# What mneumonic visual/verbal devices do you use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370 "2006-06-12T02:07:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/1 "2006-06-12T02:07:07Z")
I was discussing with a friend various visual cues I use to remember things I’d otherwise have a hard time with. I’ll share mine, and if you have any share yours: 1. Days in a Month. You can also use the knuckles of the four fingers of your hand and the spaces between them to remember the lengths of the months. [ignore your thumb, please.] First make a fist, then begin listing each month as you proceed across your hand. All months landing on a knuckle are 31 days long and those landing between them are not (it’s up to you to figure out February). When you reach the knuckle of your little finger (July, 31 days), go back to the first knuckle and continue with August (31 days.)" 2. Left and Right. Hold your hands, palms outward from your face, backs facing you. Your left hands forefinger and thumb will form an “L”, meaning “Left”… process of elimination reveals which is the right. 😉 3. Turning of the screw… (not always true, but…) “Lefty’s Loosey, Righty’s Tighty.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/2 "2006-06-12T02:30:57Z")
The only holdover from a college Human Anatomy class: On Old Olympus Towering Top A Famous Vocal German Viewed Some Hops. The twelve cranial nerves: olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, spinal accessory, hypoglossal Handy ones I teach my students: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived (CAJACC) Even Necker Liked Ice Cream, Didn’t he? (Estates General, National Assembly, Legislative Assembly, Insurrectionary Commune, Convention, Directory) ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/3 "2006-06-12T02:50:37Z")
I’ve been studying for my medical technologist exam, and I have tons of these. Which red cell antigens are enhanced by enzyme treatment? I think of a bad western whodunit movie: Lewis PI and the Rh Kidd. How to tell _Proteus vulgaris_ from _Proteus mirabilis_? Sticking things **in** is vulgar, so _P. vulgaris_ is **in** dole positive. The choroacetate special stain is positive in neutrophils but not monocytes. Neutrophils are granulocytes - I think of chlorine granules for a swimming pool. Desmin is a marker for cells derived from muscle, so I picture a big guy named Desmond lifting weights. About 65% of cholesterol in the body is attached to a fatty acid in the blood stream, and 35% is free. So it’s like a sale, where you get 35% free. Because you’d _never_ get 65% free! It’s not mnemonics, really, but it’s silly stupid stories and visuals I create for myself to help remember tough stuff. And I honestly think that most of my knowledge is stored in this way. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/4 "2006-06-12T03:09:19Z")
Bad Boys Ravage Our Young Girls, But Violet Gives Willingly. Black brown red orange yellow green blue violet grey white. (The color codes for electronic component numerical values.) Eli the Ice man. (Voltage leads current in an inductor, Current leads voltage in a capacitor) Tris ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/5 "2006-06-12T03:15:53Z")
I sometimes recall the visual from _Full Metal Jacket_ when reading discussions on firearms. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/6 "2006-06-12T03:20:43Z")
that reminds me: ROY G. BIV I say he’s the man who invented the rainbow because it helps figure out the color scheme - Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/7 "2006-06-12T03:29:21Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Bad Boys Ravage Our Young Girls, But Violet Gives Willingly. Black brown red orange yellow green blue violet grey white. > (The color codes for electronic component numerical values.) > Eli the Ice man. (Voltage leads current in an inductor, Current leads voltage in a capacitor) > > Tris I was just coming in to post “Bad beer rots our young guts, but vodka goes well” and you beat me! 😛 Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally is how I got thru algebra (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction, the order of operations.) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/8 "2006-06-12T06:18:08Z")
Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me! (star classification) And there are tons of visualizations for remembering how to write kanji. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/9 "2006-06-12T06:19:10Z")
I don’t use mnemonics, but my friends in cell biology have taken to using “Before Sex Grab Lubricated Condoms” for the layers of the epidermis - basale, spinosum, granulosum, lucidum and corneum. ---
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/10 "2006-06-15T16:42:10Z")
HOMES for the great lakes is another one. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/11 "2006-06-15T17:17:12Z")
I remember Leap Years because they’re in prez election years… extra day for the politicians to talk talk talk. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/12 "2006-06-15T17:24:20Z")
\*\*Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Sand \*\* (for scientific classification: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) **Mark Van Egan Made Jack Shut Up, Not Peter** (Solar system’s planets outward from the sun: Mars, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) I’ve also found the rhyming mnemonic used to memorize lists of 10 items or less to be incredibly useful. The mnemonic is one:bun, two:shoe, three:tree, four:door, five:hive, six:sticks, seven:heaven, eight:gate, nine:vine, ten:hen. For example, to memorize a grocery list of grapes, tomatoes, cheese, crackers and wine, you’d visualize grapes in a hotdog bun, tomatoes in a shoe, cheese hanging from a tree, crackers propping open a door, and bees enjoying a fine Chardonnay in their hive. ---
