Mnemonic Devices for Easily Confused Words

deadrose said:
Medical school is full of mnemonics to help you recall all the information you need - "On Old Olympus’ Towering Top, A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops" helps you remember the 12 cranial nerves, for instance.
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I would have at least as much trouble remembering that apparently random, disconnected sequence of words as I would remembering the actual words.
 
For medical applications, it's usually much simpler to follow etymology, because so many of those worse reuse the same set of Latin & Greek roots that tell you pretty simply what they mean.
 
Delvo said:
For medical applications, it's usually much simpler to follow etymology, because so many of those worse reuse the same set of Latin & Greek roots that tell you pretty simply what they mean.
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Exactly. This has been my experience with mnemonics. They just seem so unconnected to anything. What does hops have to do with nerves? Why a German and a Finn? What the hell is a parson doing pissing in a church anyway?
 
arthwollipot said:
Exactly. This has been my experience with mnemonics. They just seem so unconnected to anything. What does hops have to do with nerves? Why a German and a Finn? What the hell is a parson doing pissing in a church anyway?
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One of the things stressed in a memory training book I read is that the sillier the connection, the easier it is to remember.
 
alfaniner said:
One of the things stressed in a memory training book I read is that the sillier the connection, the easier it is to remember.
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I do not find that to be the case. It may be just me. But can this really be said to be easier to remember because it contains sillier connections?


Lucky's Monologue from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett


Given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire flames if that continues and who can doubt it will fire the firmament that is to say blast hell to heaven so blue still and calm so calm with a calm which even though intermittent is better than nothing but not so fast and considering what is more that as a result of the labours left unfinished crowned by the Acacacacademy of Anthropopopometry of Essy-in-Possy of Testew and Cunard it is established beyond all doubt all other doubt than that which clings to the labours of men that as a result of the labours unfinished of Testew and Cunard it is established as hereinafter but not so fast for reasons unknown that as a result of the public works of Puncher and Wattmann it is established beyond all doubt that in view of the labours of Fartov and Belcher left unfinished for reasons unknown of Testew and Cunard left unfinished it is established what many deny that man in Possy of Testew and Cunard that man in Essy that man in short that man in brief in spite of the strides of alimentation and defecation is seen to waste and pine waste and pine and concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown in spite of the strides of physical culture the practice of sports such as tennis football running cycling swimming flying floating riding gliding conating camogie skating tennis of all kinds dying flying sports of all sorts autumn summer winter winter tennis of all kinds hockey of all sorts penicilline and succedanea in a word I resume and concurrently simultaneously for reasons unknown to shrink and dwindle in spite of the tennis I resume flying gliding golf over nine and eighteen holes tennis of all sorts in a word for reasons unknown in Feckham Peckham Fulham Clapham namely concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown but time will tell to shrink and dwindle I resume Fulham Clapham in a word the dead loss per caput since the death of Bishop Berkeley being to the tune of one inch four ounce per caput approximately by and large more or less to the nearest decimal good measure round figures stark naked in the stockinged feet in Connemara in a word for reasons unknown no matter what matter the facts are there and considering what is more much more grave that in the light of the labours lost of Steinweg and Peterman it appears what is more much more grave that in the light the light the light of the labours lost of Steinweg and Peterman that in the plains in the mountains by the seas by the rivers running water running fire the air is the same and then the earth namely the air and then the earth in the great cold the great dark the air and the earth abode of stones in the great cold alas alas in the year of their Lord six hundred and something the air the earth the sea the earth abode of stones in the great deeps the great cold an sea on land and in the air I resume for reasons unknown in spite of the tennis the facts are there but time will tell I resume alas alas on on in short in fine on on abode of stones who can doubt it I resume but not so fast I resume the skull to shrink and waste and concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown in spite of the tennis on on the beard the flames the tears the stones so blue so calm alas alas on on the skull the skull the skull the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the labours abandoned left unfinished graver still abode of stones in a word I resume alas alas abandoned unfinished the skull the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the skull alas the stones Cunard tennis... the stones... so calm... Cunard... unfinished...
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A lot of mnemonics seem to me to be like that - a series of words, sometimes forming a complete sentence, that is completely unrelated to the thing I am trying to remember, and thus more or less incoherent. I find them a poor substitute for actually remembering the thing itself.
 
alfaniner said:
One of the things stressed in a memory training book I read is that the sillier the connection, the easier it is to remember.
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Well, I don't think silliness, itself, is the key. It has to be silly in a manner YOU find to be memorable, possibly because it has some emotional ties, or possibly for other reasons.

