On mnemonics...

[alexpgp]

There is a class of mnemonics out there that provide only a minimum of help. Typically, these involve acronyms.

A good example is HOMES, to remember the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Here, if you are familiar with the names of the lakes, but need a little nudge to remember them all, the mnemonic can be helpful. (Unfortunately, all the mnemonic does is help you recall the names; the mnemonic "Only Elephants Have Massive Snouts" both helps in recalling names and orders the lakes from east to west.)

One acronym that never made much sense to me was DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP, which purports to help remember French verbs whose compound past tenses take être instead of avoir (as in: devenir, retourner, mourir, rentrer, sortir, venir, arriver, naître, descendre, entrer, revenir, tomber, rester, aller, monter, and partir).

The main problem with this (aside from all the footnotes, so to speak, concerning derivatives) is that you have four verbs that start with "r" in this list, so that unless you create yet another mnemonic to remember them, you are very likely to sit there and know that there are four such verbs, but be unable to remember what they are. In other words, you have to be really familiar with the list of verbs, in which case the mnemonic will only be of limited value.

(Personally, I prefer to remember six pairs of opposites, plus "retourner.")

* * *This whole ramble was triggered by the "anticipation resistor" I found in the Honeywell thermostat (Marcel Proust, eat your heart out). The 1/2-watt device was labeled with gray, red, and orange stripes, which make it an 82KΩ resistor.

That I was able to remember the color coding of resistors over these many years is due to a mnemonic that, frankly, some people would find offensive, so I won't repeat it here in its entirety. However, I don't believe that I am any less of person for having learned that particular menmonic (which, for the terminally curious, involves persons who "ravish our young girls behind victory garden walls," which very likely dates me, or at least dates the guy who taught me the basics of electrical circuits).

In fact, it seems to me that, to be effective, a good mnemonic is going to be edgy, outrageous, or even offensive to some extent. The point of the exercise is to remember stuff, and anything that supports that end is fair game in the mnemonic arena (which, IMO, hinders effective teaching of the subject). My personal mnemonic for the Russian grammatical cases, for example, is not suitable for genteel ears, but it helped me remember the cases.

Enough rambling. It's late now, and tomorrow promises to be an active day.

Cheers...

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, "Behind Victory Garden Walls" is probably better than one popular alternative - "But Violet Gives Willingly" ;p

[justpat.livejournal.com]

The Zebra Bit My Cock - Temporal, Zygomatic, Buccal, Masseteric, Cervical

Branches of the facial nerve

[madhacktress.livejournal.com]

The one that always rattles around in my brain though (thankfully) I no longer have need of is: A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tobacco In Church.

Arithmetic.

Taught to me in school circa 1983 when, apparently, the term "Red Indian" was not offensive.

[lemur-man.livejournal.com]

I still use the mnemonic FUDGEBOW for the German prepositions that take the accusative: für, um, durch, gegen, entlang, bis, ohne, wider. The ones that take the dative are more numerous (17 or so) and can't really be grouped into a memorable mnemonic - four of them start with 'a', two with 'u', two with 'z', etc.).