Author Topic: Acronyms and other memory prickers  (Read 3573 times)

Offline bonneyman

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Acronyms and other memory prickers
« on: July 16, 2022, 06:53:27 PM »
Let's start a thread for all the interesting and ingenious phrases and tricks we use to prompt our memories of important facts. Perhaps if we get enough helpful ones we can make a stickie?

For instance, how do I recall the angles to use in trigonometric calculations? I learned  "Same old horse came a hopping through our alley". Sine is the opposite angle over the hypotenuse, Cosine is the adjacent over the hypotenuse, and Tangent is the opposite over the adjacent.

Watching a video on caves, I recalled how I remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites.
Stalagmites (with a G) Grow upwards from the Ground. Stalactites (with a C) Cling to the Ceiling.

I'll post more as they come to me.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2022, 06:56:32 PM by bonneyman »

Offline wantedabiggergarage

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2022, 08:08:31 PM »
Tites were at the top of the cave and mites were in the muck was how I learned.

Offline goodfellow

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2022, 08:19:25 PM »
Here's one for the welders to remember Straight or Reverse polarity (with regard to electrodes and ground) using both houses of congress as a memory jogger

Senate = SEN = Straight Polarity Electrode Negative

House of Representatives = REP = Reverse Polarity Electrode Positive

Hence TIG welding is usually SEN, while stick welding is usually REP   -- MIG can be both depending on what wire you use.

Offline coolmercury

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2022, 08:45:01 AM »
Rightie tightie lefty loosey!  My wife is a lefty and over time I have to tighten all the knobs on the kitchen cabinets.

Offline Rural53

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2022, 06:01:36 PM »
Tites were at the top of the cave and mites were in the muck was how I learned.

I simplify it even more, StalacTite. T as in "from the top of the cave".

Offline stokester

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2022, 06:45:14 PM »
I'll add some more from my military days but now one from my Boy Scout days comes to mind.

"Leaves of three, let it be" as the warning about poison ivy.
Nick
Yorktown, VA

Offline goodfellow

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2022, 07:06:19 PM »
Remembering the order of significance in solving equations.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

translates to ......... Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction

ALSO

remembering Pi out to the 8th value using the phrase --  "May I have a large container of coffee?". Just count the letters in each word, and don't forget to put a decimal after counting May, which = 3

Hence Pi to the eighth value = 3.1415926

...and the one we all drilled in Algebra/Trig class in high school for remembering sine, cosine, tangent

SOH-CAH-TOA  pronounced “soak a toe-uh”   -  Sine = Opp/Hyp, Cosine = Adj/Hyp, Tangent = Opp/Adj


Offline wantedabiggergarage

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2022, 07:32:39 PM »
Tites were at the top of the cave and mites were in the muck was how I learned.

I simplify it even more, StalacTite. T as in "from the top of the cave".

Just as I said.

What about our old friend?
Roy G Biv....

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Red touches black, friend of jack, red touches yellow, dead fellow.

Offline Rural53

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2022, 08:19:58 PM »
Remembering the order of significance in solving equations.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

translates to ......... Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction

ALSO

remembering Pi out to the 8th value using the phrase --  "May I have a large container of coffee?". Just count the letters in each word, and don't forget to put a decimal after counting May, which = 3

Hence Pi to the eighth value = 3.1415926

...and the one we all drilled in Algebra/Trig class in high school for remembering sine, cosine, tangent

SOH-CAH-TOA  pronounced “soak a toe-uh”   -  Sine = Opp/Hyp, Cosine = Adj/Hyp, Tangent = Opp/Adj

I remember the order of operations without a nonmonic. I haven't heard the one for remembering Pi before, I'll try and remember that one. SOH-CAH-TOA is imprinted in my brain and still gets used occasionally. I even used good old Pythagoras' 3-4-5 triangle to set out some right angles recently when all I had was a 50 metre tape measure.

Offline wantedabiggergarage

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2022, 08:37:37 PM »
And of course where would we be without Private Snafu, and how FUBAR things are?

Offline stokester

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2022, 10:36:05 AM »
Neat subject...

From my early electronics training ->  "ELI the ICE man"

voltage (E) leads current (I) in an inductive circuit (L)
current leads  voltage in a capacitive (C) circuit

and there was the phrase to remember the resistor color code that I'm quite sure is not taught today  :)
Nick
Yorktown, VA

Offline goodfellow

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2022, 11:16:12 AM »
Neat subject...

.....and there was the phrase to remember the resistor color code that I'm quite sure is not taught today  :)


-- Having served in WWII and Korea many old HAM guys I know relied on some very raunchy catch phrases to remember certain procedures and/or formulas. Definitely NOT for family oriented reading -- LOL

Offline goodfellow

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2022, 12:27:23 PM »
This one is not that common anymore, but the color "Gray" can also be spelled "Grey". Both spellings are acceptable these days, but they represent a difference between traditionally English and American English.

GrAy = American

GrEy = England and Commonwealth
« Last Edit: July 18, 2022, 12:30:27 PM by goodfellow »

Offline muddy

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2022, 01:54:46 PM »
Tites were at the top of the cave and mites were in the muck was how I learned.

I simplify it even more, StalacTite. T as in "from the top of the cave".
I've known it as Slagtites, hang tite to the ceiling. Stalagmites grow mighty from the ground.

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Offline Midnitemack

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Re: Acronyms and other memory prickers
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2022, 02:30:31 PM »
When I worked in the US driving truck , our logbook pages had the letters GOAL in pale writing imposed into the background of where we wrote all the info for our day  , it stood for “ get out and look” if you weren’t sure of anything, still stays with me to today over 20 years later ….


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