Folklore: Tricks for remembering...

Subject: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Allan C.
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 08:43 AM

"Thirty days hath September...." I wonder how many versions of that there are? I am sure I learned one of them in Spanish class years ago and again in Portuguese - both long forgotten. Perhaps someone can share different versions of this mnemonic or others. However, there are other ways to remember the long and the short months. Here is a trick I learned:

Hold your hand palm down and make a fist. Using the knuckles nearest the body of your hand and excluding your thumb, begin counting out the months at one or the other of the end knuckles. The first knuckle would be January, the indentation between that and the next knuckle would be February. The next knuckle is March...etc.. When you reach the last knuckle, July, jump back to the first knuckle and continue with August. The prominent ones would represent the months containing 31 days, the others would have less.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Peter T.
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 08:50 AM

Never eat oysters in months with weeks in them. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Bert
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 09:15 AM

And when they tried to teach us Latin at school, we learned.

March, July, October, May
Make Nones the Ninth and Ides the fifteenth day

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: John Hardly
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 09:22 AM

Thirty days hath Septober,
April, June and no wonder,
All the rest have peanut butter,
Except Pasadena which hosts the Rose Bowl.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: GUEST,M
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 09:41 AM

See Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, where there's this parody by Tom Hood too.

Dirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
From January up to May
The rain it raineth every day.
February hath twenty-eight alone,
And all the rest have thirty-one.
If any of them had two and thirty
They'd be just as wet and dirty.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 05:58 PM

Allen C: I find this thread quite entertaining. I would like to add something, even though it will clearly be a thread creep in subject, but it stays within the thought. I was raised in the Seattle area. About 1950, when I was about 13, I used to ride the olde Suburban Bus Line from our home in Burien to downtown Seattle. This would take an hour. It was important for me to remember the street names in sequence, so I could get off at the stop that would take me to the Seattle Public Library. (while there, I would submerge myself in every book I could find about Folk Music). My Mother taught me a "folk saying" that helped me remember the sequence of the bus stops. It went like this: "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest."
The "J" stood for the two streets of 'Jackson' and 'James.' "C" stood for 'Cherry' and 'Columbia.' "M" stood for 'Madison' and 'Marion.' "S" stood for 'Spring' and 'Seneca.' "U" stood for 'University' and 'Union.' "P" stood for 'Pike' and 'Pine.' (As I am now a very long ways from 13 years of age, I doubt that I have them in perfect order anymore ... I'll probably be corrected by some Seattle catters). I've always thought this was funny way to remember the street names, but it sure worked! I wonder if other towns had similiar tricks? CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 06:23 PM

"Thirty days has September.
All the rest I can't remember."

That's the pithy version from Henry and Sid Kipper.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 06:25 PM

There are some fun variations on the old learning-to-play-piano ones, Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE, at this website: mnemonic devices for piano

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 07:43 PM

Kat ... more thread creep! This obviously leads into (I hope I don't fired for this) the REAL meanings for the "FORD", as in automobile:
Found On Road Dead; or Fix Or Repair Daily! (Jeeze, I better get outta' here before the thread police find me!)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 07:45 PM

30 days has Septober
All the rest have one left over
There's a calendar on the wall
Why bother with this stuff at all!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: LadyJean
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 11:21 PM

This story is African American, from somewhere in the Caribbean.
Once there was a king whose wife always had the last word. One day, he decided to offer a reward to the first person who could call his wife a liar three times, and get away with it. Well a few tried, with no success, then one day, an Old Guinea man went to the queen and asked her did she know the months of the year, and would she tell them what they were.
She said January.
He said January.
She said February.
He said February.
She said March.
He said March.
She said April.
He said April.
She said May
He said May.
She said June.
He said June.
She said July.
He said You Lie.
She said JULY. He said, You lie. She said JULY! He said You lie.
"Can't you talk any better than that?" said the queen.
"No ma'am," said the Old Guinea man.
"Then I don't got no time for you," said the queen, and she went back to the palace.
But the old Guinea man got his reward, because he'd called the queen a liar three times.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 24 Jun 03 - 11:32 PM

How the blazzing satelites you turned a calendar into a keyboard is beyond me.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 12:14 AM

the point has been made, oh little stone figure, that many of YOUR posts are simply personal attacks....with one main target.

