# Favorite Mnemonics **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485 "2003-08-25T09:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![selar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@selar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/selar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/21 "2003-08-25T18:07:37Z")
Here is one I learned in fire class the other day: Atmospheres you need to wear your SCBA in (TOES): T - Toxic O- Oxygen deficient E- Elevated Temperatures S- Smoke ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/22 "2003-08-25T18:18:05Z")
The spectral classes of stars (hottest to coldest): **O** h, **B** e **A** **F** ine **G** irl, **K** iss **M** e! ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/23 "2003-08-25T18:38:12Z")
The one I used to use that I haven’t seen on here. SEPARATE: Never separate a _para_ from his parachute ---
**Author:** ![ObiWan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@ObiWan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ObiWan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/24 "2003-08-25T18:39:37Z")
My favourite mnemonic for the planets is: **M** y **v** ery **e** asy **m** ethod **j** ust **s** hows **u** s **n** ine **p** lanets. ---
**Author:** ![big\_alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@big\_alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_alex)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/25 "2003-08-25T18:58:29Z")
Planets is : My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets Trig. : Silly Old Harry, Caught A Herring, Trawling Off Afganistan. and there was also: OIL RIG, Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain, but that isn’t a mnemonic. ---
**Author:** ![AV8R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AV8R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AV8R)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/26 "2003-08-25T19:23:33Z")
A guy was showing my photography club his color darkroom, and he said the the mnemonic he used for remembering the order of colors on the color wheel (Blue, Magenta, Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan) was **B** ad **M** en **R** ape **Y** oung **G** irls **C** onstantly For the order of sharps on the staff, I was taught **F** at **C** ats **G** o **D** own **A** lleys **E** ating **B** irds ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/27 "2003-08-25T19:45:59Z")
friedo, In June 1995 I received a closed-head injury (brain damage) in an automobile accident. It would be almost three years before I learned the multiplication table and multiply again. But I knew all about Chief SOHCAHTOA almost immediately after I awoke from the coma. 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/28 "2003-08-25T19:48:54Z")
Mine is a poem. Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one Save February, which is totally screwed up and doesn’t rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/29 "2003-08-25T21:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > The order of biological taxonomic classification: King Phillip Came Over From Great Spain. Great _Spain_?! How do you ever remember that? King Phillip Came Over For Great Sex, man. ---
**Author:** ![Garnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Garnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garnet)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/30 "2003-08-26T00:09:55Z")
The version of the resistor color code I heard: **B** lack **B** art **R** ides **O** ver **Y** our **G** rave **B** lasting **V** iolent **G** uns **W** ildly I like the Wild West mental imagery on that one. Elements of the justified use of deadly force against an assailant: **A** dministration **O** f **J** ustice (stands for “ability, opportunity, and jeopardy” of the assailant to pose a deadly threat to you) ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/31 "2003-08-26T00:36:55Z")
A Rat In The House Might Eat The Ice Cream. This still goes through my head when I’m confronted with the need to spell arithmetic. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/32 "2003-08-26T01:17:46Z")
For sharps: **F** ather **C** harlie **G** oes **D** own **A** nd **E** nds **B** attle And it works in reverse for flats: **B** attle **E** nds **A** nd **D** own **G** oes **C** harlie’s **F** ather And for the order of operations: **P** lease **E** xcuse **M** ’ **D** ear **A** unt **S** ally (To keep us from using addition before subtraction or something, she wrote it on the board like this before teaching us: P E M D A S ) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/33 "2003-08-26T02:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kitarak \* > \*\*Digits of Pi: Gee, I Wish I Could Calculate Pi Easily. > > The number of letters in each word is a digit of pi. You can go a bit further, but the rest of the mnemonic