from the above. (My has two letters; two has three letters....
Please throw me a line here, somebody. What am I not seeing that everybody else here is seeing and, apparently, happy taking bites out of?
Best regards,
Dub R. SquaredAway--Not!
|
|
|
#49564
12/09/2001 4:23 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
[Sigh] Sorting out the above confusion: if I have a large piece of π, "Now I need a large container of coffee." Count the letters in each word of the italicized mnemonic, to recall that π (to 8 significant digits) is 3.1415926:
3 - n o w
1 - I
4 - n e e d
1 - a
5 - l a r g e
9 - c o n t a i n e r
2 - o f
6 - c o f f e e
|
|
|
#49565
12/09/2001 5:13 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
This is less sophisticated than the others, but I remember my neighbor's phone number because the first three numbers are the same as mine, and the last four are the date of the Battle of Hastings. The association is enhanced by my neighbor's being an English teacher.
|
|
|
#49566
12/10/2001 1:00 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
I bombed my first attempt at first year chemistry whilst at uni. Being a compulsory core subject, I had to pass it second time around or I would have been prevented from doing any second year subjects.
I don't know if it's changed, but back in those days (1977) you had to be able to create the main part of the periodic table from scratch. You were given a blank table at the start of an exam which needed to be completed to help you answer some of the questions. (As I recall, there were no marks awarded for completing the table itself!!)
I now forget all the pnemonics I created (maybe they weren't so good after all!) to regenerate the table, but the one for the 5th row went:
Ruby.........(Rubidium - Rb)
Strong's..........(Strontium - Sr)
Indian..........(Indium - In)
Snake..........(Tin - Sn)
Sobs..........(Antimony - Sb)
Terribly..........(Tellurium - Te)
In..........(Iodine - I)
Exile..........(Xenon - Xe)
I was terribly proud of all the pnemonics because each word contained the letters for an element's symbol and, if there was a doubt as to which element it was, the pronunciation helped out (eg to differentiate between Indium and Iodine in the 5th row.)
I passed!
stales
|
|
|
#49567
12/10/2001 6:12 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
2 1.414 Rat race. Picture two rats racing through a maze.
3 1.732 Kimono. Picture a kimono with triangular figures in its pattern.
5 2.236 Enmesh. Picture the Pentagon enmeshed in red tape.
6 2.449 Rare bee. Picture a bee with blue and yellow stripes in a honeycomb with its six sided sections.
7 2.646 Sure shot. Picture a sharpshooter shooting seven cans off of a fence with his pistol.
8 2.828 Fan fold. Picture a folding fan with eight segments.
|
|
|
#49568
12/10/2001 6:46 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
Success - Double the c and double the s and you will always have success! Together - To get together, you have to get her!  Friend - A friend is a fri end 'til the end! I still use those from time to time. There is also the Right Hand Rule. Helpful determining the direction of the magnetic field created by a moving current (or something). Is it really a mnemonic device if you don't remember the details? I also am sure you, Wordwind, as a music teacher of youngsters, know all the Every Good Boy Does Fine, FACE, All Cows Eat Grass, etc. mnemonics for learning the notes of the staff.
|
|
|
#49569
12/10/2001 7:07 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
faldage, sigh all you want, I still don't unnerstand yer square root mnemonic.
what's 449 got to do with rare bees?
|
|
|
#49570
12/10/2001 8:48 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Faldage, I suspect one won't understand your numeric mnemonic until you explain the general code, suitable for translating a series of digits into a series of consonants (and thence into a word):
1 = t (think "one vertical stroke in letter")
2 = n (two verticals)
3 = m (three verticals)
4 = r (fourth letter in "four")
etc.
|
|
|
#49571
12/10/2001 9:38 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
1 = t (think "one vertical stroke in letter") Also d since d is a voiced t
2 = n (two verticals)
3 = m (three verticals)
4 = r (fourth letter in "four")
5 = l because l is Roman numeral 50.
