Mnemonic Phonics

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Mnemonic Phonics

Babies use clues amniotic
to deal with stimuli chaotic,
but later, memory gets thick.
In short,  it’s anything but quick.

Age slows us down and trims our wick,
fogs our recall,  slows our pick.
So I resort to many a trick
to give my mind a little kick.

This loss of memory’s demonic
and leads to fits most histrionic,
so I depend on clues mnemonic
for memory that’s supersonic:

(Can you guess what the below mnemonic devices help me to remember?)

Neither leisured foreigner
seized or forfeited the weird heights.

Every good boy does fine.
Good boys do fine always.

My very excellent mother just spewed up nine plums.

How about you?  What mnemonic devices do you use?

 

The prompt word is mnemonic.

26 thoughts on “Mnemonic Phonics”

      1. slmret's avatarslmret

        1) stations on the Philadelphia Main line train — I don’t remember the O, but then Merion, Narberth, Wynwood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr
        2) the Streets of Seattle — there are two for each letter — John, James, Cherry, ???, Madison, ???, and there’s a Union, a Post, and I don’t remember the rest — that was a LONG time ago!

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        1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

          Cool. If you don’t use it you lose it. I’ve been trying to remember old guitar chords. Man are my fingertips sore. I’ve remembered Pollyvon, Puff the Magic Dragon. Struggling with When We Were Young.

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      2. slmret's avatarslmret

        My dad’s family played a similar parlor game — how many states can you write down in 5 minutes? Of course, there were only 48 states or fewer then, but it can be done, and the last 2 are the easiest!

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      I made up the “Neither leisured foreigner . . . .” one when I taught English. It is the exceptions to “I before e except after c or when pronounced “ay” as in neighbor or weigh.” The “Neither leisured foreigner. . . .” sentence is composed of all the exceptions I compiled through the years, along with “Budweiser!!!”

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      1. Marilyn Armstrong's avatarMarilyn Armstrong

        Cool! Because the “I before E” is also a mnemonic, so now you have the exceptional mnemonic that follows the original mnemonic. I cannot proper spell that word. I have to stop and think about it each time!

        I never thought of Budweiser. Actually many names with an “ei” are pronounce “ay.” At least Jewish ones usually are.

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  4. koolkosherkitchen's avatarkoolkosherkitchen

    Guys, i.e. ladies, all this is cute, but my husband taught me one that only exists on the men’s side of synagogues. Men need a quorum of ten for certain prayers, but there is a specific law that prohibits counting people, so they recite a blessing that has 10 words in it, pointing at one person with each word. How is that for mnemonics?

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      1. koolkosherkitchen's avatarkoolkosherkitchen

        Now that you mention it… My birthday falls on one of those days when we mourn the destruction of the Temple and thus abstain from all celebrations. An exception is celebrating completion of learning a holy book. When I turned 60, which we see as half a lifetime, our adopted son timed such a completion to my birthday in order to have a party. For that party, we did need a quorum of ten males, but of course, we didn’t have to count as there was more than enough. Incidentally, I made something I called “Mexican Pizza,” but at that time, I wasn’t taking pictures of food yet, so I have to recreate it in order to post.

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          1. koolkosherkitchen's avatarkoolkosherkitchen

            I did have a delayed celebration once, when I turned 25, and my friends staged a whole comedy show in my living room, with music, sets, costumes, etc. That’s when I officially announced that I will thereafter turn 18 every year, so there was nothing else to celebrate. Then there was one more, 45th, when my Gypsy friends arrived from Russia, and we had a delayed celebration, but the reason was to welcome them to US. That’s all, folks. Next one will be when I am 120.

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