Kings and Queens of England

Go here for a full list of Kings & Queens of England

Willy, Willy, Harry, Steve,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three;
One, two, three Neds, Richard Two,
Harries Four Five Six, then who?
Edwards Four Five, Dick the Bad,
Harries (twain) Ned Six (the lad);
Mary, Bessie, James ye ken,
Then Charlie, Charlie, James again
Will and Mary, Anna Gloria
Georges four, Will Fourth, Victoria
Edward Seven next, and then
Came George the Fifth in nineteen ten
Ned the Eighth soon abdicated
Then George the Sixth was coronated
After which Elizabeth
And that's all folks until her death

Faithfully or Sincerely - Which do you use to sign off a letter?

Dear Sir / Yours Faithfully.

Dear Mr Blah / Yours Sincerely.

The rule is "Never 2 S's together"

Spring forward, fall back.

Calendar Mnemonic

30 days has September

April June and November

All the rest have 31

except for February alone

which has 28 days clear

and 29 on each leap year

Remembering the 9-Planets

• My (Mercury)
• Very (Venus)
• Excited (Earth)
• Mother (Mars)
• Just (Jupiter)
• Served (Saturn)
• Us (Uranus)
• Nine (Neptune)
• Pizzas (Pluto)

Stellar classification uses a peculiar group of letters, easily remembered using the phrase, "Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me Right Now Sweetie."

Stars are classified as O, B, A, F, G, K, M, and sometimes R, N, S, C, L and T depending on their size and composition. The classifications R, N, S and C are given to stars with high carbon content and L and T are given to stars that are so small they do not generate enough heat to begin nuclear fusion. These "unusual" classifications are usually not included in mnemonics.

For some reason they have made many mnemonics for stellar classification, must be all those late nights staring at stars..

• Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me Right Now Sweetie.
• Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me Right Now! *SLAP* (variation of the above)
• Only Beer And Fine Grass Keep My Rattled Nerves Sane
• Our Brother, A Footsoldier, Got Killed Monday
• Oh Big And Ferocious Gorilla, Kill My Roommate Now.
• Only Bored Astronomers Find Gratification Knowing Mnemonics
• Only Boys Advocating Feminism Get Kissed Meaningfully
• Only Big Astronomy Federal Grants Keep Money. Research Needs Support!
• Out Back A Friend Grows Killer Marijuana
• Oiled Breasts Are For Giving Kinky Massages
• Obviously Bill Always Felt Good Kissing Monica Lewinsky Tenderly
• Oh Boy An F-Grade Kills Me
• Oven Baked Ants Fried Gently Keep Moist
• Mary Killed God For Atrocious Body Odor

Points of the Compass

Never

Eat

Shredded

Wheat

Pi

Many mnemonics have been devised for remembering the digits of pi, consisting of phrases or verses in which successive digits of pi are obtained by counting the number of letters in each word. (Fortunately, the first thirty digits of pi contain no zeroes). Some are:

• "May I have a large container of coffee?" (May = 3, I = 1, have = 4, etc.)
• "How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!"
• "How I wish I could recollect pi easily today."

The Twelve Days of Christmas (and their possible meanings -supposedly it was used as a memory-aid when writing these things down could send you for the chop)

The disciples

"This is the way the disciples run

Colours of the Rainbow mnemonic

• Richard (RED)
• Of (ORANGE)
• York (YELLOW)
• Gave (GREEN)
• Battle (BLUE)
• In (INDIGO)
• Vain (VIOLET)

Many people find the name "Roy G Biv" easy to remember..

Great Lakes

"HOMES"

(visualize summer homes on the edge of the lake – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

The order of mathematical calculations (Example 2 + 3 x 5 = 17 )

- the BODMAS acronym

• Brackets
• Of
• Division
• Multiplication
• Addition
• Subtraction

When it says Of it really means "To The Power Of"

Always remember, calculate everything inside the brackets first.

(some people use Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract which can be remembered with "PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY")

Port or Starboard? Red or Green?

To remember the names of a ship's side and the light colour of each side:

"PORT is a red wine and red is the left side of politics."

(The left side of the ship is called Port and has a red light).

Or PORT has four letters, as does LEFT.

Music

Music students trying to memorize notes use the mnemonics :

"Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" and "FACE" for the lines and spaces of the Treble Clef respectively.

The Bass Clef equivalents are "Good Boys Do Fine Always" and "All Cows Eat Grass".

EADGBE, the strings on a guitar... "eat all dead gophers before Easter"

Height of Mt. Fujiyama: 

A year's months and days.12,365 feet 

Maxwell relations

A mnemonic used by physics students to remember the Maxwell relations in thermodynamics is "Good Physicists Have Studied Under Very Fine Teachers", which helps them remember the order of the variables in the square, in clockwise direction. Another mnemonic used here is "Valid Facts and Theoretical Understanding Generate Solutions to Hard Problems", which gives the letter in the normal left to right writing direction.

Biological Groupings

A way of remembering biological groupings in taxonomy is one of the following phrases...