6 = j because j looks like a backwards 6. Also ch, sh, soft g, etc.
7 = k because a k can be made from two sevens. Also hard g and hard c.
8 = f because handwritten f has two loops like an eight. Also v, ph.
9 = p because p looks like a backwards 9. Also b
0 = z because z is the first letter of zero. Also s, soft c.
In my two rats John Shar's reduces to John Shar (don't ask) and kitchen police reduces to KP.
|
|
|
#49572
12/10/2001 10:56 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
#49573
12/10/2001 11:25 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Another device to remember a list of words or names is to learn (by brute force or by further mnemonic) how many of them begin with each letter of the alphabet.
For example, one trying to recite the names of all fifty US states might begin by learning how many begin with A, with B, with C, etc. Then, knowing how many you need to grope for with each letter, it takes but little practice to learn to bring them to mind.
4 A's: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas
0 B's
3 C's: Califonia, Colorado, Connecticut
(etc.)
|
|
|
#49574
12/11/2001 1:42 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
My own mnemoniac is my pal Andy to whom I ply with cheap wine and flatteries but alas he is oft times gone and so I many times resort to the more traditional. For example, the code to the security alarm at the warehouse is 1492, so mnemonically I inverted the two middle numbers to read 1942, -get it- thats the year that we, the Americans of the world, first split the atom. Pretty neat, huh?
|
|
|
#49575
12/11/2001 2:38 AM
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
#49576
12/11/2001 3:48 AM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
That's because of my repeated dittography, max!
|
|
|
#49577
12/11/2001 8:23 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
Medical mnemonics galore. (CAUTION: Many are quite terrible and next to useless) http://www.medicalmnemonics.com
|
|
|
#49578
12/11/2001 9:57 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
And now, with the number inversion of the ocean blue, I'll remember 1942...
As for the states, it's easier to learn the state song I wrote. Once learned, you get all the states, all the capitals, plus the order in which the states became part of the nation. Impossible to teach here, but of Troy says she wants to learn it at Wordapalooza...or maybe she said the president chant. Whatever, since I can't be a president or a state, at least I can teach 'em.
Music is great mnemonic glue. Who'd ever forget the ABC's?
Then I've heard of the song lines the Aboriginies (sp?) use for following terrain. That sounds mnemonically fascinating.
WW
|
|
|
#49579
12/11/2001 9:59 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Anybody have a mnemonic device for associating the requisite number of humps for the dromedary and the bactrian camels? I get 'em confused....
DubDub
|
|
|
#49580
12/11/2001 10:24 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>OK, Faldage, I'll bite. Anna, I think that is more information about your personal life than we need to know! 
|
|
|
#49581
12/11/2001 10:55 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
number of humps for the dromedary and the bactrian
the dromedary has a hump, the bactrian has a hump and another one.
|
|
|
#49582
12/11/2001 12:36 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Dear Faldage:  What reflief! Thanks! Beast regards, Dub
|
|
|
#49583
12/11/2001 3:25 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Even easier:
A D has one hump, and so does a Dromedary; a B has two humps, and so does a Bactrian. Mentally lay the D and B on their spines, and you'll see the camels' humps.
|
|
|
#49584
12/11/2001 3:37 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
The camel has a single hump,
The dromendary, two.
Or else the other way around...
I'm never sure. Are you?(and btw, it is the other way around.)
|
|
|
#49585
12/11/2001 4:01 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Another device to remember pi is the footbal-cheer used at various schools of engineering. The variant I learned is from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:
e to the X dy/dx,
e to the X dx,
cosine, secant, tangent, sine,
3.14159,
square root, cube root, log of pi,
dis - integrate them RPI!
an aside:
(1) the first two lines allude to the famous and onomatopoeic Croaking Chorus from Aristophanes' comedy, The Frogs: "Brek-kek-kek-kax, co-ax, co-ax. (2) cross-threading: that chorus is also the answer to a poser I posed a few weeks ago: what is a "caxi"?
|
|
|
|
|
