# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**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, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/21 "2006-06-16T09:07:14Z")
Oh, and it comes naturally to me now, but when I was learning about graphing coordinates (back in school), ‘X is a cross’ (i.e. the X axis is ‘across’ - horizontal) helped. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/22 "2006-06-16T12:40:46Z")
Oddly in my school we were taught the order of operations as BEDMAS - Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. For some reason I found BEDMAS kind of memorable on its own. I also learned the old Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (or Fun) musical mnemonic. And a friend of mine, who you will note is a bit strange, came up with You Go Back Before Penises Bulge to recall the values (from lowest to highest) of the coloured (non-red) snooker balls (Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink, Black). I kept the Bs straight by thinking of brown as beling “lighter” than blue, which itself was “lighter” than black. And, although not a mnemonic precisely, shop class caught me “A before O, or up you go!” as a means to remember to turn on the acetalene tank before the oxygen when igniting the torch or you risk an explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/23 "2006-06-16T13:01:38Z")
**Odd fellows fly east.** Aircraft operating VFR above 3,000 ft. AGL on a heading between 0º and 179º magnetic fly at odd thousands of feet plus 500 feet. **East is least, West is best.** The magnetic heading is less than the true headin when flying east, and greater than the true heading when flying west. **Can Vera make Tom dance without any toes?** Ceiling, visibility, pressure (millibars), temperature, dewpoint, wind (direction and speed), altimeter, remarks (trash). The format of an aviation SA report. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/24 "2006-06-16T13:50:32Z")
In my neck of the real estate woods, the Block is the Biggest Number, the Lot is the Little Number, and the Sublot is the Smallest Number. This keeps the legal descriptions right. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/25 "2006-06-16T15:04:52Z")
> [@remisser](#): > > HOMES for the great lakes is another one. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. Better is “Some Men Hate Each Other”, which gives you them in order. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/26 "2006-06-16T15:22:35Z")
The strings on a standard guitar (from low tone to high): **E** very **A** sshole **D** oes **G** ood **B** eing **E** vil. Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of Dying, a ala TV Funhouse: _Drink Alcohol Before Doing Anal_ **D** enial **A** nger **B** argaining **D** epression **A** cceptance ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/27 "2006-06-16T18:16:48Z")
My husband remembers that the tibia is the front bone in your lower leg because of a ski patrol instructor who said, “Think of a woman to remember the placement of the two bones: tits go in front.” I guess I haven’t forgotten it either. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/28 "2006-06-16T19:21:05Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > A friend from Valparaiso Tech told me that one, but he added “Get Some Now” at the end. I forget what that stood for. Gold, Silver, None. The final color band indicates the tolerance of the value - gold - 5%, silver - 10%, none - 20%. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/29 "2006-06-17T01:35:59Z")
**Johnny** beat to some of the aviation ones (darn!) but I have a few more It’s a ridiculous word, but it works for me: **TAAMFOODLES - T** achometer, **a** irspeed indicator, **a** ltimeter, **m** anifold pressure gauge, **f** uel indicator, **o** il pressure, **o** il temperature, **d** irection indicator, **l** anding gear indicator, and **e** mergency locator beacon, **s** eat restraint - minimum required equipment for day VFR flight, although some of it, such as manifold pressure and landing gear indicator, does not apply to planes lacking adjustable manifolds or retractable gear. **CIGAR - C** ontrols (free and correct), **I** nstruments (adjusted), **G** as (fullest tank), **A** ttitude (trim), **R** un-up. Essential pre-flight items. **GUMP - g** as, **u** ndercarriage, **m** ixture, **p** rop, or what you check (usually multiple times) before landing a complex airplane. That is, one with retractable gear and in-flight adjustable prop. **CCCC - C** limb, **C** onfess, **C** ommunicate, **C** omply. What you do when lost. **ABCD - A** cre to land on, **B** est glide (speed), **C** hecklist for restart, **D** eclare you have a problem. What you do when the engine quits. **CAVU - C** eiling **a** nd **V** isibility **U** nlimited. Excellent flying weather (unless the wind is at 60 knots) **Dive into the wind and climb away from it** - helps in remembering how to adjust the controls for cross-wind correction. And I’m sure there are others but I’m kinda tired tonight and can’t remember more. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/30 "2006-06-20T05:28:32Z")
The way I memorized most of the _kanji_ I know was to make a memonic story based on the constituent parts, link it to the meaning and, if possible, a reading also. Sometimes it’s pretty easy, sometimes you have to strain things pretty badly to get a story out of it. For example, this character is [zatsu](http://japanese.about.com/blkod714.htm) or zoô. The top left element is “nine,” directly below it is “tree” and the right side is “bird.” The character means miscellaneous or mixed. _ **Zoô** you see, in nine trees, **zatsu** miscellaneous mixed birds._ You don’t need to use this crutch for long once you start actually using it, but this strategy is especially valuable to remember the difference between easily-confused characters. What gets me is that Japanese remember them through brute-force rote memorization. I think I could teach a kid whose native language is Japanese how to read _kanji_ in about 1/4 the time through using this method. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/31 "2006-06-20T06:15:33Z")
To remember how to spell “maneuver” – instead of screwing it up as “manuever” – I think of the British variant, “manoeuvre.” Since “oe” is kind of an uncommon pairing, it sticks out and reminds me that the “e” comes before the “u.” ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/32 "2006-06-20T06:20:28Z")
Zebras On Ecstasy – helps me to remember my name. Now if I could just remember where I was going and why… ---
**Author:** ![Doom\_Slinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Doom\_Slinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doom_Slinger)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/33 "2006-06-20T11:39:35Z")
> [@remisser](#): > > 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. 😉 I learned a similar memory trick. Last summer, I worked at a job that required (oh, the horror) having lunch almost every day at some pretty nice restaurants, the kind where every place setting has a bread plate and a drinking glass. I never could remember which bread plate and drinking glass were mine (the place settings were always so close together that it wasn’t immediately obvious whether the bread plate on the left or the right was mine, for instance). Then someone showed me a trick. Hold out each hand with the index finger pointing up and the middle finger and thumb forming a circle. Your left hand will form a “b” to remind you that your bread plate is on the left, and your right hand will form a “d” to remind you that your drinking glass is on the right. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/34 "2006-06-20T13:25:56Z")
> [@remisser](#): > > HOMES for the great lakes is another one. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. I have a Jewish friend who jokingly said that _he_ remembered the Great Lakes by using the word **MOSHE**. ---
**Author:** ![twopiecesofeight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@twopiecesofeight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twopiecesofeight)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370/35 "2006-06-20T16:52:44Z")
In astronomy class: a waxing moon (“growing”) looks like a letter “b” (bulging) if you connect the tips of the crescent with a straight line stick out the top. A waning moon looks lik a letter “d” (dying) if you do the same. See [here.](http://www.jek2004.com/Phases-of-the-Moon-Poster-A.jpg) A first quarter moon looks like a lower case “b” and a third quarter moon looks like a lower case “d” (mentally fill in the vertical lines). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mneumonic-visual-verbal-devices-do-you-use/360370.md?page=1)