• "Kings Play Cards On Fat Green Stools"
• "Kings Play Chess On Funny Green Squares".
• "Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach".
• "King Philip Can Only Find Green Slippers."

The letters stand for

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species.

Sequence of Life Forms

"Anthropology Can Make People Hate Helping the Sick:" 

• Anamalia
• Cordata
• Mamalis
• Primate
• Hominidae
• Homo Sapien.

Prone or Supine

The difference between prone (face-down) and supine (face-up):

In muggings, muggers must attack

The victim's proper zone:

The belly if he's supine,

And the spine if he is prone.

Columbus Discovers America

In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Preposition

Any word that fits in the blank of this sentence is a preposition:

"The squirrel ran --- the tree." Over, under, after, around, through, etc.

Conjunctions

In English, the 7 coordinating conjunctions can be remembered with the word FANBOYS.

• For
• And
• Nor
• But
• Or
• Yet
• So

Quartet

The four voices in a quartet can be remembered with the word STAB

• Soprano
• Tenor
• Alto
• Baritone. 

"Bad Boys Ravage Only Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly (for Silver or Gold)"

ABC

There is the old ABC tune for memorising the alphabet that we learnt in the UK, and you can try to think of the alphabet in 4 sections, Practice starting the ABC song from these points as well as from 'A' and try to know the letter-number you are on.

1) A B C D E F G (letters 1 to 7) - 7 letters

8) H I J K L M (letters 8 to 13) - 6 letters

14) N O P Q R S T U (letters 14 to 21) - 8 letters

22) V W X Y Z (letters 22 to 26) - 5 letters

That way you know (for example) that N is the 14th letter without having to work it out, and you are never many counts away from knowing the position of any letter in the alphabet.

Alternatively, learn the ABC to the (annoying!) USA tune, then it is easy to start (and count) from any of these positions..

1) A B C D E F G

8) H I J K

12) L M N O P

17) Q R S

20) T U V

23) W X

25) Y and Zee (now I know my ABC, next time won't you sing with me).

Stalactites and stalagmites.

Which one hangs down? Stalactites. Think of Tights hanging on a washing line.

Which one is spelt with a C and which with a G?

StalaGmites - G - from the Ground
StalaCtites - C - from the Ceiling

So think of Tights hanging from the Ceiling, and Mites crawling around on the Ground.

Longitude or Latitude?

One goes North-South , the other goes East-West.

3 vague ideas to try to remember the difference.

• The longest lines go Nort to South.
• Longitude has an N for North
• Latitude sounds like 'flat' as in east-west.

Waxing or Waning Moon?

The mnemonic "DOC" represents this ("D" is the waxing Moon; "O" the full moon; and "C" the waning moon).

Spelling Mnemonics

Here is an example of a spelling mnemonic:

"A principal at a school is your pal, and a principle you believe is a rule."

IE oe EI

I always knew "I before E except after C" and that there were a few exceptions, here are a couple that try to define some exceptions...

"I before E, except after C, with the exceptions of Neither Financier Conceived Either Species of Weird Leisure. "

"I before e, except after c, or when sounding like a, in neighbor and weigh "

Cranial Nerves

Anatomy: To remember the cranial nerves:

1. "On Old Olympus' Tiny Top A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops"
2. "On Old Olympus' Towering Tops A Fat Angelic Girl Viewed Spanish Hops."
3. "Oh Oh Oh, To Touch And Feel A Girl, Very Sexy & Hot"

• Olfactory
• Optic
• Oculomotor
• Trochlear
• Trigeminal
• Abducent
• Facial
• Auditory
• Glossopharyngeal
• Vagar
• Spinal Accessory
• Hypoglossal

And there's no excuse for not knowing the function of each nerve, be it sensory, motor or both. Pat said it's a help to remember, "Some say marry money but my brothers say bad business marry money." Now you know whether the nerves are S (sensory), M (motor) or B (both).

Nerves

For the order of nerves that pass through the superior orbital tissue in the skull:

"Lazy French Tarts Lie Naked in Anticipation."
• Lacrinal
• Frontal
• Trochlear
• Lateral
• Nosociliary
• Internal
• Abduceir

Amino Acids

For the ten essential amino acids:

"These Ten Valuable Amino Acids Have Long Preserved Life In Man."
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Valine
• Arginine
• Histidine
• Lysine
• Phenylalanine
• Leucine
• Isoleucine
• Methionine

Blood

For the functions of blood:

"Old Charlie Foster Hates Women Having Dull Clothes."
• Oxygen (transport)
• Carbon Dioxide (transport)
• Food
• Heat
• Waste
• Hormones
• Disease
• Clotting

Bile

For the properties of bile:

"Bile from the liver emulsifies greases,
Tinges the urine and colours the faeces,
Aids peristalsis, prevents putrefaction.
If you remember all this you'll give satisfaction."

External carotid artery branches

"Some Anatomists Like F#cking, Others Prefer S & M" for the external carotid artery branches.

