# What have you memorized, intentionally or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2023, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972 "2023-04-20T13:24:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/1 "2023-04-20T13:24:40Z")
Here is the most mundane and miscellaneous and pointless and personal of questions: what things have you committed to memory, whether on purpose or just by happenstance? Possibilities include: - Songs - Poems - Parts of plays, movies, TV shows - Phone numbers, addresses, etc. - Credit card, Social Security numbers, etc. - Anything else you’re particularly proud of. Feel free to relate any interesting stories about how you happened to memorize these things, or perhaps conversely, things you want to remember but can’t. (Like practically all phone numbers, now that we have offloaded our memory into our phones.) For me, in the order listed above, - My elementary school song (“Towson Elementary, we love you…”) - Almost all the lyrics of almost all the songs by the Beatles. - “Madeira, m’dear” by Flanders and Swann - Jabberwocky - I’ve never been an actor, so no character parts, but like most people, I can recite snippets of things from Shakespeare to Monty Python. - My wife’s phone number, and my mother’s (which is the one I grew up with), but not my father’s or my sister’s. - I make a point of memorizing the credit card we use most, so I can enter it when ordering online or on the phone. And I know my SSN. What are yours? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/2 "2023-04-20T13:32:46Z")
About a hundred or so songs on the guitar. A lot of 80s metal, classic rock, and blues. It’s entirely muscle memory. If you asked me the chords of “[song]” I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I could play it for you without even thinking about it. I pick up a guitar and my hands just do it. The full lyrics to countless hip-hop songs primarily from the 90s. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/3 "2023-04-20T13:40:52Z")
“One hen, two ducks, three squawking geese…” And Jabberwocky. Oh, also “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “Love Potion #9”. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/4 "2023-04-20T13:41:11Z")
Way too many musical compositions to list, including the entirety of Vivaldi’s Gloria[ and a substantial portion of Handel’s Messiah as a tenor and as a baritone. The preamble to the Declaration of Independence for 7th grade. Ozymandias for 5th grade. The times tables up through 9x9, required by my 4th grade teacher. All the conversions between millidays and hours:minutes:seconds at 15 minute intervals and at 25 milliday intervals, utterly useless for anything except my own entertainment. SMFA700A9F4 PCFA G for exiting out of a seized-up program under Mac System 6 on a 68K box, if you have the debugger installed. In fourth grade I had all the then-known moons in the solar system memorized in order (innermost to outermost for each planet). ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/5 "2023-04-20T13:41:14Z")
When I was in HS I listened to Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_ album so much I could literally recite it end to end. There are a few other records like that: I’m pretty sure I could karaoke all of Leonard Cohen’s _The Future_ (had I a singing voice). I also had some George Carlin records in my walkman so much for a time that I could reel off his routines; the Hair poem was a favorite and I can probably still do it now, thirty years later. As DCnDC cited above, plenty of hip-hop songs as well: “Bring the Noise,” “I’m Your Pusher” and “Crackhouse” still flow fairly easily for me. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/6 "2023-04-20T13:49:01Z")
I still remember the landline number my wife had when I met her in 1986. Not only that, but her mother’s number too, which I had occasion to use somewhat regularly since her mother’s house was a nexus for their family activities. I can’t, however, remember the cell phone number she has today. Knowing this, she finds opportunities every once in a while to bust my chops over it. “I don’t have to know it,” I tell her. “It’s on my phone.” To which she replies, “What if you don’t have your phone and you need to call me?” My comeback is that if I don’t have my phone, how can I call her??? But we both know that’s weak because if push comes to shove, I’m likely to have other phones available if I take some initiative. Similarly, I still remember the account number for the checking account I had at National City Bank back when we met. They subsequently merged with PNC, and I still haven’t committed the new account number to memory (which, really, is no longer new). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/7 "2023-04-20T13:50:35Z")
LiBeBCNOFNe NaMgAlSiPSClAr These are not remembered as lines of the periodic table, but as words. Liebeebuhcuhnoffknee and Nahmigalsipsklar, repeated ad nauseum by Mr Naumann in Chemistry class. October 15th was the day I learned about Supplementary and Complementary Angles. I know this because anytime someone in Geometry didn’t apply these rules correctly Mr. Sapko would scream out the date we learned it “and you STILL don’t remember it!” Mrs. Cheesesteak’s SSN, this definitely makes banking and taxes easier. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/8 "2023-04-20T13:52:35Z")
