I was taught “Thirty days hath September” but a kid in school some time later taught me the knuckle method. I just use the poem.
Oh - neat. I never realized it sorted out like that. The jump back part is clever. Thanks!
This is the version my dad “taught” me.
I never saw the knuckle thing until some time in my mid/late 20s.
Either way, I don’t think I ever had any trouble remembering how many days each month had.
I just remember 4,6,9,11. Oddly, the sum of those digits is 30.
4 April
6 June
9 September
11 November
the poem was attempted by the kindergarden teacher. it did not stick for me past the first line.
i read about the knuckle method in a book at some point in elementary school.
i came up with the odd/even (31, 30) ceasar approach. starting with jan, it is odd, even (leap), odd, even, odd, even, ceasar, even, odd, even, odd. works for me.
don’t ask me to tell time. and that whole your hand makes an “l” for left… that would require i know that the “l” faces that way, and not confuse it with a “j”.
I learned yet another version of the poem as a song:
Thirty days hath September
April, June, and November
All the rest have thirty-one
Except that quite contrary
February
Which has twenty-eight days, most of the time
But in leap year, twenty-nine!
As for the knuckle thing, I have a vague awareness of it but mostly when I hear “knuckle thing” I think of that “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, whoops! Johnny” thing that kids used to do. Which I also never really knew.
I just popped in to say I’ve never heard of the TWO-fisted method until today. My one-handed method did a double-tap on the little finger knuckle then worked back toward the thumb.
I actually learned (sorta) the rhyme as a child and learned the knuckle method as an adult. Now the knuckles are the only way I know.
Thirty days has September
April, June, and November
Of 28, there’s only one
All the rest have 31
It’s your responsibility to remember that the “only one” is February.
Joe
I was never taught that method. Just the rhyme…thirty days hath September…
Never heard of the knuckle method until today…learned the rhyme…the version doesn’t matter, because all you need to really memorize is the first line. I’m really surprised at all the people who think memorizing those four months (with the sing-song rhythm in your head) is so hard. Sure, December and November rhyme, but think of all the much longer things you have memorized that you have no problem with. The Pledge of Allegiance. The Star-Spangled Banner. The words to your favorite song. The Mickey Mouse Song. The Lord’s Prayer. Your recipe for white sauce. You can do it, I know you can! (And besides, if you think about it, you KNOW that New Year’s Eve is Dec. 31, so it COULDN’T be December, right?)
Several people have mentioned they just look at the calendar. But really, the mnemonic is to be used when you DON’T have a calendar handy!
Now I would personally have problems with the knuckle method because, if you have your two fists together, what are you using to touch the valleys and knuckles with? I sometimes have problems visually following or counting things without touching them, and I would forget whether the knuckle or the valleys were the 31’s. Like I have trouble remembering which of my identical twin nieces is which. Ellen has the rounder face and Ruth has the higher hairline…or is it the other way around? Sigh. And if they aren’t next to each other for me to compare hairlines…I just wait until they mention their sister’s name.
I didn’t hear about it until I was an adult. And I still can’t remember it or the rhyming poem.
But surely no mnemonic is necessary? I can’t believe people can reach adulthood and not just know without thinking about it that March, say, has 31 days. Everybody has appointments to keep, bills to pay etc., so we all get plenty of practice consulting calendars.
My brother taught it to me, but using one fist.
I’d never heard of the knuckles method until I read this thread.
My mom taught high-school math back in the 60’s, and for some reason she made her students memorize that rhyme. One of them supposedly wrote on a test:
30 days hath September
That is all I can remember
There’s a calendar on the wall
Why bother with this stuff at all?
Now, I go by the popular “a new month begins whenever my cell phone and computer say it has” system. This goes nicely with my method of knowing today’s date, which is to check the cell phone or computer.
I learned this also …
Well, my household spent 20 years as military and dependents … military was paid on 1st and 15th, or 15th and 30th depending on what the military paymasters mandated. mrAru is still paid on 1st and 15th [Met Life employee]
Never heard of the knuckle thing, and could never keep the “30 days hath Whatever” thing straight, mainly because the months are all out of order.
I finally realized that the best way for me to keep it straight is to remember that every other month has 31 days, with July and August going back to back, and then the February exception(s). Believe it or not, that’s easier for me to keep straight.
This is the version I learned. I’ve never heard of the knuckle method until opening this thread.
I learned knuckles first, in elementary. I also saw the rhyme, but it never stuck in my head. Whereas it’s much easier to hold up my hands and start counting.
I was also taught that I can use a similar method to ‘cheat’ the nine times table, which fascinated me to no end at the same age. Anyone else learn that?
didn’t learn the knuckle method until I was an adult.
Always the rhyme - which I still say aloud when I’m wondering how many days a particular month has.