# Mnemonic devices you remember, except you forgot the thing they're supposed to help you remember **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041 "2022-05-05T22:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/41 "2022-05-10T19:34:13Z")
It’s Every Good Boy Does Fine. This “Deserves Fudge” business is new and strange to me, and therefore unacceptable! It was probably invented by some damn millennial. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/42 "2022-05-10T19:55:55Z")
> [@Yodalicious](#): > > I remember treble clef music, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is the lines of a bar of music I was taught “Every Good Boy Does Fine” and “Every Good Bird Does Fly”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/43 "2022-05-10T20:45:45Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > This “Deserves Fudge” business is new and strange to me, and therefore unacceptable! It was probably invented by some damn millennial. 🙂 Well, the album “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” by Mudhoney came out in Seattle in 1991, you couldn’t get much more Gen-X like that. ---
**Author:** ![the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_art_of_rolling)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/44 "2022-05-10T23:29:56Z")
The oddest one I know is “the more the yellow, the lesser he the fellow” to differentiate the Herring Gull and the Lesser black backed backed gull based on the colour of their legs. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/45 "2022-05-11T00:32:33Z")
I used to have no trouble remembering PORAC\*\* until my uncle said that the best way to remember the initials was to think of Poor Old Raggedy-Assed Cops. After that, that was all I’d remember. \*\* Peace Officers Research Association of California ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/46 "2022-05-12T19:34:08Z")
The one I always struggle with and would never use is the one around Coral and King snakes. Me: Red and yellow, friendly fellow. Red and black, get back jack! Of course, this is mnemonic devices you remember. I remember, just incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/47 "2022-05-12T19:46:30Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Me: Red and yellow, friendly fellow. Red and black, get back jack! The similar (and, I think, accurate 😃 ) one I learned in Boy Scouts as a kid: - Red next to black, venom lack - Red next to yellow, you’re a dead fellow Of course, living in the upper Midwest, the odds of me running into a coral snake in the wild is effectively zero. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/48 "2022-05-12T19:50:41Z")
Yeah, I’ve never seen either in the wild around these parts so I’m not too concerned. It’s not like I would be picking up either if I were confident I had it correct. My instinct when seeing any snake is to first run, then change my shorts. ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/49 "2022-05-12T20:42:04Z")
I made one up for myself to help remember the classification of organisms - Pigs Can’t Offer Free Gift Sausages…An achievement only slightly dented by the omission of Kingom I remember a mnemonic for something to do with sandstones but is now quite lost. Regurgitating lists in order to get through exams seems a rather silly exercise. But I guess the education system still needs cheap, arbitrary ways to select between competing students. Good ones have a life outside the classroom. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/50 "2022-05-12T22:14:17Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Me: Red and yellow, friendly fellow. Red and black, get back jack! > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - Red next to black, venom lack > - Red next to yellow, you’re a dead fellow The one I learned was: _Red and yellow kill a fellow_ _Red and black poison lack_ And I did see one once on my patio when I lived in the country. Yet another reason why I’m glad I live in the city now. Once a scorpion fell on my head from the ceiling fan in my office. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/51 "2022-05-13T11:40:45Z")
In 1973, I took Basic Electricity and Electronics in the Navy. I still remember how to create the chart with characteristics of transistors (Base, Emitter, Collector) but for the life of me, I don’t remember what each part means. I also remember the mnemonic to determine the value of a resistor based on the color stripes, but I don’t remember all the details. Not that I’ve needed either of those devices except to pass the course. Why is it I remember that crap but I forget why I walked into the kitchen??? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/52 "2022-05-13T13:44:12Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I also remember the mnemonic to determine the value of a resistor based on the color stripes, but I don’t remember all the details. I don’t know the mnemonic, but I just remember as black, brown, colors of the rainbow in order (no indigo because, hey, screw indigo), grey, white. It just sort of makes sense to me as a logical way to put them in order. The main thing to remember is it starts on black and brown and ends on grey and white, which, to me, feels logical. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/53 "2022-05-13T16:53:09Z")
Sinclair Lewis in Arrowsmith has this “On Old Olympus’ topmost top, a fat-eared German viewed a hop” as a mnemonic for the nervous system. Not sure why it’s changed from what you have. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/54 "2022-05-13T16:56:06Z")
Silly Old Hitler Caught Awful Headaches Through Our Airmen ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/55 "2022-05-13T16:59:28Z")
One of my high school friends invented a mnemonic for the same purpose (sine, cosine, and tangent calculations), and which is still lodged in my brain, despite not having to use it since 1983: Some Old Hens Cackle And Howl Til Old Age ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/56 "2022-05-13T20:01:21Z")
The resistor colors code mnemonic I learned was “Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West. Get Started Now.” For Black (0), Brown (1), Red (2), Orange (3), Yellow (4), Green (5), Blue (6), Violet (7), Gray (8), and White (9) for the values and exponent, and Gold (5%), Silver (10%), and None (20%) tolerance bands. Although in the decades since I learned this, the fourth (tolerance) band now can use the same color code as the value bands. There’s a really terrible mnemonic that was slightly cleaned up with the substituted word “race”. I would recommend the above one you can share without offense. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/57 "2022-05-13T20:25:48Z")
“Big Buicks Run On Yellow Gas But Volkswagens Go Without” Is the one that we were officially supposed to use. But the terrible one is much easier to remember. The terrible one has the advantage of helping you remember that “bAd” and “bOys” go with “blAck” and “brOwn”. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/58 "2022-05-13T20:34:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > kings play chess on fine gray sand (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) Really. I learned “King Philip Came Out From Going Swimming.” ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/59 "2022-05-15T12:33:20Z")
SOHCAHTOA Something about Sine, Cosine and Tangent, and Opposite, Hypotenuse and Adjacent. I remember Sohcahtoa, and it was very useful in math sometime back in 1982 or so. Today I have no clue what that was all about. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041/60 "2022-05-15T23:38:41Z")
Well, you’ve remembered what all the letters stand for, so it’s, in a right triangle, the sine of an angle is the ratio of the (length of the) opposite side to the hypotenuse (SOH), cosine is adjacent side to the hypotenuse (CAH), and tangent is opposite side over adjacent side (TOA). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mnemonic-devices-you-remember-except-you-forgot-the-thing-theyre-supposed-to-help-you-remember/964041.md?page=4)