A mnemonic is something that assists memory. (Mnemosyne was the Greek goddess of memory, and mother of the nine muses.) The most common forms are acronyms and verses, although my journey system could also be described as a mnemonic. In this chapter, I list a selection of the most common (and printable) ones: medical, historical, musical, mathematical, and legal.
It should be said that mnemonics don't meet with universal approval as a teaching method; academics dismiss them as exercises in idle wordplay, ditties for parrots who want to remember rather than understand. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with anything if it helps you to remember.
Having said that, I do wonder about the effectiveness of one or two of the following, some of which I have included solely for their literary quirkiness.
EXTENDED ACRONYMS
In the same way that we remember the name of an organisation by forming an acronym (UNESCO for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), we often create meaningless sentences to remember useful pieces of information. The first letter of each word reminds us of what we want to recall.
This is how some people remember numerical prefixes (kilo-, hecto-, deca-, metri-, deci-, centi-, and milli-): Kippers Hardly Dare Move During Cold Months. The Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario): Sergeant Major Hates Eating Onions. And musical sharps (F, C, G, D, A, E, B): Fat Cats Go Dotty After Eating Bananas. Food is a good subject for a mnemonic as we all like eating. As I said at the beginning of this book, we are more likely to remember those things we enjoy. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that sex also plays its part in popular mnemonics. Most people have heard this way to remember the colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet): Richard Of York Goes Battling In Vain. But did you know how to remember them in reverse? Virgins In Bed Give You Odd Reactions.
The following two strike me as particularly odd, but then, mnemonics are intensely private affairs. Did Mary Ever Visit Brighton Beach? There's no answer to this question. It reminded someone of the order of social rank in Britain (Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Baronet). Then there is this strange comment, should you want to remember the order of England's Royal families (Norman, Plantaganet, Lancaster, York, Tudor, Stuart, Hanover, Windsor): No Plan Like Yours To Study History Wisely.
DOCTORS AND NURSES
Medics are famous for making up mnemonics. The amount of technical infor- mation they have to learn, particularly concerning the human anatomy, has inevitably led to some highly ingenious mnemonics. Sadly, most of them are unprintable, and those that are clean tend to be obsessed with women.
This one is used for remembering the nerves in the superior orbital tissue (lacrimal, frontal, trochlear, lateral, nasociliary, internal, abduceir): Lazy French Tarts Lie Naked In Anticipation.
Stockings play a puzzlingly major role in medical mnemonics. I can only assume that the following two examples were invented shortly after the war, when developments in nylon legwear were raising eyebrows. Should George Personally Purchase Ladies' Smooth Stockings? A question on the lips of any self-respecting student who wants to be reminded from where the portal vein derives its blood (spleen, gallbladder, pancreas, peritoneum, large, small intestines, stomach). The following, rather desperate plea is a reminder of the branches of the abdominal aorta (phrenics, coeliac artery, middle suprarenal, superior mesenteric, renal, testicular, inferior mesenteric, lumbar, middle sacral): Please, Can Soft Soap Remove Tint In Ladies Stockings?
MUSIC
Music teachers are responsible for a whole host of mnemonics, born out of despair, I suspect, as they try to bang home the basics of musical theory to unwilling pupils.
Here is a selection of the most common ones used to remember the notes on a musical stave. Spaces (A, C, E, G): All Cows Eat Grass. Lines (E, G, B, D, F): Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Sharps (F, C, G, D, A, E, B): Fighting Charlie Goes Down And Ends Battles. Flats (B, E, A, D, G, C, F): British European Airways Deny Gentlemen Carrying Frogs.
SNOOKER
Here is a simple way to remember which way you must set the green, brown and yellow balls on a snooker table: God Bless You. And for those who can't remember in which order you are meant to pot them (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black): You Go Brown Before Potting Black.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematicians, like music teachers, seem to relish devising mnemonics. Bless My Dear Aunt Sally! Believe it or not, this tells you the order of operations for complex mathematical equations (Brackets, multiply, divide, add, subtract). There is an alternative, thought up, I suspect, by oppressed pupils. 'Ban Masters!' Demand All Schoolchildren.
There are a number of ways to remember the first few digits of pi (3.14159265358979). In the following examples, the number of letters in each word denotes the corresponding digit.
How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy chapters