Hm. (Last post, then I'm leaving, I promise!)

[conuly]

Over in ozarque's journal, there's a discussion on poetry and why it's important (or not). This discussion is spread out into two different posts, and the comments are well worth reading, I think.

This leads me to two thoughts. The first is that I should link to this article on anti-poetry month. Go read it.

The second is found in the comments. I had commented that not many people actually have the entire "30 days..." poem memorized. They trail off after "November". Which is fine. So long as you know your month isn't September, April, June, November, or February, you're good. griffen had commented with the poem as he learned it (causing me to rebut with the poem as I learned it, but this is all very boring), and I almost mentioned the way I *first* learned which days go to which months...

Put your two fists together. Count from the leftmost knuckle. Each knuckle or dip is a month. The knuckles are 31 days, the dips are either 30 days or February. July and August don't have a dip in between them because they're both 31 days.

Using my hands is also how I finally learned how to tell my left from my right - if it makes an L, it's the left! Ta-da!

And punching in a number is how I remember somebody's phone number, a far sight from my mother's method of making words (which doesn't always work, anyway).

Hm. Is there a special name for this sort of physical mnemonic? Are there any others I don't know about? Should I be outside enjoying the weather?

Comments

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"Is there a special name for this sort of physical mnemonic?"

Isn't it just considered a form of kinesthetic (or perhaps verbal-kinesthetic) learning? I *think* that kind of thing was mentioned in a short course I took about ten years ago on education and learning types...

[leora.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call it kinesthetic learning, since you're not learning anything related to what you're doing physically. I might call it a kinesthetic mnemonic.

Physics has at least two right-hand rules. The easy one is this:

Make a fist out of your right hand. Rotate your hand so the fingers face your other hand (this is so much easier to explain in-person). Stick your thumb up and relax your fingers a little so they just curl.

Now you should have your right hand with your thumb up and your fingers curling clockwise if you were looking down on your fingers like a clock.

If the current is going the way your thumb is pointed, then the magnetic field generated is your curled fingers. (As best as I remember). The benefit of this is you can now move your hand around to see where magnetic fields would be if you moved the current.

There is another more complicated right-hand rule I don't even have dim memories of.

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

SO glad I'm not the only one who uses the knuckle-counting for remembering the number of days in a month! Every time I mention it, I get weird looks!

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have 31,
Excepting February....

And I don't remember the last bit. I learned it when I was three or four, though.

The knuckle counting is infinitely more useful.

I associate phone numbers with the tones - it's easy for me to remember the auditory cues.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

People always told me to use that Left-hand-makes-an-L to tell my left from my right, but it has never worked, since whenever I try it, I can never remember which way the L faces. Nowadays I can only tell left from right automatically when I'm driving, I have to think about it any other time, using the handy dandy bracelet I've had on my left wrist since as long as I can remember.

[deceptica]

It's a small world - I also learned the length of the months via the knuckle method.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

"Is there a special name for this sort of physical mnemonic?"

Isn't it just considered a form of kinesthetic (or perhaps verbal-kinesthetic) learning? I *think* that kind of thing was mentioned in a short course I took about ten years ago on education and learning types...

[leora.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call it kinesthetic learning, since you're not learning anything related to what you're doing physically. I might call it a kinesthetic mnemonic.

Physics has at least two right-hand rules. The easy one is this:

Make a fist out of your right hand. Rotate your hand so the fingers face your other hand (this is so much easier to explain in-person). Stick your thumb up and relax your fingers a little so they just curl.

Now you should have your right hand with your thumb up and your fingers curling clockwise if you were looking down on your fingers like a clock.

If the current is going the way your thumb is pointed, then the magnetic field generated is your curled fingers. (As best as I remember). The benefit of this is you can now move your hand around to see where magnetic fields would be if you moved the current.

There is another more complicated right-hand rule I don't even have dim memories of.

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

SO glad I'm not the only one who uses the knuckle-counting for remembering the number of days in a month! Every time I mention it, I get weird looks!

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have 31,
Excepting February....

And I don't remember the last bit. I learned it when I was three or four, though.

The knuckle counting is infinitely more useful.

I associate phone numbers with the tones - it's easy for me to remember the auditory cues.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

People always told me to use that Left-hand-makes-an-L to tell my left from my right, but it has never worked, since whenever I try it, I can never remember which way the L faces. Nowadays I can only tell left from right automatically when I'm driving, I have to think about it any other time, using the handy dandy bracelet I've had on my left wrist since as long as I can remember.

[deceptica]

It's a small world - I also learned the length of the months via the knuckle method.