… I have to sing the alphabet song to remember the order of j, k, and l.
… I have trouble doing math in my head. For example, if I have to add 5 and 7, I’ll split up 5 into 3 and 2, then add the 3 to 7 which makes 10 and finally add the 2 which makes 12. Same problem but different scenario: it takes me forever to figure out someone’s age just based on their birth year. If someone tells me they were born in 1969, it takes me about 5 minutes to figure out their age.
… I can’t remember titles of classical music (except Mozart’s work for some reason). Mahler’s 5 could be Beethoven’s 9th for all I know.
… I suck at telling time (digital watches are my savior) and have my own lingo for time. If I have a meeting at 4:30, 4:20 is “ten 'till”.
… when I’m waiting to make a left turn onto a busy street, as I look left and right, I have to mutter to myself “after silver car” or “all clear” what have you depending.
I saw some “reality” cop show (people getting arrested) and they pulled over a guy who looked drunk, and they did the test where they asked him to recite the alphabet backwards. And me and my pals sat around trying to do it, perfectly sober. Although the guy getting busted on the show (who DID look and act like he was plastered) did it pretty easily in like 25 seconds, not one of us could recite it backwards without making many mistakes and hesitating a lot, and not nearly that fast. We just looked at each other and one guy said “if we ever get pulled over, we’re all going to f***ing jail”
…
Can you do it, without making any errors, and within let’s say: taking no longer than three times what it takes you to recite it forward? I am wondering about the nature of this test: is there some reason that drunks could do it better? Average sober people I have asked cannot do it hardly at all, without taking well over a minute, and basically only recalling 3-4 letters at a time. The drunk guy was reciting long strings of 7-8 letters, hesitating no more than a couple seconds in between…? I am pondering the possibility that police would suspect that anybody that can do it really, really well has practiced in anticipation of such a test. ?
~
I count when I’m stressed. If there is nothing TO count, I just count numbers (yes, silently so as not to disturb anyone).
I like the way you rearrange numbers when adding/subtracting and you can use that to your advantage. I do that too, and I always try to race the cash register when shopping, not so much in adding the items, but always in making change. I’ve been doing it so long, I usually beat the register and it’s just rote now- no thinking required. I never get the wrong amount of change!
I started ‘racing the register’ when I was a clerk at a 7-11, but in elementary school, I was made to come early and listen to addition records because my addition skills were so poor.
(/pleasant lady voice) One times one is one. One times two is two. One times three is three. (end /pleasant lady voice).
I always move my right index finger when recalling North, South, West and East. I’m sure this is related to using my hand as a mnemonic (sp?) in elementary school, but I don’t need the reminder anymore (or do I?).
I have a terrible time with powers of ten. This is a particularly bad situation for an astronomer, because it frequently makes me look like an idiot. My students are constantly correcting me in class.
Inevitably I read 10[sup]5[/sup]=100,000 as ten thousand.
I have to briefly pretend I’m writing something to tell right from left.
Admitting the problem is the first step to recovery…
And I’m with you on the watch, AmericanMaid. I broke my digital last week and bought a new one. The digital part is wee tiny, and I forgot what the little hands and big hands mean. If it’s quarter after anything or in the 3:00 hour, I can’t see the digital even if I wanted to. Stupid analog watches.
And I have to say the little rhyme twice because I usually don’t pay attention to myself the first time.
I still make 'L’s with my index fingers and thumbs to see which is left and right. You know, the one that makes a “real ‘L’” is left. L _| <- something like that.
I’m a fluent English speaker by now; I even think in English most of the time and sometimes I even blank on a Dutch words. But I can only do sums in my head or count more than about eight items in Dutch.
Also, if a number has more than about four zeros I will feel happier physically counting them by running my fingers along the paper they’re written on. Makes me feel like an idiot.
Months with 31 days, I never remember the rhyme (or missremember it)
30 days have Decmeber April March and November ???
But from the Wizz Kid’s Hand book (a real book of unlimmited value and importance) they give this method.
Hold out your left hand fingers out and thumb unpward. Counting fingers and gaps between fingers starting with index finger go
=====) January
< February
======) March
< April
=====) May
< June
===) July
then swap to the other hand
August (=====
September >
October (======
November >
December (=====
Every month on a finger has 31 days, those between fingers have 30 days excep February which you just have to remember.
The same book had a poem to remember the alphabet backwards, I can only remember the first line
“Said Y Eggs double your fee”
(this was a British book so zed comes first)
I have to think really hard before I can remember left and right.
I speak good Danish, but the numbers often defeat me. In my defense, it’s a really screwy system. Very badly translated, it goes ten, twenty, thirty, forty, half-sixty, sixty, half-eighty, eighty, half-somethingorother, hundred. And the single digits go before the tens, so for 73 you say three and half-eighty.
Not that i’m colorblind or anything, but sometimes when approaching a traffic light at a high speed with no other cars around I blank out for a moment and forget which color means go and which means stop.
To convince myself not to panic and slow down I have to repeat in my head “Green is go, green is go”.
I also have a problem adding small numbers together. Instead of knowing 7 + 5 = 12, I have to take the larger number then picture the smaller on the side of a die and count them onto the larger number. 7 + 5 = 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Make your hands into fists and hold them next to each other, knuckles up.
Starting with your left pinky knuckle, the knuckles will be the “long months” and the valleys in between the knuckles will be the “short months.”
It’s funny, because July=your left forefinger knuckle and August=your right forefinger knuckle, both long months, so it works!
Me, I can’t tell directions for nothing. I get lost walking around a mall. I’m in awe of people who can “turn north on Cedar Street” or “turn east after the orange grove.” I need to know if it’s right or left.
In order to figure out any direction other than North, I need to mouth the words “North South East West” with my right index finger (ever so slightly) pointing out the directions.
When performing any mathematical calculations in my head, I need to think the entire sentence to myself (e.g., seven times five is thirty-five).
Also, much like Ca3799, I count things to relieve stress.