You wanta give up this obsession or you wanta find yourself 'out'?

I, personally, am tired of your crap...out of 9000+ members, you set a standard for vitriol seldom equaled. I suspect you are unable to control it...for whatever reason. That red cape may not achieve exactly what you hope...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 12:49 AM

For remembering the order or right-of-way on the water:

New--Not Under Command
Recruits--Restricted Manueverability
Can--Constrained by Draft
Fool--Fishing
Senior--Sailing
People--Power
Sometimes--Seaplanes

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:00 AM

Bert, I thought I remembered from Latin class:

Kalends = 1st
Nones = 5th
Ides = 15th

Except that your poem made sense in that "nones" should be the ninth.

So I did a google search and found the answer: Kalends, Nones, and Ides The Kalends is always the first of the month, the Ides is the 13th in 8 months and the 15th in 4, and the Nones is the 5th when the Ides is the 13th, but the 7th when the Ides is the 15th. The Romans identified days as so many before the next Kalends, Nones, or Ides.

So your poem was correct, but only if you substitute a 7th for a 9th (See? I made this into a musical thread!) The Nones was so named because it was 9 days before the Ides (including the Ides in the count).

There's also a fascinating Roman Calendar site that describes which days were for business, which for voting, which for religious festivals, etc. And it gives the original names for the months:
1. Martius
2. Aprilis
3. Maius
4. Iunius
5. Quinctilis (later named for Julius Caesar, who made Ianuarius the first month of the year)
6. Sextilis (later named for Augustus Caesar)
7. September
8. October
9. November
10. December
11. Ianuarius
12. Februarius

Aren't you glad you asked?

Aloha,
Marcus

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:13 AM

PS, Bob, northeast Denver does it in double alphabetical order. And Northwest Portlanders have (let's see if I can still remember this without cheating):
Ankeny, Burnside, Couch (pronounced "Cooch"), Davis, Everett, Flanders, Glisan (pronounced "Glisten"), Hoyt, Irving, Jackson, Kearney, Lovejoy, Marshall, Northrup, Overton, Pettygrove, Quimby, Raleigh, Savier, Thurman, Upshur, Vaughn, and I think that's it. OK, I cheated. So sue me.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Jeanie
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 04:30 AM

Prepositions in German that always take the Accusative Case: DOGWUF
(durch, ohne, gegen, wider, um, für) for the streamlined version, or FUDGEBOW if you add entlang and bis). You always wanted to know that, nicht wahr ?

And here are the very different post-Roman and far more exciting names for the months in the

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Jeanie
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 04:32 AM

Oooh ! I've inadvertently been turned into a blue clicky (quite painless, really). What the blue clicky should have said is:

          Anglo-Saxon Englisc Calender

Click on the magic blue jeanie above and you will get there !

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Jeanie
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 04:34 AM

and now I can't spell: calendar
(think I'll go back to bed now...)
- jeanie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: JudeL
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 05:12 AM

Version I learnt was :
30 days has September,
April, June & November,
All the rest have 31,
'xcepting Feb'ry, which (small pause)
has 28 days clear,
29 each leap year.

On the naughtical theme the only phrase that comes to mind is the one to help me remember which side is which on a ship and has which coloured light:
"Is there any red port left" said a stern voice from behind.

So by elimination the right hand side of a ship must be the starboard and have a green light.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: clansfolk
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 05:50 AM

The only thing left on a ship is port -

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 06:59 AM

My Grandad used to say
Thirsty days hath September,
April, June and November;
All the rest are thirsty too,
Excepting Februaury, when you get wet through.

Grammatically speaking, it ought to be "Thirty days have September, April, etc." It's taken me over forty years to spot that...!

He also used to say
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was black as soot,
And into Mary's bread and jam his sooty foot 'e put

Steve

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: JudeL
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 08:29 AM

Mary had a little lamb...... wasn't the doctor surprised

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 09:58 AM

Mary had an iron cow,
She milked it with a spanner;
The milk came out in shilling tins,
The little ones a tanner.
(Explanation on request to non-pre-decimal 'catters)

Mary had a little pig,
It really was a smasher;
And every time it wagged its tail
It tickled his gammon rasher.

