Mnemonic Devices

Why is it so hard to remember the definition of “abrogate” and so easy to remember the lyrics to our favorite songs? Chances are we've memorized the lyrics to hundreds of songs, but we still struggle to remember the year when the Pilgrims came to America. The reason for this disparity is simple: rhyming song lyrics act as mnemonic devices. They tap into the power of rhyme.

A simple rhyming mnemonic device often makes even the most arcane facts easily remembered. We learn our first songs using rhyme to aid our memory. Ad agencies have long used rhyming jingles to make sure their product names stick in consumers' heads. Remember when Columbus sailed to America? In Fourteen-hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. If only we had a rhyme like that for every historical date, piece of information or vocabulary word.

This is the motivation behind Flocabulary's learning tools. Hip-hop music turns out to be an ideal tool for memorizing rhymes and words quickly since many rap songs contain over 1,000 words and over 100 rhyming couplets.

Into those 100 rhyming couplets, Flocabulary slips vocabulary words and their definitions, historical events, scientific principles and math facts. Anyone can create mnemonics - simply write down the fact you're looking to memorize and think about which kind of mnemonic device it can fit into.

There are two basic types of popular mnemonic devices: those involving rhyme, and those involving a phrase where the first letter of each word stands for another word. Both techniques have shown to be very effective for aiding memory. There are lots of other types of mnemonic devices such as visual systems (creating a visual represntation of the information), the mnemonic link system (creating a story based on a list), the peg system (associating numbers with a series of items), and the major system (converting numbers into constonant sounds). Detailed information on these systems can be found on Wikipedia.

Examples of Rhyming Mnemonics:

Mnemonic for remembering the ill fated wives of Henry VIII: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived Mnemonic device for remembering when Alaska and Hawaii entered the United States: '59 was the date, When Alaska and Hawaii became new states Mnemonic for remembering spelling: I before E except after C, and when sounding like "ay" as in Neighbor or Weigh (unfortunately there are more than 200 exceptions including 'weird' and names like 'Sheila' and 'Freidman') Mnemonic for predicting the next day's weather: Red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Mnemonic for remembering the zodiac signs: The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, And next' the Crab, the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales. The Scorpion, Archer, and the Goat, The Man who holds the Watering Pot, And Fish with glittering scales. Mnemonic for remembering the number of days in a month: Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one Excepting February alone: Which has twenty-eight, that's fine, Till leap year gives it twenty-nine. Flocabulary's mnemonic for remembering the definitions of "innate" and "peregrinate": I travel on foot so I peregrinate, My love of nature's natural, so it's innate,

Mnemosyne - the Greek personification of Memory. Painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, circa 1878.

Examples of Non-Rhyming Mnemonics:

Mnemonic for remembering Roman Numerals:

I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk
I V X L C D M
1 5 10 50 100 500 1000

Mnemonic for remembering the prefixes of metric measurements:

King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk
Kilo - Hecta - Deca - Deci - Centi - Milli
x1000 x100 x10 x0.1 x0.01 x0.001

or

Kim Hit David Until David Cried Mama
Kilo Hecta Deca Unit Deci Centi Milli
x1000, x100, x10, x1, x0.1, x0.01, x0.001

Mnemonic device for remembering the order of operations in algebra:

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction

Mnemonic for remembering the order of operations in long division:

Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brother
Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring-down,

Some mnemonics go out of style as the information they represent changes. Here is the old mnemonic device for remembering the order of the planets from the sun, back when Pluto was included:

My Very Easy Memory Jingle Seems Useful Naming Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

Here is a mnemonic for remembering the NEW list of planets (post-Pluto):

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nuts
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Mnemonic for remembering groupings of animals in biology:

King Phillip Could Only Find Green Socks
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Mnemonic for remembering the notes in the treble clef:

The lines of the clef:
Every Good Bird Does Fly (E, G, B, D, F)

The spaces of the clef:
FACE

Mnemonic device for remembering the colors in the rainbow in order:

ROY G BIV
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain

Mnemonic for remembering Supreme Court Justices in the order of when they were appointed:

Studying Scandals Keeps The Giant Bride Robots All Sober
Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor


Mnemonic for remembering the vital fluids of the body:

Peanut Butter With Bread
Phlegm, Blood, Water, and Bile

Mnemonic device for remembering the basic needs of the human body:

Oh, Can Venus Flies Make Pretty Webs!

oxygen
carbohydrates
vitamins
fats
minerals
protein
water

Mnemonic for remembering sin, cosine and tangent:

SOHCAHTOA
 
Sin = Opposite/ Hypotenuse
 
Cos = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
 
Tan = Opposite / Adjacent

Mnemonic for remembering the proper way to fire a rifle:

BRASS
Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze

Mnemonic for remembering the order of streets in Manhattan between 2nd Ave and 5th Ave:

3 Lost People Meet

3rd Ave.
Lexington Ave.
Park Ave.
Madison Ave.


Add to our list? Send yours to escher@flocabulary.com

 

More (Slighly Esoteric) Mnemonics

 

In electronics, resistors, capacitors, and inductors have color bands painted on them to represent value and tolerance.

          VALUES                      TOLERANCE       
Black        =           0              Gold      =             5%
Brown     =           1              Silver     =             10%
Red          =           2              None     =             20%
Orange   =           3
Yellow     =           4
Green     =           5
Blue         =           6
Violet      =           7
Grey        =           8
White      =           9

The first two (or three) colors bands are values, the third (or fourth) is a multiplier.  The final band (if present) is the tolerance code.

Bad Booze Rots Our Young Guts, But Vodka Goes Well.  Get Some Now.

 

When dealing with computer networking, all devices fall into one of seven layers of the OSI Reference Model (Open System Interconnection):

          LAYERS

Physical                =             1
Data Link              =             2
Network              =             3
Transport            =             4
Session                 =             5
Presentation      =             6
Application         =             7

Top to bottom:

People Don’t Need To See Paula Abdul

-and-

Bottom to top:

All People Seem To Need Data Processing

Apple has released several OS versions over the years.  The OS X versions are listed numerically (10.0 thru 10.6) and with wild Cat names as follows:

WILD CAT          VERSION
Cheetah               =    10.0
Puma                    =    10.1
Jaguar                   =    10.2
Panther                =    10.3
Tiger                      =    10.4
Leopard               =    10.5
Snow Leopard   =    10.6

The mnemonic for remembering the order of these cats is:

Cats Play, Just Play, Tirelessly, Lazily in the Snow.

 

Thanks to all our contributors: Michelle "Coffee Girl," Kim "Army Tech," Raven "The Maitresse," Sherri "I Know Math," David "Robert Moses," Alasdair "of York," Jacyln "the Converter," Matthew "the First Grader," and others. You can email additions to: escher@flocabulary.com

“I've used your songs in class, and have to say that I've never seen students so enthusiastic about history! It's even inspired me to write some rhymes, and the kids love it! It's a wonderful tool to motivate students to think, be creative and REMEMBER what we teach!” Tracey Sinatra, 7th Grade History Teacher