Ay up linkers & learners alike,
I hope all’s well with you all in the world of ‘Linking’ (’Mnemonics’ is too clumsy a word to use).
The subject for this blog is to see what old classics are out there that have not been bunged up on the site to date. A gardening chum of mine came out with a superb way of remembering which way to tighten a nut….’Righty tighty, lefty loosy’.
My mother told me, many moons ago, a good way to know which months have 31 days if you can’t remember the ‘30 days have September….’ mnemonic. You put your knuckles together and starting from one end tap a knuckle saying ‘January’ followed by the gap between the knuckles saying ‘February’ and so on. Each knuckle has 31 days and the gaps don’t - ‘July to August’ is the nice touch here.
Another user came out with a clever way of working out squared numbers that end in the number 5 i.e 25, 35, 45, 55 squared…etc. You multiply the first number by itself plus 1 and then add 25 (5 x 5). For example 35 squared is 3 x (3 + 1) = 12 plus 25 (5 x 5) i.e 1225. 45 squared is 4 x (4 + 1) = 20 plus 25 = 2025. I know that looks mad and you my have to read it a couple of times but when you get it, it’s in for life which is the idea of linking!
Acronyms are another good way of remembering things but they tend to be overused.
So if you have any goodies, let’s see ‘em but, be warned, they need to be memorable and to the point!! I saw a crowbarred one (and then some) in ‘Judy Parkinson’s book ‘i before e except after c’ which illustrates my point. It’s an acronym for the Seven Deadly Sins which was ‘PEWS ‘Ave GLu’ with each upper case letter representing the first letter of each sin. I won’t even start to pull this apart as it’s too easy…..let’s just say ‘Forgettable’ and move on. Acronyms have their place but they have to be catchy and relevant to what you’re trying to remember.
Take a peek at my method of remembering the Seven Deadly Sins (type in ‘Deadly’ in the search box at the top of the site). This is a sure-fire way of remembering them, as long as the links are strong enough of course!!
‘Acronyms schmacronyms’ is what I say!
Thinkalink is a global meeting place for ways to remember absolutely anything whatsoever, regardless of how bizarre the fact or link is. Who cares what people think? If it works for you and just one other person out there, then it’s worthwhile. Sharing wisdom is the way forward…
Filed under: Old Classics by Andy Salmon
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