Enough! Lets get back to the subject.

Steve

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Peter T.
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 10:01 AM

Thermidor, Fructidor....yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 10:26 AM

I just get out my PDA and click on calendar.

Two of my favorite mnemonics are:

"Richard of York gave battle in vain"
= Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet - colours of the spectrum/rainbow)

and

"Here lies beery Bill caught napping on Friday"
= Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine - the next 8 elements in the periodic table after Hydrogen except that I can never remember which day he's caught on.

I'm sure most musicians have learnt "Every good boy deserves favour" for the notes on the lines of the treble clef.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: jeffp
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 10:49 AM

I learned Roy G. Biv for the spectrum.

And Mr. Vem J. Sun and his little dog Pluto for the solar system.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: Leadfingers
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 01:00 PM

Billy brown rapes young girls but virgins go without- The mnemonic for remembering the Colour coding of electronic components--black, brown, red,yellow, blue, violet, green, white.-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering the months
From: DMcG
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 01:39 PM

Now I, even I, would celebrate in rhymes inept,
the great immortal Syracusan rivall'd nevermore
who in his wondrous lore passed on before
left men his guidance how to circles mensurate.

(pity about that apostrophe!)

3.14159265 ......

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: GUEST,Dave H.
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:28 PM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: GUEST,Dave H.
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:31 PM

Melani - that last S should be "Seldomly"
Trust this senior person -
Been there, seen or done that, too disgusted to b***h at the new recruits for trying it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Gareth
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:38 PM

Can
Dead
Men
Vote
Twice

or the Mnomic to setting a course Compass, Deviation, Magnetic, Variation, True.

and the reverse

Ttrue
Virgins
Make
Dull
Companions

Gareth

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: C-flat
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 03:53 PM

My 6year-old daughter is taking piano lessons and was asked to learn the notes backwards G F E D C B A.
The easiest thing I could come up with was "Good Fried Eggs Don't Cause Belly Aches"
It worked! She remembered them straight off!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 25 Jun 03 - 04:35 PM

Even Big Guys Don't Always Eat -- tha'd be yer guitar strings

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: alison
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 02:31 AM

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

= the order #'s occur in Key signatures..... you reverse it for the flats

Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father

there was one for remembering the cranial nerves... but I can't rememeber it.. good thing I'm a midwife and not a brain surgeon!!

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Jeanie
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 02:50 AM

Remembered from 'O'Level Human Biology too many years ago:
Cranial nerves: Old opticians occasionally trot triumphantly about fairs auctioning green vases and hydrangeas.
I've remembered the mnemonic...but as to naming all the nerves....hmmmm....

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 03:14 AM

I defy anyone to point out to me where indigo is in the spectrum!

One I learned just a few years ago: Fat Cooks Go Down And Eat ... er ... something-something, which is the circle of fifths (the next one should be B). I Don't Play Loud Music After Dark: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lorian[?], Myxolydian, [one beginning with A], [another one beginning with D] ... Mnemonics are easy-peasy, but what they mean is another thing altogether!

Steve

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 04:09 AM

Uh, Bill H., there's no such word as "seldomly" -- "seldom" is an adverb all by itself, thank you very much!

On old Olympus' towering top, a fat-assed German vaults and hops.

That's for the cranial nerves: Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Acoustic, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory, Hypoglossal.

(If you want to call the XI nerve "Spinal accessory" then it's "viewed some hops." And if you want to make it suitable for younguns, then you say a fat-"eared" German, and remember "eared" stands for the acoustic--or auditory--nerve.)

There was another one for the cranial nerves, but this is a PG-13 rated site.

Robert Taylor Drinks Coors Beer: Roots, trunks, divisions, cords, branches. Has to do with the brachial plexus.

Never lower Tillie's pants; Grandma might come home.
That's the 8 bones of the wrist: navicular, lunate, triquetral, pisiform, Greater multangular, lesser Multangular, capitate, hamate.

I've forgotten quite a few since med school!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: alison
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 06:18 AM

hahaha... yep that's the on "On old Olympus....."

