# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![paa3838](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@paa3838](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paa3838)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/101 "2003-11-27T08:51:58Z")
> [@](#): > > The first eighteen lines (I think) of Caunterbury Tales in (Middle) English. Dang, why is this so popular? This is my answer, too. And that was for an 11th grade english class 12 years ago! ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/102 "2003-11-27T08:55:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paa3838 \* > \*\*Dang, why is this so popular? This is my answer, too. And that was for an 11th grade english class 12 years ago! \*\* There is nothing useless about Chaucer… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/103 "2003-11-27T11:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by badmana \* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Call me Frank_ > > 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 > > **Nah, it’s for super mario bros, but I think it was a generic code used those days…** Noooo!!! That code wasn’t for Super Mario Bros! The Konami Code: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A (select) Start Most remember it as the **thirty** lives code in Contra. Oh, and: Ha-do-ken: Down, down-forward, forward, punch Shoryuken: Forward, down, down-forward, punch ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/104 "2003-11-28T05:45:43Z")
Ah, another one: high punch, low punch, high punch, low punch, low kick, low kick, back+high kick (Kung Lao combo for Mortal Kombat 3). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/105 "2003-11-28T07:29:49Z")
Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesoniononasesameseedbun. OLive 1-5407 (the phone number in the house from which we moved in 1966). On the other hand, I can still recite all of _Jabberwocky_ and the complete _Yarn of the Nancy Bell_ with inflection and I do not consider either of those to be useless. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/106 "2003-11-28T08:36:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > Also, I know the cheats to the Doom games (at least Doom I and Doom II) by sheer muscle memory. IDDQD IDKFA IDSPISPOPD. I wonder how _that_ happened… 😉 Doom 1 there … the first is God mode, IIRC, the second is all weapons, and the third is clipping … off? And then there’s the code for … Mortal Kombat? up down left right A right down gets you into this funky mode that makes it really easy to get fatality victories. I had the periodic table memorized at one point to disturbing degrees of depth, and the known genealogy of my father’s family several generations back (you want to know what Henry Mills Alden was doing in his 30s? When his kids were born? What day his christening was? Yes, I was and am a dork). ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/107 "2003-11-28T09:29:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Merhouse \* > \*\*CPE 1704 TKS 🙂 \*\* Odd, that’s exactly what I was going to post. And I haven’t seen that film in years. ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/108 "2003-11-28T11:10:25Z")
I’m just going to be cynical here… just for a split-millisecond… and say my Marriage Vows… they certainly turned out TOTALLY Useless! _cynical attitude has now passed_ … Whhhooooooosssshhh! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/109 "2003-11-28T12:21:50Z")
The Gettysburg Address. The Cremation of Sam McGee Bill the Bomber My Masonic Ritual (for Maryland, Missouri, Panama and Germany, all so similar, all so different). ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/110 "2003-11-28T13:34:07Z")
Every major-party presidential and vice-presidential candidate in American presidential elections since 1948. (I’m not American.) ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/111 "2003-11-28T13:39:54Z")
The password to get to level 15 in Lemmings for the Mac is HMLICINMEP (haven’t played this game for about a decade). It’s a cool level, too. Furthermore, Mario used to be called Jump Man, and the M. Bison and Balrog characters from Street fighter used to have their names the other way around (they changed it because M. Bison on a boxer sounded too much like Mike Tyson). I also know the that All Your Base came from a Genesis game called Zero Wing, by Toaplan. And all the words from that intro. 🙂 ~ Isaac ---
**Author:** ![alibey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alibey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alibey)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/112 "2003-11-28T19:07:34Z")
nameing the connections from Napolean’s army to Apollo 11. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/113 "2003-11-28T22:16:57Z")
The helping verbs (like **ccwaterback** except in a different order): is am are was were have has had do does did might may can would could should will shall must be being been Edgar Allan Poe’s _The Raven_. etaoin shrdlu (letters most used in the English language, from the comic strip Pogo, and I believe it was a Straight Dope column as well) The lyrics to way too many 80’s alternative songs. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/114 "2003-11-28T23:27:14Z")
The free first 6 levels of Doom. I played those so much they’re burned into my brain. The opening of the 50s Superman TV show with George Reeves, keeping very close to the original tone, emphasis, and rhythm. While reading about old letter prefixes for phone numbers, I recalled the phone number for the apartment my family lived in before we got a house when I was about 9. Geek points: I realized the last 4 digits, 8191, is 2¹³-1. That means I haven’t thought about the number at least since I became a programmer, over 30 years ago, or else I probably would have remembered making the connection. ---
**Author:** ![dal\_timgar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dal\_timgar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dal_timgar)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/115 "2003-11-29T02:43:52Z")
I spelled a word wrong that no one would ever ask me to spell. I’m SO upset! I think our educational system failed to make me sufficiently compulsive. That word is useless isn’t it. ---
**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 29, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/116 "2003-11-29T07:14:00Z")
iddqd idkfa idspispopd As soon as I read the mention of Doom codes, I averted my eyes and tried to think of them. I couldn’t, but lo and behold, I was able to type them with hardly a typo. I’ve played piano sporatically throughout my life, and I have very good muscle memory in my fingers (hence the codes). I can play songs that I haven’t touched in ages with fantastic accuracy, but only if I’m sufficiently distracted. If I think for just one moment about what’s coming up, I freeze. My ctrl+esc p q (1, 2 or 3) sequence for loading quakes 1 two or 3 in windows is similarly burned into my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/117 "2003-11-29T09:14:46Z")
Ah, yes - iddqd for degreelessness, idkfa for Keys, Firearms, and Armour (or just idfa for that without keys), idspispopd for no clipping in Doom 1 or idclip for Doom 2, idclevXX for level skip, idmusXX for music change, idbeholdX for powerup toggle… I can’t think of any others. The real question, though, is this: Does anyone know _why_ the letters ‘dqd’ appear in the god mode cheat? ~ Isaac ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/118 "2003-11-29T10:50:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chefguy \* > \*\*And of course, that should be _Marc Anthony’s_ soliloquy. Told you it was useless. \*\* Do you mean “Friends, Romans, countrymen” or “O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers.”? ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/119 "2003-11-29T11:42:41Z")
Tunic button configuration for Foot Guards regiments: - Eight equally spaced buttons for Grenadier Guards - Four groups of two for Coldstream Guards - Three groups of three for Scots Guards - Two groups of four for Irish Guards - Two groups of five for Welsh Guards ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244/120 "2003-11-29T17:21:56Z")
George’s ‘bergen’ soliliquy in Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” “When I was sixteen and going to prep school…” “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service “The Congo” a helluva poem by someone whose name I’ve forgotten. Fat black bucks in a wine barrel room Barrel house kings with feet unstable Sagged and reeled and pounded on the table Pounded on the table Beat an empty barrel with the handle of a broom Hard as they were able Boom boom boom With a silk umbrella and the handle of a broom Boomlay boomlay boomlay boom." And it goes on [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-useless-thing-memorized/215244.md?page=7)