isn’t very good. It’s something like: “Gee, I wish I could calculate Pi Easily, Homer did say, and if abominable snowmen…” and I forget the rest. It gets a bit strange - a friend and I had to make up a mnemonic to remember it in maths class when we were much younger and we rather gave up making it memorable after the first bit. \*\* You’ll love this one. [http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mikerav.htm](http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mikerav.htm) > [@](#): > > Poe, E. > Near a Raven > > Midnights so dreary, tired and weary. > Silently pondering volumes extolling all by-now obsolete lore. > During my rather long nap - the weirdest tap! > An ominous vibrating sound disturbing my chamber’s antedoor. > “This”, I whispered quietly, “I ignore”. And it goes on for another seventeen verses. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/34 "2003-08-26T02:19:31Z")
I Have No Bright Or Clever Friends…Iodine, Hydrogen, Bromine, Oxygen, Chlorine, Fluorine All the diatomic molecules…although I have to remember that the mnemonic is FOR diatomic molecules before I can remember the mnemonic! I haven’t used it since grade 9…7 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![cajela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cajela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cajela)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/35 "2003-08-26T02:38:34Z")
Oh, can anyone fill this out? Periodic table of the elements, my father used to quote it but I’ve forgotten half of it: Row 1: Hydrogen - helium - nothing Final Column - noble gases - there was one, I don’t recall it; but it’s important as they’re left out of the row ones. Row 2: Little Boys Buy Coco Nuts on Fridays (Li Be B C N O F) Row 3: Naughty Margaret Always Says “Pass the Sugar Claude” (Na Mg Al Si P S Cl) Row 4: Karl Can Scan Tiny Verses something something… I don’t think it went much further. Not into the Lanthanides anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/36 "2003-08-26T03:14:34Z")
The order of the modes of the major scale: **I D** on’t **P** lay **L** ike **M** y **A** unt **L** oky. (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian) ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/37 "2003-08-26T03:16:54Z")
The twelve cranial nerves: **O** n **o** ld **O** lympus’ **t** owering **t** op, **a** **f** at **a** rmed\* **g** irl **v** ends **s** nowy **h** ops. \*[sub]alternate versions exist[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/38 "2003-08-26T03:17:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cajela \* > \*\*Row 3: Naughty Margaret Always Says “Pass the Sugar Claude” (Na Mg Al Si P S Cl) \*\* I always remembered this one simply by pronouncing the whole line (including argon): **namgal sipsclar**. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/39 "2003-08-26T04:08:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Super Gnat \* > \*\* > And for the order of operations: > > **P** lease **E** xcuse **M** ’ **D** ear **A** unt **S** ally > (To keep us from using addition before subtraction or something, she wrote it on the board like this before teaching us: > P > E > M D > A S > ) \*\* Heehee, “keep us from using addition before subtraction, …or something”?? But I bet you know how to do the math!! Okay here’s something funny, I’m a mathphobe, but I remember what these all mean JUST because of the PEMDAS. Parenthesis first, then exponents, then mulitiplication, then division, then addition and subtraction. I think there are some more complicated ones too, but I don’t remember them right offhand. My current favorite is “Star **r** ight, Star Bright” to help remember Starboard is on the right hand of the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Theobroma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@Theobroma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theobroma)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485/40 "2003-08-26T07:03:02Z")
OK, here are my favorites (that have not been named, or were quoted differently) Classification: “Phoenix College’s Ornery Foxes Go Slowly” (although I made that one up, I liked the King Philip one better) Bones of the wrist: “Never Lower Tillie’s Pants, Mother Might Come Home” Cranial nerves: “On Old Olympus’ Towering Tops, a French And German Viewed Some Hops” (But the Auditory nerve is now called the vestibulocochlear, so that messes it up, unless you remember that one) My son’s own mnemonic for lines on the bass clef: “George Buys Dead Farm Animals” And nobody has exactly quoted the Planet one I learned Lo these many years ago in Philly: “Martha’s Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights Period.” I suspect that the mnemonic predates the discovery of Pluto, hence the period. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mnemonics/197485.md?page=3)