# Most Useless Thing Memorized? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 25, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244 "2003-11-25T20:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/41 "2003-11-26T03:35:33Z")
“I’m a cranky old Yank, from a clanky old tank, on the streets of Yokohama with my Honalulu mama, singing those beat-o beat-o flat on my seat-o Hiroheto blues” Not perfect on the spelling. This ,I belive is the longest song title. Tell me if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/42 "2003-11-26T04:05:56Z")
**badmana** , if that is the code to get 50 lives in Contra for NES, I thought it was: up up, down down, left right, left right, B A, B A, select, start ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/43 "2003-11-26T04:14:33Z")
Oh right…useless things I’ve memorized include: sqrt of 1 = 1 sqrt of 2 = 1.414213562373 (alright, it came in handy in Geometry) sqrt of 3 = 1.73205080756 (again, geometry) the longest word in the english language _is[/_ pneumonalultramicroscopicosilicovolcanoconiosis…45 letters, if I spelled it correctly A really long German word is “Donaudampfschiffmeisterinshutt” which is a female river boat captain’s hat…(incidentally, the German word for liquid manure channel is jaucherinne, in case anyone was dying to know) The file path to my IM log files is C:\program files rillian\users\default\logs I can identify 99% of all ST:TNG episodes after 10-15 seconds…neat parlor trick, I suppose Ya know, I’ll stop listing and just say I’ve been told I’m a wealth of useless knowledge… ---
**Author:** ![0rbytal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/0/65b543/32.png) [@0rbytal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/0rbytal)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/44 "2003-11-26T04:16:36Z")
I can say it perfectly… can’t spell it correctly, so I will phoneticize the parts I can’t spell: “Por favor me tengo se alehadros de las puertas.” «—translation—» “Please stand clear of the doors.” I memorized that phrase from riding on the monorail at Disneyworld about 20 times… they said that phrase EVERY TIME. It’s the only spanish i know. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/45 "2003-11-26T04:34:42Z")
is am are was were be being been has have had do does did shall will should would may might must can could ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/46 "2003-11-26T04:42:27Z")
“_Felis cattus_ is your taxonomic nomenclature, An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature…” ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/47 "2003-11-26T04:46:38Z")
“Geordi, I cannot stun my own cat…” ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/48 "2003-11-26T04:50:07Z")
Roy G Biv (the order of the colours in a spectrum/rainbow - the first letter of each colour - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/49 "2003-11-26T05:09:56Z")
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta. . . ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/50 "2003-11-26T05:13:24Z")
Also, from my childhood… “30 days hath September, April, June and November. 31 the others date, excepting February - 28. In a Leap Year we assign February 29.” ---
**Author:** ![Naive\_Theory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Naive\_Theory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naive_Theory)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/51 "2003-11-26T05:18:18Z")
While completely useless, memorizing 660 digits of pi is pretty impressive. I often trip on the first 5, and call it a 6. I’m curious, can any of you folks write an algorithm that will produce the digits of the irrational numbers that you’ve memorized? That would have taken far less time to learn than it would have to memorize the numbers. ---
**Author:** ![C8H10N4O2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc8723/32.png) [@C8H10N4O2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C8H10N4O2)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/52 "2003-11-26T05:35:44Z")
I can name every single helping verb in the English language (there are 23 of them) ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/53 "2003-11-26T05:39:28Z")
The method of compression of a bitmap (BMP) image is at the 31st byte in the bitmap. 00 - RGB, 01 - RLE 8, 02 - RLE 4, 03 - BitFields. The two bytes just before that (29th and 30th) are the number of bits per pixel. This was actually pretty useful just recently, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rock\_Altoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@Rock\_Altoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rock_Altoid)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/54 "2003-11-26T05:49:39Z")
I can name all fifty US States in order alphabetically. I can say the Greek and French alphabets just as fast as I can say the English one. I can name every single element on the Periodic Table of the Elements, in order, including the rows under the table. And I can put down the symbol for each element. I can name all thirty cities that host an NHL team, the team’s name, and at least one current player from each team. Oh, and I can recite scads of poetry that I’ve had to learn, but that’s not quite so useless to me now. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/55 "2003-11-26T05:53:02Z")
My parents’ phone number from the house and town where we lived in 1969. I was told to memorize that number, and if I ever became lost, to give that number to a policeman. I’m thirty-nine now, but if I ever get lost… well… I’m screwed. That number’s been inactive since 1972, so far as I know, and I can’t remember their phone number NOW to save my life… ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/56 "2003-11-26T06:04:44Z")
The Monty Python sketch on word association, spoken by Cleese: Tonights the night I shall be talking about of flu the subject of word association football. This is a technique out a living much used …" and on and on and on. The periodic table (not the lanthanides and actinides :() - but that is useful. Wow pi to 660 places. I only know pi to 9 decimal places. The same number as shown on a calculator. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/57 "2003-11-26T06:18:16Z")
My sister’s phone number from oh, about 8 years ago. And my locker combination from the same year, number 96. 49-25-45. I had 69 to start with, but it was a top locker, and in seventh grade I was too short to reach the lock. That combination was 1-7-27. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/58 "2003-11-26T08:24:14Z")
I had this conversation with a friend at work one time and he came up with one I’ve never been able to top. I was pulling out all the useless things I know, and he just stumped me. He said “I know the name of Sir. Isaac Newton’s dog”. I looked at him funny and said, “Why the hell would you devote brain cells to the name of Sir Isaac Newton’s dog? Is it funny or something? Is his dog’s name ‘Appleton’ or something that would stick?” “Nope,” he said “the dog’s name was Diamond.” I still can’t top that one. I’ve got a lot of fairly useless knowledge, but I can’t beat out having memorized the name of Sir Isaac Newton’s dog. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/59 "2003-11-26T08:32:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jenaroph \* > \*\*“_Felis cattus_ is your taxonomic nomenclature, > An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature…” \*\* Oh, I memorized that, too! I probably still know it, even. I also know this bit from the Simpsons: _Mein bratwurst has a first name, It’s F-R-I-T-Z! Mein bratwurst has a second name, It’s S-C-H-N-A-C-K-E-N-P-F-E-F-F-E-R-H-A-U-S-E-N!_ I also know how many times the word _tongue_ appears in Shakespeare’s _Richard II_. (In case you’re wondering? Thirty-two.) 😃 And I know scads of poetic and literary stuff but that’s _hardly_ useless. ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/60 "2003-11-26T12:36:52Z")
The [tourist’s incredibly lengthy rant](http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~beej/travelagent.html) from Monty Python’s Travel Agent Sketch. Everything from the line ‘Yes, I quite agree with you’ (halfway down page) right down to the bottom, ending at ‘and you can’t sleep anyway’. This has no use. Except for impressing other MP fans. But I don’t encounter them much outside of the internet, so it’s mostly useless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244.md?page=4)