Okay, feeling a bit better; I named all fifty states from memory in a little less than three and a half minutes. Granted, not really something most other Americans can do, but I doubt there's many Canadians can do it, either.
I'm guessing there's not a mnemonic, cause that would be a little too long. Pity. I do really well with those. Still got "King Phillip Came Over For Ginger Snaps" and "Oh Hell Another Hour Of Arithmetic" in my head.
I don't recognise the 'Oh Hell' one. What's that... oooh RHODIE!... for?
(Sorry. CNBC is doing a story about how pets and their related merchandise affect the American economy and they just had a Rhodesian Ridgeback on the screen.)
I always heard it as "King Phillip Cares Only For German Shepherds" myself. It's the biological taxonomy groups - Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species.
It's for Trig. sin = Opposite over Hypotenuse, cos = Adjacent over Hypotenuse, tan = Opposite over Adjacent. My math teacher expressed it as "soh cah toa." The "Oh Hell" version is courtesy of my mom.
Also: My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pins.
Fun way to torment most native speakers of the English language: ask them to recite the alphabet. No singing. No rhythm. Just recite the letters one after another. The looks on people's faces as they try to overcome the conditioning laid down by generations upon generations of teachers, family, etc. to SING THAT DAMNED SONG are priceless.
Never did manage to memorise the Lehrer song, but that's oen of the areas where I'm willing to do without. Every chemistry lab in the world that would be willing to let me through the door will have a periodic table somewhere on the premises. Why should I have to learn all the elements off by heart? I'm not going to be allowed to set foot in a chem lab more advanced than a basic college one anyway.
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"M is for Montana and, um, Madagascar. Oh, wait."
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(Sorry. CNBC is doing a story about how pets and their related merchandise affect the American economy and they just had a Rhodesian Ridgeback on the screen.)
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Also: My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pins.
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... I can do the states in 45 seconds, and have been able to do so since fifth grade. Why? There's a song. I have to sing it in my head, though.
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Fun way to torment most native speakers of the English language: ask them to recite the alphabet. No singing. No rhythm. Just recite the letters one after another. The looks on people's faces as they try to overcome the conditioning laid down by generations upon generations of teachers, family, etc. to SING THAT DAMNED SONG are priceless.
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I can manage not to sing it, but I have to pause in the places where the song draws out notes. You know, ABCDEFG - HIJKLMNOP - QRS - TUV - WX - YZ.
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if it had gone on much longer, i'd be able to sing the song backwards.
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I am, however, aware of Tom Lehrer's The Elements Song. One day I will know the words.
There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium....
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