# What dumb little joke made a fact stick in your head? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 28, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088 "2013-06-28T03:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/41 "2013-06-28T20:59:23Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > That’s the one I came in to mention. Let’s see if I can do the whole song by memory: > > Albania, Albania, you border on the Adriatic; > Your land is mountainous, > and your chief export is chrome. Close. Albania, Albania! You border on the Adriatic. Your terrain is mostly mountainous, And your major export is chrome. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/42 "2013-06-28T21:57:08Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > 4th grade teacher - “There is a rat in separate”. Our fourth-grade reading book said the same thing… ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/43 "2013-06-28T22:01:17Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > As long as we’re on mnemonics, I will add “King Philip Can Order Fairly Good Suppers”–Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. > [@jayrey](#): > > My anatomy and physiology prof taugt us: > > “Kittens Playing Checkers on Frogs Going Swimming.” My 7th grade science teacher taught it “King Philip Came Over From Germany Stoned.” He was kind of awesome. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/44 "2013-06-28T22:03:11Z")
Thank God My Kinky Mother Understands Nuclear Power [or Naval Policy]. Tera, Giga, Mega, Kilo, Milli, Micro, Nano, Pico (T, G, M, k, m, μ, n, p) Camels Often Sit Down Mighty Precariously. Perhaps Their Joints Creak? Preventative Early Oiling Might Prevent Premature Rusting. Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississipian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/45 "2013-06-28T22:19:57Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > My 7th grade science teacher taught it “King Philip Came Over From Germany Stoned.” > > He was kind of awesome. My 9th grade bio teacher (Mr Kolis) taught us: Kolis Plays Cards on Friday and Gets Skunked ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/46 "2013-06-29T08:55:01Z")
It’s well known that students of the sciences (medical students above all, I gather) love lewd-and-rude memory-helping devices, for the remembering via initial letters, of lists of “whatever”. I recall from my schooldays, a splendid one of such being invented. There were present, myself and a couple of roommates; we were sixteen or seventeen. One guy needed a mnemonic for a particularly tricky thing – subject biology, IIRC. Another – a brilliant fellow, although a non-scientist – obliged him by thinking up the following: “No parson can p\*\*\* in church as subtly as can Mr. Zadok, although many s\*\*\* silently.” I’m not a scientist either, and have no idea what it was that had to be memorised; but I loved the menemonic, and remember it almost fifty years later. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/47 "2013-06-29T09:01:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Close. > > Albania, Albania! > You border on the Adriatic. > Your terrain is mostly mountainous, > And your major export is chrome. Half a dozen posts or so in the thread, about this one – an “offering” totally new to me. As a Briton, I’m wondering whether this is an “in” thing which I’m not getting; or whether Americans are weirdly obsessed with Albania – a country which strikes me (no offence meant to Albanians) as pretty low-profile and of limited interest. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/48 "2013-06-29T12:14:27Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Half a dozen posts or so in the thread, about this one – an “offering” totally new to me. As a Briton, I’m wondering whether this is an “in” thing which I’m not getting; or whether Americans are weirdly obsessed with Albania – a country which strikes me (no offence meant to Albanians) as pretty low-profile and of limited interest. It was a scene on the very popular tv show _Cheers_. But even given that (and I was the first one to mention it, so clearly it stuck in my head), I am surprised how many people remember this! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/49 "2013-06-29T12:16:28Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Half a dozen posts or so in the thread, about this one – an “offering” totally new to me. As a Briton, I’m wondering whether this is an “in” thing which I’m not getting; or whether Americans are weirdly obsessed with Albania – a country which strikes me (no offence meant to Albanians) as pretty low-profile and of limited interest. The whole _point_ is that it’s low-profile and of limited interest: a former athlete is trying to pass a class, and has to learn facts about various countries – and so his old coach figures he’ll be able to memorize stuff more easily if it’s in song form. _“Churchill led the Brits in WWII”_ ain’t funny, since it’s inspiring and important and you’d expect him to know it already. But singing a jaunty little tune about how Albania borders the Adriatic and its chief export is chrome? That’s funny, because it’s obscure to the point of being off-the-wall; Woody Allen used to throw in stuff like that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/50 "2013-06-29T12:46:14Z")
Thanks, ITD and TOWP: I get it now. I believe _Cheers_ was screened over here; but I don’t watch television, so would have been oblivious in any case. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/51 "2013-06-29T19:22:06Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Close. > > Albania, Albania! > You border on the Adriatic. > Your terrain is mostly mountainous, > And your major export is chrome. Closer, but not quite: Albania, Albania! You border on the Adriatic. Your land is mostly mountainous, And your chief export is chrome. You can [watch the scene here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_tT-q8EF0) ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/52 "2013-06-30T01:17:44Z")
I learned righty tighty lefty loosy from another girl when we were probably 12. Can’t remember now how the subject even came up, but I haven’t forgotten it 20 years later. ---
**Author:** ![bauble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@bauble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bauble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/53 "2013-07-02T14:16:15Z")
Sex On Holidays Can Advance Happiness To Outrageous Aptitudes (Sine = Opposite / Hypotenuse, Cosine = Adjacent / Hypotenuse, Tangent = Opposite / Adjacent …if I remembered that right) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/54 "2013-07-02T15:03:36Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Why do mathematicians confuse Halloween with Christmas? > Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/55 "2013-07-02T15:44:55Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > ??? 31 in Octal is the same as 25 in Decimal ((3 x 8) + 1)=25) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/56 "2013-07-02T15:48:53Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > 31 in Octal is the same as 25 in Decimal ((3 x 8) + 1)=25) Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/57 "2013-07-02T17:17:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > ‘AU’ for gold, right? Okay, a mugger takes your gold watch, and as he’s running away you say _“A! U! Gimme back my watch!”_ > > - The Facts of Life I’ve used this one, myself! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/58 "2013-07-02T17:26:12Z")
In gross anatomy I came up with “Portia’s toes, long and scaly, have corns, terrible and tremendous” to remember the carpal bones in the wrist.\* (Portia was an elderly spaniel we had at the time). \*(pisiform,triquetrum, lunate, scaphoid, hamate, capitate, trapezoid, trapezium) **A famous med school mnemonic for cranial nerves goes, "On Old Olympus’ topmost top, a fat-(armed)**\* German viewed a hop." \*\*\*yeah, right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/59 "2013-07-02T17:46:45Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Everything I know about the Bible, I learned from Andrew Lloyd Weber. Nitpick #1–It’s Andrew Lloyd Webber, dammit! Nitpick #2–Lyrics by Tim Rice ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088/60 "2013-07-02T18:04:23Z")
“If it bites you and you die, it was venomous. If you eat it and you die, it was poisonous.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dumb-little-joke-made-a-fact-stick-in-your-head/662088.md?page=4)