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 06:57 AM

Steve

I agree with you about Indigo, but the (purely abitary) namings of the colours in the visible spectrum which were decided by no less a figure than Isaac Newton still seem to be used. You do get quite some variations in colours between spectra produced by prisms and diffraction gratings as many types of glass absorb more light towards the violet end of the spectrum - sometimes quite selectively. Perhaps Indigo was a result of the composition of the prism that the great man used.

There is a fairly good spectrum here. I'm not so sure that I wouldn't refer to the whole area around 440/450nm as Indigo rather than violet.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 07:03 AM

The wrist bones actually have interesting names:

Navicular is also called Scaphoid -- they both mean "boat-like"
Lunate -- moon-like
Triquetral, or triquetrum -- three-cornered
Pisiform -- pea-shaped
Multangular -- many angles (duh!) (The greater and lesser multangular bones are also called Trapezium and Trapezoid, though nobody actually knows which is which)
Capitate -- like a head
Hamate -- hooked (there is a projection on the bone called the "hook of the hamate", which is often fractured by racquetball players)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: jeffp
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 08:01 AM

What a great thread!!

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned HOMES for the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

There, now it's been mentioned. I feel much better.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Deckman
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 08:34 AM

Here's another that I remember from my classical music studies. I think the piece is Mozart's opus # 40. (I stand to be corrected). Any way, you can sing these words to the theme: "It's a bird, it's a plane, NO it's Mozart!" Pretty funny when you hear it. Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 09:20 AM

What! Nobody's mentioned

Mnenomic for the value of e

    * e starts with 2.7
    * e = 2.71828 (the 1828 is the first year Andrew Jackson elected president)
    * e = 2.718281828 (repeat 1828 since Jackson served two terms)
    * e = 2.71828182845 (45 = 90/2)
    * e = 2.7182818284590 (the 90)
* e = 2.718281828459045 (the other 45)

or for pi

3.14159265: 14..92, 15..65. I leave it to you to work out the meaning for the dates.

or

Oh be a good girl and kiss me quick

for the stellar main sequence: O, B, A, G, K, M, Q


What did you folks do in high school science? We learned stuff like this!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Allan C.
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 09:35 AM

Rapaire, at the risk of making it clearly evident that my education has been sorely neglected: What, exactly, is *e? What is meant by "the stellar main sequence" i.e., what do those letters represent?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 09:39 AM

I remember in Yankee school one teacher had a mnemonic for remembering all the Presidents -- but I can't remember anything about it!! There was certainly one for the Kings and Queens of England (anyone out there?) that sort of rhymed, also which I cannot remember.

Anyone have one for the notes on the bass clef -- G B D F A for the lines, and F A C E G B for the spaces. Can't remember them to save my soul.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Deckman
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 09:49 AM

The bass cleff is: Good Boys Do Fine Always. Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 10:22 AM

When my wife was a nursing student in the early 90s, the mnemonic she was taught for the cranial nerves was so catchy even I've remembered it: "Ooh, ooh, ooh, to touch and feel various girls' vaginas, and hump."

A lot better than "On old Olympus...," if you ask me.

For card-carrying members of the Nitpick Squad, differences between my the version my wife learned and the standard form (cited above) are due to using alternate names for the 7th and 11th nerves. It works for me.

As for days, months, the spectrum, the Great Lakes, the bones of the wrist and other essentials, well, let's just say that having lived through the 60s and 70s, I'm routinely grateful for any handy memory aid.

Pooby

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 11:03 AM

I learnt the bass clef as a variation on the treble ie:
Good boys deserve favour also.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 11:08 AM

I learned the bass clef as "Great Big Dog Frightens Alice"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 11:42 AM

I read a very funny book donkey's years ago about a nurse. Can't remember mucgh about the story, but "slowly sailing cooking peas, sweetly sailing past my elbow" is a mnemonic for some bones or other.

At school we had a choice of "Oliver has a handful of apples" or "some officers have curly auburn hair to offer attraction" for trig functions (sin = opposite/hypoteneuse, cos = adjacent/hyp, tan = opp/adj). Yes, I know they don't all have the same number of letters; you were supposed to learn "sin, cos, tan".

I sat down and learned pi to 20 decimals when I was 14! Can't remember it now.