**Author:** ![Vevila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@Vevila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vevila)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/13 "2006-06-15T17:49:22Z")
Never eat soggy wheat. The points of of a compass - someone told me that in high school and it has stuck with me ever since. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/14 "2006-06-15T18:29:20Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Bad Boys Ravage Our Young Girls, But Violet Gives Willingly. Black brown red orange yellow green blue violet grey white. > (The color codes for electronic component numerical values.) … > Tris A friend from Valparaiso Tech told me that one, but he added “Get Some Now” at the end. I forget what that stood for. I kept turning on the garbage disposal, because I couldn’t remember which switch was the light over the sink. :smack: So, now it’s “righty-lighty.” To remember which way to rotate the control rod to bring in sunlight through the blinds here by the computer, I think of screwing in a light bulb (for light) and unscrewing it (for darkness.) I pronounce all the syllables in “vegetable” to remember how to spell it. ---
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/15 "2006-06-15T23:20:43Z")
My friend a while ago a friend spelled definitely “definitaly”, so without tipping him off to what I was doing I asked him: “Would you say the universe is infinite or finite?” and he spent about five minutes explaining his theory on why he thought the universe was finite to which I simply said: “Now the next time you have to spell definitely, remember that you think the universe is finite and just add a de and a ly to the beginning and end.” He called me a dick but he says he’ll never forget how to spell it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/16 "2006-06-16T01:53:52Z")
I remember the musical staff mnemonics we used in early band class. For reference, here is a crude example of a treble staff. ```auto F ____________________ E D ____________________ C B ____________________ A G ____________________ F E ____________________ ``` Reading from the bottom up, the lines represent the notes E,G,B,D,F. We learned it as **E** very **G** ood **B** oy **D** oes **F** ine and **E** mpty **G** arbage **B** efore **D** ad **F** lips. Later on I heard some people used **E** very **G** ood **B** oy **D** eserves **F** avor. The spaces are the notes F, A, C, E, which, of course spells “face”. Since I only used the treble clef, I never did learn what they use for the bass clef. Perhaps someone else can chime in with some examples. I currently work as a travel agent. One of our training exercises was to memorize a series of three-letetr airport codes for certain US cities. Here are some of the mnemonics we used: SMF (Sacremento)- “The **sm** ur **f** s live in Sacremento.” My version, however, was to connect Sacremento to the band Twisted Sister, who has a song called “S.M.F.”, which stands for “sick motherfucker.” BNA (Nashville)- We thought of this as “fried **b** a **n** an **a** sandwiches”, for which Elvis is famous for liking. (I know, I know, he was from Memphis, not Nashville). SDF (Louisville, Kentucky)- “So damn fast”, as in the Kentucky Derby. Another, less flattering version was “Some Dumb Farmer”. OGG (Maui)- “ **O** h, **G** ood **G** od, I get to go to Maui!” CVG (Cinncinnati)- “That show, ‘WKRP in **C** inncinnatti’, is **V** ery **G** ood.” RSW (Fort Meyers, Florida)- They have **R** eally **S** unny **W** eather in Fort Meyers. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/17 "2006-06-16T02:10:32Z")
What I do is I have a small crew of interns. They have an armload of cue cards and a few color Sharpie markers. When I talk to a person and struggle with the name, my interns stand behind the person, scribble their name on the card and hold it up so I can see. They’re much more helpful in the bedroom, you know. Getting towels, glasses of water…that sort after a romp. ---
**Author:** ![Corporate\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Corporate\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporate_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/18 "2006-06-16T02:12:02Z")
When I first started working in 3D graphics packages, I tried to learn the different 3D coordinate systems according to the “left-hand” and “right-hand” specifications. (check out the cheesy illustration [here](http://www.euclideanspace.com/maths/geometry/coordinatesystems/index.htm) ) The whole hand thing confused me more than the coordinate system itself though, so eventually I just figured it out by practice. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/19 "2006-06-16T02:45:23Z")
Creative and inspired kissing satisfies sensuous females more often. For intermediates in the [Krebs cycle](http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~wfgale/usda_course/section0_images/section0_images_2_page_3/krebs_cycle.gif). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/20 "2006-06-16T09:04:58Z")
> [@remisser](#): > > that reminds me: > ROY G. BIV > I say he’s the man who invented the rainbow because it helps figure out the color scheme - > Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. I learned this one as Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (or, an alternative, suggested by my Physics teacher, Roll Over You Great Big Innocent Virgin) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370.md?page=2)