Memorable mnemonics

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I was doing some laundry the other day and I noticed water all over the floor It seemed to be coming from the cupboard next to the washing machine. Strange I thought. I looked in the cupboard and I saw it was squirting from the pipe which sends water to the machine.

Now I’m a pretty practical person. Usually I carry out minor DIY things around the flat without too much trouble. Ok, I did have a problem when I smelt gas. It was dark so I looked for the leak with a cigarette lighter. I needed to re-grow my eyebrows anyway so it wasn’t a problem.

And I once I drilled a hole in the wall to put up a shelf and I hit an electric cable. My friends said that frizzy stand-up hair suited me.

I was pretty confident with the leaking pipe because I remembered a mnemonic. Mnemonics are sentences that help you to remember spellings, useful bits of info and things.

And I remembered how to spell mnemonic because of a mnemonic - Macabre Neanderthals Eviscerate Mammoths On Nocturnal Icy Coasts, or an easier one is Monkeys Never Eat Mayonnaise On Noodles In Canada.

Anyway, I knew I had to tighten the pipe so I said ‘Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty’. Unfortunately I was a little over enthusiastic and I tightened it too much causing the connection to come off in my hand, and I ended up looking like a drowned rat.

Talking of mnemonics, when I recently wrote about birds I was a little unsure about the difference between rooks and crows. I looked up the mnemonic and it goes ‘a crow in a crowd is a rook. A rook on its own, is a crow’. That led me to look up others.

If you can’t decide whether to use Affect or Effect just say RAVEN – Remember Affect Verb – Effect Noun!

And Fahrenheit temperatures to Centigrade ‘30 hot, 20 nice, 10 cold, 0 ice!’

How to spell Necessary – one collar, two socks!

I after E except after C - but not in Keith, weird!

Draw a circle in the air – Never Eat Slimy Worms, North East South West!

Here’s one I learned at First Aid classes so I’d remember what to do in an emergency – DRAB stands for Danger, Response, Airways, Breathing. I can’t quite recall how it’s supposed to help though.

The order of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas!

To spell Rhythm – Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

If you have any favourites I’d love to hear them!

By the way, the plumber who came to mend my washing machine pipe was a really nice guy and very understanding.
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