Oh, for heaven’s sake, let me try again…m-n-e-m-o-n-i-c-s. There, but please don’t ask me to say it again!
What’s a mnemonic? I don’t know, I can’t remember! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.)
Do you have a favourite mantra or mnemonic for remembering how to spell words (or facts even)? There are all sorts; they come in all shapes and sizes:
George Eliot’s Old Grandmother Rode A Pig Home Yesterday (Geography)
Rhythm Has Your Two Hips Moving (I like that one)
Two Cots Need Two Mattresses In Any Accommodation
A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream (Arithmetic)
Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants (Because)
StationERy is for things like papER and StationARy is for something that isn’t moving, like a pARked cAR
There is a LIE in beLIEve or Never BeLIEve a LIE
FRI the END of your friend
A deSSert is Super Sweet and a deSert is Sandy
When you assume you make an ass out of u and me
Loops are loose and it is easy to lose a shoe
Wherever there is a Q there is a U too
Goofy Greg loved to exaggerate
There’s a rat in separate
It’s necessary to remember the cesspool in the middle or Not Every Cat Eats Sardines (Some Are Really Yummy)
Then, there’s the good old:
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (colours of the rainbow)
And infinite variations for the order of the planets (whether or not you include Pluto):
Men Very Easily Make Jugs Serve Useful Nocturnal Purposes
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Porcupines
Now, my old favourite was: I before E, except after C. Couldn’t possibly go wrong with that one, (I thought, many moons ago when I was at school). I’ll always get the spelling right for perceive, receive, conceive, ceiling, receipt, conceit, deceit, deceive, ceiling.
But waddya know: there are more exceptions to the rule than instances that conform to it. There are, in fact, 923 English words that have ‘cie’ within; 21 times as many words break the rule than don’t. Too few words actually follow the rule: it applies, it seems, to words with an ei spelling that have a clear ee sound. There are so many exceptions, it actually nullifies the rule (and is no longer taught in schools).
If I list all 923 words, I may have my gruel rationed yet again, but look at these examples that defy the ‘after C’ part:
Ancient, conscience, financier, society, species
And then these that just laugh in the face of the ‘I before E’ part…
Being, beige, caffeine, feint, feisty, foreign, forfeit, heifer, height, heir, heist, neighbour, protein, reign, rein, seismometer,seize, their, veil, vein, weigh (weight), weird
It’s just not fair, is it? An old-timer you thought you could rely on falls by the wayside.
Do you have any favourites?
Love this! Shared it, too!
The English language is really quite complex, isn’t it! Thanks for dropping by, Lorraine.
I know on’y two and they both have to do with music. The spaces are the word “FACE” the lines are “every good boy deserves favour”.
Oh yes, thanks for reminding me about that one, Yvonne. I remember that one from my piano lessons!
Or “Every good bird does fly.”
The initial letters of the Great Lakes make HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Yvonne beat me to the musical ones. 😉
Somebody once tried to convince me that I had my stationary/ery mixed up. But I knew the fixed point was -ary.
Great post, Cathy!
I always refer to the paper and car for stationary/ery. Hadn’t heard the Great Lakes one!
I don’t know if this qualifies: Red and yellow kills a fellow, red and black is safe for Jack. This is how you can distinguish a coral snake from a non-venomous king snake. If the red and yellow are touching, run away!
Fun post.
I need to remember this one next time I come face to face with a snake. Thanks for sharing, Lois!
I like this for the circle of fifths:
Fat Cats Give Dogs An Endless Battle (F C G D A E B)
You can do it the other way around too with:
By Eight All Dates Get Cold Feet
Credit goes to Josh at http://mnemotechnics.org for these, specifically this thread:
http://mnemotechnics.org/forums/techniques-for-learning-music-notes-and-notation-732.html
The trouble is remembering them all….
I recommend using a Memory Palace because that lets you give each of these mini-mnemonics you’ve listed an organizational location in your mind. Because Memory Palaces are typically based on familiar locations, you then know where you need to go in your mind in order to find the information.
Take the “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” example.
Instead of just memorizing that, see your mother serving nine pizzas and place that image in your mother’s kitchen (or in a dedicated Memory Palace).
Now you’ve got not only a word-based mnemonic, but an image that tells a story to help unpack the planets and a location in your mind where you can find the information. There are now three aids to recalling the planets, not just one.
And if you do use your mom’s kitchen, then it’s a simple matter to proceed to the living room and place “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain,” and so on.
Memory Palaces are beautiful things, possibly the greatest invention humanity has ever designed.
Organising my mind would be an enormous task….
Then there’s the mnemonic for the divisions of living things: King Phillip Crossed Over France, Germany, Spain (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species).
Crikey! I’m learning a lot here!
lmao – Great post Cathy! But…but…I /still/ do the I-before-E mantra before typing ‘received’. Perhaps they should just upgrade the mantra to :
‘I before E except after the sound of CEE.’
Or perhaps we just have to accept that we are the last generation that still knows how to spell.
Alas, I fear you may be right!
In order to remember the 6+1 Traits of Good Writing, I had a contest with my students to come up with a sentence. The winner? People on violent swings will injure children. That made it so much easier for everyone to remember Presentation, Organization, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, Ideas, Conventions. I also used it for coming up with by criteria for the book reviews I post on my blog.
Good one, Jeri!