The word snoop - Ursula Dubosarsky 2009
Mnemonics
Is that another greek word?
Many Venomous Earwigs Munch Jelly Sausages
Underneath Nests.
I think this sentence is trying to tell me something—and not just about venomous earwigs. This is actually a mnemonic (pronounced nem-on-ik). A mnemonic is the word for tricks we can play with our minds to help us remember things. Like the order of the planets in the solar system . . .
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter
Saturn Uranus Neptune
Do you see? The beginning letters of each word in that first sentence stand for the beginning letters of the planets in the order they appear in the sky. For some reason, it’s easier to remember a silly sentence than the names of the planets themselves.
The word mnemonic comes from one of the Titans in ancient Greek mythology. Her name was Mnemosyne (Nem-oss-in-ee) and she represented memory. In the ancient world, memory was especially important when there weren’t many books and not many people learned to read. People used to memorize pages and pages of the books everyone wanted to hear, like The Odyssey or the Bible, and hundreds of types of mnemonics were developed to help them do this. Nowadays we would find it incredible that people could remember that much, but of course back then they didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t until the fifteenth century, after the printing press was invented, that the need for such amazing acts of memory fell away.
But not totally! There are still things we need to remember. When the Word Snoop was at school, she learned the Great Lakes from west to east across Michigan with the sentence: Sam’s Horse Must Eat Oats—Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario.(You’d be surprised how often this information comes in handy . . . )
There are many different types of mnemonics. For example, to remember the difference between spelling desert and dessert, you can say “the sweet one has two sugars.” (Two S’s, get it?) And what about the rhyme to remember the number of days in each month (“Thirty days has September . . .” and so on). That’s a mnemonic too. And have you seen the episode of The Simpsons when Bart and Lisa help Marge to study for a big exam by putting all the facts she needs to remember to the tune of a song? I bet your teacher or your parents might know some mnemonic tricks like this. (Go on, ask them.)
You can have lots of fun with mnemonics. In music, children often learn a mnemonic for the order the notes come on the staff: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit (EGBDF). But look what other people have made up to remember the same thing: Empty Garbage Before Dad Freaks; Elephants Go Bouncing Down Freeways; Evil Godzilla Buys Dog Food.
Here’s one the Word Snoop just invented—can you guess what it stands for?
Remarkable Children Understand Challenging Books
(Hint: Think of the five largest countries.)
Why don’t you make up a mnemonic of your own? Come on, Word Snoops—have fun, and improve your memory at the same time!