Comprehension 360 — Mnemonic
Elucidating The Sesquipedalian Paradigms of Education
The Definition
This isn’t so hard. If you use a song, a poem, or some other playful way to remember something, you are using a mnemonic or mnemonic technique.
Think about the songs we used to remember our ABC’s or Do Rey Me. Remember “Every Good Boy Does Fine” or “ My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nachos”? Actually, for most of us, it was probably “…Nine Pizzas“.
When I was in school we sang the “50 Nifty United States”, but today our kids are treated to a more modern and detailed song created by the Animaniacs. link
Alas, there seems to be no mnemonic for remembering how to spell Mnemonic. The folks at the English Stack Exchange actually seemed angry that someone thought to ask. Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be a simple synonym either. Try Googling it. So here is our take on both:
Mnemonic — a trick used to help you remember things
Spell it how it sounds neWmonic, then just remember that the ‘W’ plays a trick on you… sort of a back flip over the ‘n’
Origin
The word mnemonic comes from Greek. It means “mindful”. How the definition transistioned is a story for another article.
Mnemonic Tools
There are many ways to use mnemonics. The way that works best for you or your students is likely to vary. This article by MentalFloss.com does a great job of listing some of the more common tricks.
A Final Mnemonic — Johnny
Johnny Mnemonic was a movie from 1995 starring Keanu Reaves and Iced-T. The story is set in the distant future of the second decade of the 21st century. In this crazy advanced world, people use bad technology to load information into their brains.
We don’t recommend that you watch this movie, but if recalling it helps, we found another trick.
If you do opt to watch this movie or just want to revisit it, check out this funny article from Wired.
A Last Word
Mnemonic tricks are useful to help us remember. That makes them an important tool for education, comprehension, and professional development. We hope this short article did the trick.
For more on this subject consider:
Comprehension 360 is a series created by Corsair’s Institute to increase the reader’s understanding of key concepts in education and learning. For more articles like these — please subscribe to our magazine which shares its name Comprehension 360.