Years back, we had a letter from ... was it British Telecom or the GPO then? ... which said our area code and phone number was changing: from 05433 78221 to 0543 378221 ... spot the difference! (And don't try ringing the number: it's changed again a few times, and we don't live there any more.)

Steve

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: JennyO
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 12:09 PM

For the treble clef lines, we used to say "Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 12:16 PM

Where does 'My dog has fleas' come from when tuning a uke?

Sal

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 06:25 PM

Main stellar sequence lists the star types based upon heat and color (blue, white, yellow like the Sun, etc.), from hottest to coldest. Nature being nature, there are some types, like M and W, which are outside of the main sequence. Like some maiden aunts, nobody talks much about them.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 06:27 PM

Oops! I meant to mention that one of my nephews memorized the value of pi to three hundred (300) decimal places.

He won a small pizza; it was pi day (March 14).

Think of the poor guy who had to check him against the book!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Gareth
Date: 26 Jun 03 - 06:40 PM

Damn - Many years ago we were not taught a mnomic for the Great Lakes, we had to learn them by rote.

Gareth - Grade B in A level Geography.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 01:33 AM

I always wondered about "My dog has fleas" too...... apparently its a song... and the notes the words are sung to correspond to the strings on the uke....... would help if you knew the song to start with (I don't)

Great Big Dogs Fight Animals (bass clef lines)
All Cows Eat Grass (bass clef spaces)

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 04:33 AM

Pooby, the one I learned was "Oh, oh, oh, to touch and feel a girl's vagina and hymen." The "V" for the 8th nerve probably stands for "vestibular." I don't recall whether that is an alternate name for the acoustic nerve, or a branch of the nerve. Somebody can look it up...not me!

Steve, I can't figure out what your mnemonic is for. Doesn't appear to be bones.

One I learned for pi, only 7 places: "May I have a large container of coffee?"

There was one I learned for postoperative orders, but I can't remember what the letters stand for anymore! DR. (&) MRS. VANDERTRAMP. D was diet, M was medications, V was vital signs, A was activity, the second D was drains, P was pain meds...and that's as much as I recall.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 11:54 AM

Okay, here goes.

Once you know the "hundreds" of the Dewey Decimal Classification (and to a lesser extent Universal Decimal Classification), you can *usually* find your way around because of built-in mnemonics.

For instance, 970 is the number for United States History. 917 is travel in the United States. 813.54073 would be criticism of United States fiction of the latter half of the 20th century.

In language, 440 is French grammar, etc. 814 is French poetry.

But don't think that this holds thoughout, because 640 is NOT applied French science and technology, but Domestic Engineering -- cookbooks, etc.

But hey! It works, and it's better than saying "shelf nine, under the bust of Cleopatra."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 12:53 PM

So opossums in traditional music would be 490.666, right?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 04:07 PM

781.6 is traditions of music, 781.62 is folk music, and if you want to tie it to opossums I probably up it under "history and description of folk music with respect to kinds of persons; treatment with respect to specific racial, ethnic, national groups" -- i.e., Folk music of specific racial, ethnic, national groups: 781.621-.629. What race, ethnicity, or nationality is the opossum(s) you have in mind?

Or we could go at it from the opossum angle instead of the music angle: 599.23 for Australian possums; 599.232 for brush-tailed and scaly-tailed possums, including Phalanger (cuscuses); 599.27 for the shrew opossums, or 599.276 for Didelphidae (American possums). Then tack on a zero and add a standard subdivision for traditional music -- perhaps 78162 -- so the classification number for Didelphidae in music might be 599.276078162.

See? Nothing at all hard about it if you know the possum's background.

Now, flat possums on the highway in traditional music -- or, alternately, traditional music about road-killed possums, could open up the 390 area which deals with death and funerals....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Deckman
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 04:42 PM

SHEEEUH! You guys have WAY TOO much time on your hands! Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: VoxFox
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 08:26 AM

Here's one for the planets...Men Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perpendicular.    Great Thread, and they say that that an old dog can't learn new tricks...silly rabbit!   :o) VF

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tricks for remembering...
From: Allan C.
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 09:15 AM

VoxFox, if memory serves that is the order of the planets by distance from the sun, right?