Someone at work was looking something up in my dictionary today and I heard her softly singing to herself, “a-b-c-d-E-f-g . . .” and I realized I am not the only person who has to sing to myself to remember what letter comes after which. Till I was 12, I thought “elemenoh” was one letter . . .
Do people in other countries sing their alphabets, too?
That whole section from G to L I get confused on and have to sing sometimes if I’m trying to file things in alphabetical order.
–Cliffy
Russians don’t, apparently. I’ve asked several of them if they have an “Alphabet Song”, and they’ve never heard of one.
The Mandarin Chinese alphabet must be a stone bitch, though. 
“Alphabet song”, that is. I know Chinese doesn’t have an alphabet so just sit your pedantic butts right back down.
I thought I was alone. Though I don’t necessarily need to sing it out loud, just recite it in my head.
Can’t answer you question, Eve, but I, too, have to sometimes sing the alphabet (to myself, of course) to remember what letter comes next. For some reason, I have trouble with g through l.
I have to sing the alphabet, and I to thought “elemenoh” was a single letter for a long time.
I also have to sing the Preamble to the Constitution and do the whole “Thirty days hath November…” to know how whether the month has changed yet.
This is exactly the same section I have trouble with, get out of my mind! Yes, I sing to get through it.
Yes, and I have to sing in my head to spell “Mississippi” too.
Ditto on singing the alphabet (under my breath or in my head!) and “30 days hath November.”
It could be worse! My brother has a sequencing disability and at the age of 18 still can’t get the days of the week in order.
Anybody still sing for “ENCYCLOPEDIA?”
I thought I was alone on this as well. Apparently I’m not the only one that has to sing out the alphabet. And I too have trouble with G thru L. 
I’ve done this to determine what number a letter is (D=4, etc.) …
Whenever I have to check the alpha order of a list of states, I have to sing “Fifty Nifty United States” in my head. Who knew that at age 35, I’d still be singing a song at least once a week that I leanred back in the fourth grade?
I used to ‘sing’ the alphabet, silently, on occasion. I can’t recall doing it in the last few years. Either I finally got the order of the alphabet memorized, or I stopped doing things that required alphabetical order.
I suspect the latter.
raises hand
I sing the alphabet also. When I was taking Spanish, our teacher had us sing the alphabet to the same tune to help us learn it. It helped, but it caused some giggles when we reached the l - n part and x just doesn’t rhyme with anything. “ellay ayay emay enay enyay” Sure was a fun class.
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How does the “30 days hath November” song go? I was taught it once, and though I still use it, I can’t remember the last part with February and so mine doesn’t rhyme now.
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“Thirty days hath November, April, June, and December. All the rest have thirty-nine, except for August, which is fine.” I think that’s how it goes . . .
I don’t know about other countries, but I’m surprised to see all the other Americans who have checked in here so far saying that they have to sing the alphabet. I don’t, but I do occasionally have to visualize my 1st grade classroom wall to see those cardboard letters pinned up above the blackboard (in alphabetical order, of course). Maybe I’m the weird one here.
I don’t have to, but every once in a while I’ll break out with
“Ab-cadef-guhjeckel-minop-kerstoov-wix-is,
it’s the most unusual word I’ve ever seen…”
Another reason why my kids think I’m strange.