• Superior thyroid
• Ascending pharyngeal
• Lingual
• Facial
• Occipital
• Posterior auricular
• Maxillary
• Superificial Temporal

Here's another, have you noticed that the medical mnemonics are often rude?

"Suzy Always Lays Flat On Pillows Making Sex Terrific":

Bones in the Wrist (There are 8 small bones).

"Never Lower Tilly's Pants, Mother Might Come Home." That helps in recalling

• navicular
• lunate
• triquetrum
• pisiform
• greater Multongular
• lesser Multongular
• capitate
• hamate.

Excretion

For the excretory organs of the body:

"SKILL"

(Skin, Kidneys, Intestines, Liver, Lungs).

Here's a set of ten suggestions from experts.

The Greeks discovered you can remember anything 
if its linked to something you know already. 
The trick is to MAKE OUTRAGEOUS VISUAL LINKS

Most beginners don't make their links sufficiently visual or outrageous.

A = Action (moving, doing something), Absurd, 
E = Exaggerated, Extra large, Enormous
I  = Image (not a concept)!
O = Outrageous, over-the-top, out-of-place.
U = Unique, Unusual, HUmorous (OK. It sounds U-ish!).

To remember numbers,  translate them into sounds, form words from the sounds,  and link the words. Simple!

This is the child of the mother of all memory techniques. Master it! Your memory will be permanently bigger and stronger. Memorizing these NumberSounds will take less than ten minutes. Then, for practice, I'll show you how to remember phone numbers.  Here are the sounds assigned to each number. 

NUMBER	LETTER/SOUND	MEMORY AID	BODY VISUAL AID from the ground up
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0	t, d n m r l j, sh, ch k, g, c (hard) f, v p, b z, s, c (soft)	T has one down stroke N has two down strokes M has three down strokes R is the last letter in 4 L in Latin is 50 J reversed looks like 6 K drawn by two 7's cursive F looks like 8 P reversed looks like 9 "Zero" starts with z	Toe Knee Muscle (in the thigh) Rear Lungs Shoulder Collar Face Point ( of your head) Ceiling

To get these number sounds permanently into your brain, close your eyes and see if you can remember the number sounds. Stop when you've done it three times in a row correctly,... without peeking!

 

There are some rules about making numbers into sounds and words: 

• The alphabet is strictly phonetic. e. g.  "cough" is KoF and translated into 78.
• Double letters are not counted. e. g. "letter" becomes l- t- r, or 514.
• Three consonants do not appear. W, H, and Y. WHY? Don't rightly know!
• Vowels are always ignored. "Yellow" has only a useful "l" , or 5.

For starters, here are nine sample two-number words:

Numbers	Sounds	Possible NumberSound Words
1 + 3 5 + 9 7 + 4 9 + 2 3 + 1 2 + 5 6 + 7 4 + 8 8 + 6	t + m  l + z k + r  z + n  m + t n + l j + k r + b/p b/p + j	tame, Tim, time, Tom, tome, tomb lazy, lass, lease, loose, louse care, car, core, cower, cure  Zen, sin, sun, soon, seen, sane empty, mate, meet, mite, moat nail, kneel, Nile, knoll, anal Jack, joke, juke, cheek, sheik rape, rap, rip, rib, rob, robe page, beige,

A mnemonic link system is a method of remembering lists, based on creating an association between the elements of that list. For example, if one wished to remember the list (dog, envelope, thirteen, yarn, window), one could create a link system, such as a story about a "dog stuck in an envelope, mailed to an unlucky black cat playing with yarn by the window". It is then argued that the story would be easier to remember than the list itself.

However, in order to access a certain element of the list, one needs to "traverse" the system (much in the same vein as a linked list), in order to get the element from the system.

Remembering Lists

A peg system is a mnemonic technique for memorising lists. It works by first memorising an object for each number from 0 to 99 (or from 0 to 999, etc.). Those objects form the peg system. Then in the future, to rapidly memorise a list of arbitrary objects, each one is associated with the appropriate object from the peg system.

Remembering numbers.

A peg system can also be used for memorising numbers. The basic idea is that you make words for all the numbers upto 100 , ie 1 is TIE and 10 is TOES. Then you can visualise the words to remember the numbers.

Number rhyme system

This is an example of a "peg list". It is useful for remembering ordered lists, especially for people with strong auditory learning styles. The following numbered list is static. Note the rhyme of the digit and the word (one/bun, two/glue, and so on). The items you wish to remember should be associated with each word. A similar system utilizing a combination of this and the preceding "abjad" system can easily yield numbers through 100 or higher (ex. 76 lash, 77 lilly)

1. bun
2. glue
3. tea
4. door
5. hive
6. bricks
7. heaven
8. slate
9. line
10. pen

Egg and spear or number shape system

This is another peg system, much like the number-rhyme system but more suitable for those with visual learning styles (a one looks like a candle; a two looks like a swan, and so on).

1. Candle, spear
2. Swan
3. Bosom
4. Sail
5. Hook
6. Club
7. Cliff
8. Egg-timer (Sand-clock)
9. Flag
10. Egg