10.09.2007

Lefty Loosey

With pregnancy brain looming large and in-charge, I'm relying more and more on mnemonic aids to get me through the day or just to stop my brain from rusting over and sealing shut when I try to remember which side the sun rises (thanks to an old American Airline's commercial, I can put that issue to bed: "From the sun rise in the east, to the sun set in the west, We're American Airlines, doing what we do best!"). Of course, that got me thinking about other tricks and rhymes I've learned over the years. Some of my favorites include:

  • My very edcuated mother, just served us nine pizza-pies = Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto (back in the good old days when Pluto was still considered a planet)
  • Roy G. Biv = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet (initials of colors of the rainbow)
  • No place like yours to study history well = Norman, Plantagenets, Lancaster, York, Tudor, Stuart, Hanover, Windsor (Royal Houses of Britain)
  • "Thirty days hath September/April, June and November." (Followed sometimes by "All the rest have thirty-one except February" which is a pretty lame rhyme)
  • Non-verbal aid is to use your knuckles on your hands with the hills (knuckles) being 31 days and the valleys (dips) being 30 days so that the 1st knuckle is January at 31 days ending with July at 31 days then repeating from the beginning with August at 31 days, etc.
  • "I" before "E" except after "C" and when sounding like "a" as in neighbor and weigh, (and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong no matter what you say! That's a hard rule. That's a . . . that's a rough rule.)
  • Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in morning, sailor take warning.
  • A pint's a pound the world around (Thanks, Alton Brown!)
  • M i crooked letter, crooked letter, i, crooked letter, crooked letter, i, hump back, hump back, i. = Mississippi
  • Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey = To tighten/loosen screws, nuts, bolts, etc.
  • Make the letter "L" with each hand by extending your first finger and your thumb and tucking the rest away - the one that actually looks like an "L" is your left.

Do you have any you'd like to share?

9 comments:

Zee said...

The left hand one is sad but effective. I wish I knew that when I was a kid. *holds out L*

Saady said...

lol...I can relate to most of em baji ! except for the Mississippi one ! lol...I dint really care what Mississipi was when i was a kid...well i was 8000 miles away too !

The one that I still use today is the knuckles and dips one for the days in the months ! lol oh and the L one too !

On a side note: *waves...how are you baji..its been a while !

Anonymous said...

"I" before "E" except after "C" and when sounding like "a" as in neighbor and weigh, (and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong no matter what you say!"

Wow - I've never heard the parts beyond "except after C"!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! :)
Warmly,
Baraka
www.rickshawdiaries.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Every good boy deserves fudge

Kangaroos play checkers on fuzzy green squares

Ayesha said...

I know a couple. but hey what else you expect from a FOB.

I also say, baji should be on facebook.

Anonymous said...

Eid Saeed Bajster (and ever-growing family MashaAllah!)

wayfarer said...

I never got the sailor one. What's the deal with it?

I love that you did the planets the same way i did. Can't tell you how many times it's been useful!

I'm totally snagging that Alton one!

Okay, here's one you didn't list. I always got confused on the compass direction North, East, South, West (the clockwise order of them) so i used "Never Eat Shredded Wheat). I couldn't live without it really. I'm lame i know but i use it at least once a week!

wayfarer said...

I just realized i used exlamation points excessively in that comment! :-) Got one for that?

Omar said...

I love the Brian Regan reference. You forgot SALFOPSUM (it is the branches of the external carotid artery). Also SEVEN UP (the route of the male reproductive system. Have a safe trip