I unfortunately remember too much sports trivia and sports color commentary. My mind can reproduce pretty accurately stuff like, _“Aikman back to throw, Harper’s breaking away, Harper’s got midfield, Harper’s got the 30, Harper’s got the 20”_ or the score of particular games (I became consulted as some sort of live encyclopedia about sports on some occasions.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/9 "2023-04-20T13:55:28Z")
0118999881999119725…3 [for context.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWc3WY3fuZU) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/10 "2023-04-20T13:59:30Z")
I was my little brother’s best man. For my toast I recited Bob Dylan’s _Forever Young_. The only dry eyes in the house were his MIL’s. She thought that I’d written the poem and found it cringeworthy (she told my brother this). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/11 "2023-04-20T14:06:21Z")
Every single _School House Rock_ song from Saturday mornings in the 1970s. Even ones I only heard a couple times. There are top ten songs I’ve heard on the radio far more frequently, but the lyrics don’t stick the same way SHR songs have. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/12 "2023-04-20T14:06:26Z")
A Elbereth Gilthoniel Silivren penna miriel O menel aglar elenath Na chaired palandiriel Fanuilos le linnathon nef aiar si nef airon (A _Lord of the Rings_ reference, for those of you who do not share our OCD.) ---
**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:** [April 20, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/13 "2023-04-20T14:08:05Z")
The monarchs of England/Great Britain/the UK. (Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee / Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three…) Pi to twenty decimal places. (Sir, I send a rhyme excelling…) Had to memorise the Gettysburg Address in 8th grade, but have since forgotten most of it. And of course I had to memorise all sorts of lists, piping diagrams, &c when I was in the Navy, though I’ve forgotten most of that information, too. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/14 "2023-04-20T14:08:27Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > About a hundred or so songs on the guitar. A lot of 80s metal, classic rock, and blues. It’s entirely muscle memory. Good one. I forgot to suggest instrumental performing. Back when I still had a piano I had memorized a number of pieces, ragtime mostly, but it’s been years, and if I sat down at a keyboard now I probably couldn’t get all the way through most of them. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/15 "2023-04-20T14:11:33Z")
From High School English, MacBeth’s speech at the end of the play, “I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet…” ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/16 "2023-04-20T14:14:16Z")
When I was maybe 13 or 14 years old (1973 ish), a friend of mine, to kill time on a bus ride, had a contest to see who could memorize the serial number on a dollar bill one of us had. FF9295947 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/17 "2023-04-20T14:19:38Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > The preamble to the Declaration of Independence for 7th grade. Do you mean the Preamble to the Constitution (We the People) ? I have that and the first (long) sentence of the Declaration (When in the course of human events…). > [@](#): > > The times tables up through 9x9, required by my 4th grade teacher. That’s so embedded I didn’t even think of it. We did 10x10, although I understand that lots of people learned 12x12. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/18 "2023-04-20T14:31:59Z")
I have memorized the birthdays of my family members sufficiently well that I am usually able to remember at least one of them each year. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/19 "2023-04-20T14:46:58Z")
Pretty much all the lyrics to the Beastie Boys album, _Paul’s Boutique._ I listened to it many hundreds of times, start to finish. Also, lyrics to a lot of Bob Dylan songs including some that are quite long like _Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts_ (that song gets me in the feels in one of the closing lines: “Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair”…not sure why. Always has, always will). ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972/20 "2023-04-20T14:50:49Z")
I know a few close friend and family phone numbers by heart, my National Insurance number (UK equivalent of SSN), my bank account and credit card numbers, and the kings of England since 1066 (as per the rhyme already mentioned) - but not their dates. The one I’m most pointlessly proud of though, and that I’ve never had occasion to use until now, is this - so thanks for the opportunity! Why I memorised it, I do not know. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published, and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-you-memorized-intentionally-or-not/982972.md?page=2)