My daughter is in 4th grade. She learned: “My very educated mother just served us nachos”
A law school one:
A Hooker ON Every Corner
(Of course, meaning the elements for adverse possession: Actual, Hostile, Open and Notorious, Exclusive, and Continuous)
I heard it was “Farmer Green’s Shed”, not “Farmers’ Green Sections”.
This is obviously a cheat, and a funny self-negating one. Interesting.
In high school chemistry, we were told to remember two guys named Gerry and Leo.
“LEO” stood for "a Loss in Electrons is Oxidation. whereas GERry reminded us that “a Gain in Electrons is Reduction.”
This reminds me of a molecular biology one- Agarose gel electrophoresis is a method of separating pieces of DNA based on fragment size, using DNA’s negative charge. You place the DNA in a gel, so as the positive charge pulls on the DNA, the larger pieces move slowly and smaller pieces zip through the pores of the gel. When you set up the equipment you need to make sure you hook up the power supply correctly, so the DNA moves through the gel towards the positive pole. The electrodes are color coded.
Blacktop means remember the black electrode must be at the top of the gel.
Run to Red, is the reverse- make sure you have the red electrode near the bottom of the gel, so the DNA moves towards it.
According to George Gamow, there are ten classes, O B A F G K M R N S
“Oh, be a fine girl, kiss me right now. Smack!”
Another version: LEO is the lion, and GER is his growl.
Florence vs. Erlenmeyer flasks:- Florence is a girl’s name, and the Florence flask is the one with the round bottom.
This is quite amusing to me; a mnemonic that seems to require more knowledge than what it’s being used to remember. ROY G BIV works great for kids because it involves silly little syllables that aren’t too hard for small children to remember. The notion of having six year olds recite the one about Richard of York (who?) giving battle (what does that mean?) in vain (huh?) is super cute to me. But I’m taking it, because it will make me feel more grown-up when I recite it to myself in a sing-songy voice if I need to remember the order.
Eli the Iceman (phase relationships in AC circuits):
ELI => voltage (E) leads current (I) in an inductive (L) circuit
ICE => current (I) leads voltage (E) in a capacitive © circuit
Some years ago, there was a short-lived series on Comedy Central called TV Funhouse, a send-up of kids shows. It featured an occasional '50s-style educational film series titled “Mneumonics, Our Dear, Dear Friend”, which featured some truly vulgar mneumonics for remembering, say, the five stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance): “Drink Alcohol Before Doing Anal”.
On the plus side, I learned a number of these in my religion classes that, not so regrettably, I’ve forgotten. The only two I really remember are BAPTISM (each of the letters start the name of an apostle–if like Indiana Jones you know that I is really J and that some have more than one answer), and “Won’t u come for pizza Fonzie? No!” (the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit–Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, Fear of God, and Knowledge).
And if you want obscure–in Latin class “She Wears a Diamond Tiara” is supposed to remind you of the vowel changes in the present subjunctive for the various verb conjugations (3rd -io included).
We beat a liar.
We eat caviar.
These are great. As soon as I submit this I’ll try the apostle one on my general knowledge.
The Holy Spirit has always been kind of hazy to me–and I’m sure I speak for millions of Christians also :)–but I’ll learn it just for the Hell of it.
I only went to Hebrew school, where I’ll be damned if I can remember a single, solitary thing.
From my high school math teacher:
Saddle Our Horses
Canter Along Happily
To Other Adventures
Oddly enough, his initials were TOA.
My long ago science teacher must have been presentient:
Morning Ventilation Enhances My Joy So Uncommonly Nice . . . uh, Pluto.
One I learned from a music humour book for the order of sharps is “Father Christmas Gets Diarrhea After Eating Biscuits.” I must admit, I do still use that mnemonic. I wouldn’t recommend teaching that to children learning music, though.
What I’ve never understood about this is the inclusion of indigo…
I now work in retail. Cashiers are told to remember Bob, Lisa and Sam:
BOB - Bottom Of Basket (make sure there’s nothing on the shelf under the shopping cart)
LISA - Look InSide All (make sure the customer isn’t trying to smuggle something out inside a larger item)
SAM - Scan All Merchandise
::hijack::
[Bloom muses while walking home after jacking off on the beach in the late afternoon, 6/16/1904]
…Best time to spray plants too in the shade after the sun. Some light still. Red rays are longest. Roygbiv Vance taught us: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. A star I see. Venus? Can’t tell yet. Two, when three it’s night…
[a jillion pages later, in a hallucinatory play where he is temporarily the Lord High Mayor, he ups the ante (Joyce wrote this passage years later]
BLOOM
(Shaking hands with a blind stripling.) My more than Brother! (Placing his arms round the shoulders of an old couple.) Dear old friends! (He plays pussy fourcorners with ragged boys and girls.) Peep! Bopeep! (He wheels twins in a perambulator.) Ticktacktwo wouldyousetashoe? (He performs juggler’s tricks, draws red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet silk handkerchiefs from his mouth.) Roygbiv. 32 feet per second. (He consoles a widow.) Absence makes the heart grow younger. (He dances the Highland fling with grotesque antics.) Leg it, ye devils! (He kisses the bedsores of a palsied veteran.) Honourable wounds! (He trips up a fat policeman.) U.p.: up. U.p.: up. (He whispers in the ear of a blushing waitress and laughs kindly.) Ah, naughty, naughty! (He eats a raw turnip offered him by Maurice Butterly, farmer.) Fine! Splendid! (He refuses to accept three shillings offered him by Joseph Hynes, journalist.) My dear fellow, not at all! (He gives his coat to a beggar.) Please accept. (He takes part in a stomach race with elderly male and female cripples.) Come on, boys! Wriggle it, girls!
It was important to Isaac Newton that there be seven colors in the spectrum of white light. Seven is a traditional magic number. Without indigo you would only have six. He went to a great deal of trouble to “prove” experimentally that none of these seven could be split further, into finer gradations of color. (Actually they can, of course, but in Newton’s later years, if you contradicted him he could, and would, destroy your scientific reputation.)
Especially if he wasn’t in the mood.
Newton was never in the mood.
(Yes, I get it.)