My Favourite Mnemonics

To contact us Click HERE
I'm going to tell you a secret: I love mnemonics. They rock. Sneaky little word games for remembering things? You've got my interest. There'd be no way I would still remember the first 20 elements of the Periodic Table except for the handy mnemonic from my Grade 8 Science Teacher (Hee Hee Little Betsy Bee Caught Nancy On Father's Knee. Nancy Loves All Silly People, Sipping Chlorine And Killing Cats). Ridiculous, perhaps, but very, very effective.

These days, I've discovered a couple new-to-me sayings to help my historical fiction/romance reading:

1) Did Mary Ever Visit Brighton Beach?
Ever wonder what order those English hereditary titles follow? You're welcome. That's DMEVBB - Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, (Baronet). FYI: Baronet is in brackets because it's a hereditary title, but not in the peerage. Got it?

2) a) Kate & Anne & Jane, and Anne & Kate again again

b) Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived
King Henry VIII's wives, done two different ways. That would be: Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr, and how their marriages to Henry VIII inevitably ended.

And then there's a couple of oldie-but-goodies that I tend to use for random daily knowledge:

1) Roy G. Biv
The colours of the rainbow, in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

2) MVEMJSUN(P)
The order of the planets from the sun and out: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, (Pluto). Poor Pluto; I still include it. I pronounce the whole thing like "Mm-vem-juh-sun-up", but quicker.