# A Public Service Announcement Concerning a Well Known Mnemonic **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630 "2016-03-20T08:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/1 "2016-03-20T08:57:41Z")
“Fifty Days Hath September, April, June and November” is not a line in a mnemonic poem. No, really. It’s TWO lines. That’s why the months are in such an otherwise-ridiculous order, so they can _rhyme_ If you’re not going to let them rhyme, you might as well just teach 'em the knuckle method and be done with it, rather than torment them with a completely random-looking set of months in a completely random-looking order Fifty days hath Sept **ember** April,June and Nov **ember** All the rest have thirty- **one** Excepting February al **one** \*(ok those don’t rhyme any more, shaddup\* Which has twenty-eight days **clear** And twenty-nine in each leap **year** This public service announcement is dedicated to every primary school teacher I ever had, and also the teachers at the school I was sitting in this morning, who obviously don’t know it either K thx bai ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/2 "2016-03-20T09:00:31Z")
Fifty day months is going to make for a long year. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/3 "2016-03-20T09:08:17Z")
GAAH! Thirty! Thirty! Ok, that’s it, I’m going to bed ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/4 "2016-03-20T09:10:55Z")
Thirty days hath September. All the rest I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/5 "2016-03-20T10:37:36Z")
Of course, the other problem is that September, October, November and December are not the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months of the year. It’s just as well that Quintilis and Sextilis were renamed by the Romans after Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar – otherwise we’d have six months named after Roman numbers, but in the wrong position. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/6 "2016-03-20T11:45:56Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > All the rest have thirty- **one** > Excepting February al **one** \*(ok those don’t rhyme any more, shaddup\* When short February’s done, All the rest have thirty-one. > [@](#): > > This public service announcement is dedicated to every primary school teacher I ever had, and also the teachers at the school I was sitting in this morning, who obviously don’t know it either I’ve never heard your version. It’s pretty weird, especially those last two lines. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/7 "2016-03-20T19:50:09Z")
funny how the summer months have no R’s in them? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/8 "2016-03-20T19:53:42Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Of course, the other problem is that September, October, November and December are not the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months of the year. It’s just as well that Quintilis and Sextilis were renamed by the Romans after Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar – otherwise we’d have six months named after Roman numbers, but in the wrong position. Jazz musicians would be okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/9 "2016-03-20T20:59:27Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > When short February’s done, > All the rest have thirty-one. > I’ve never heard your version. It’s pretty weird, especially those last two lines. The one in the OP is the only one I’ve ever heard. Except that September has only 30 days, not 50. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/10 "2016-03-20T21:08:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > That’s why the months are in such an otherwise-ridiculous order, so they can _rhyme_ > > If you’re not going to let them rhyme, you might as well just teach 'em the knuckle method and be done with it, rather than torment them with a completely random-looking set of months in a completely random-looking order Which is why this “mnemonic” is useless to me. Thirty days, hast December, May, July, and November, works just as well, fits the meter and the rhyme, and is wrong. In other words, to get the poem right, you have to know the right answer, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/11 "2016-03-20T22:46:39Z")
I learned the knuckle method by watching Lambchop. When I was twenty-one years old. I was like “Holy cats, that’s _brilliant_, Shari Lewis!” In my defense, I was working for a PBS station when I saw it and not just sitting at home watching Lambchop. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/12 "2016-03-20T23:21:13Z")
Thirty days hath September, April, June and Montana. All the rest have cold weather Except in the Summer, which isn’t very often. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/13 "2016-03-21T00:35:30Z")
I’m gonna bet that the extra 20 days in **Aspidistra** ’s September are all weekdays too. Sheesh the boss is a jerk! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/14 "2016-03-21T02:34:58Z")
I use the knuckle method (as shown by Jimmy Dodd on **The Mickey Mouse Club**. [ol] [li]Make a fist.[/li][li]Touch your first knuckle (either direction)[/li][li]That’s January – a long month[/li][li]Touch the valley between knuckles[/li][li]That’s February – a short month[/li][li]Continue throuth July[/li][li]For August, touch the knuckle you started with[/li][li]Continue through December.[/li][/ol] The knuckles are 31 days; the valleys are 30. February is sui generis, but you know it’s a short month. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/15 "2016-03-21T03:25:05Z")
A vapid blonde once asked me why February got the extra day in leap years. She wanted the extra day in the Summer when the weather was nice. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/16 "2016-03-21T05:56:02Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > A vapid blonde once asked me why February got the extra day in leap years. She wanted the extra day in the Summer when the weather was nice. What, it’s not good enough for her that (in most areas of the United States anyway) _every day_ in Summer is made an hour longer than normal (AND they put the extra hour in the daytime)? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/17 "2016-03-21T12:31:17Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > “Thirty Days Hath September, April, June and November” is not a line in a mnemonic poem. > > No, really. > > It’s TWO lines. That’s why the months are in such an otherwise-ridiculous order, so they can _rhyme_ > > If you’re not going to let them rhyme, you might as well just teach 'em the knuckle method and be done with it, rather than torment them with a completely random-looking set of months in a completely random-looking order (Corrected for slight error) At this point, it’s worthwhile citing from Ambrose Bierce’s \*The Devil’s Dictionary[/i: > [@](#): > > LEONINE, adj. Unlike a menagerie lion. Leonine verses are those in which a word in the middle of a line rhymes with a word at the end, as in this famous passage from Bella Peeler Silcox: The electric light invades the dunnest deep of Hades. > Cries Pluto, 'twixt his snores: “O tempora! O mores!” > > It should be explained that Mrs. Silcox does not undertake to teach pronunciation of the Greek and Latin tongues. Leonine verses are so called in honor of a poet named Leo, whom prosodists appear to find a pleasure in believing to have been the first to discover that a rhyming couplet could be run into a single line. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/18 "2016-03-21T12:47:10Z")
I have never had a problem remembering the thirty days hath September bit. I think the knuckle method is silly. Of course, nowadays if kids want to know how many days a month has they tap the calendar icon on their phone. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/19 "2016-03-21T12:52:02Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630/20 "2016-03-21T16:04:03Z")
I before E except after C Or when sounded like “A” As in “neighbor” and “sleigh” Or in certain other weird words! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-public-service-announcement-concerning-a-well-known-mnemonic/749630.md?page=2)