As I stated, before, I like the Ents from the LOTR novels. Using them to remember what Entomology means is silly, but it's silly in a way I can remember.
 
Learning which was which re: blood pressure readings (systolic and diastolic), one of us said "sissies on top". Made absolutely no sense but once said, it was never forgotten.
 
Delvo said:
For medical applications, it's usually much simpler to follow etymology, because so many of those worse reuse the same set of Latin & Greek roots that tell you pretty simply what they mean.
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arthwollipot said:
Exactly. This has been my experience with mnemonics. They just seem so unconnected to anything. What does hops have to do with nerves? Why a German and a Finn? What the hell is a parson doing pissing in a church anyway?
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I think different people learn and retain information in different ways.

For me, knowing the etymology and history of words works better than rote memorization or mnemonic devices. But I've never really tested the limits of this ability. I've never been in the position of a medical student, under pressure to absorb vast amounts of detailed knowledge in a short period of time. Maybe there's a point of diminishing returns, where it's easier to just rote-memorize mnemonic devices. I don't know.

When it comes to math, rote memorization was about the only thing that really helped me.
 
Trebuchet said:
My problem with those is not remembering which is which (witch?), but that I frequently type homophones. I've never understood how that works. ...
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Me neither, but it happens to me all the time, when I'm compose typing, never when copy typing.

My suspicion is that it may be to do with the internal communications of brain areas. Something like:

Idea is encoded/spoken internally via the speech centre to the hearing centre which communicates the message to the motor centre which types the words.

The hearing centre doesn't know or care which homophone is correct.
 
Like arthwollipot I'm pretty sure that I very rarely, if ever, use mnemonics to remember the meaning of words (i.e. to select the correct word) or the spelling.

Typically I select the correct word because I pronounce them differently.

For example Chile (chill-ay), vs. Chilli (chill-ee)

Having to hunt for homophones in my typed output is annoying though.
(Spell checkers never find them)

Unlike arthwollipot, spelling did not come naturally to me though. This was a side-effect of a ridiculously high reading speed as a child. Pretty much any combination of letters looked like the word to me. It only sorted itself out in my early twenties, and I have no idea how.
 
Got a mnemonic for Avocado / Abogado? One is a slimy green fruit and the other is a Mexican lawyer. Let's see, "advocate" has a V in it so the one with the V must be the lawyer? Oops.
 
novaphile said:
True for me with German classes in High School too.



Up until then, I hadn't realised that English grammar had pretty much not been taught at all.
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The thing is, people don't really need to be taught much of the grammar of their native language. They hear how the people around them talk, and learn from that.

Only if you plan to do some serious wordsmithing - editing, translating, etc. - does a deeper study of your native grammar start to pay off.
 
theprestige said:
For me, knowing the etymology and history of words works better than rote memorization or mnemonic devices. But I've never really tested the limits of this ability. I've never been in the position of a medical student, under pressure to absorb vast amounts of detailed knowledge in a short period of time.
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That's the whole point of the etymological approach for scientific terms, especially biological ones: it reduces the number of separate new things to learn. One ancient root getting applied in multiple modern English words including scientific terms means you only need to know that root in order to see its role in all of the modern words/terms it's used in. Then when you encounter a "new" term made from familiar parts, you don't really need to learn that term as a separate new thing. What you already knew before covers it.
 
Delvo said:
That's the whole point of the etymological approach for scientific terms, especially biological ones: it reduces the number of separate new things to learn. One ancient root getting applied in multiple modern English words including scientific terms means you only need to know that root in order to see its role in all of the modern words/terms it's used in. Then when you encounter a "new" term made from familiar parts, you don't really need to learn that term as a separate new thing. What you already knew before covers it.
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That's certainly been my experience. But I'm not convinced language clicks for everyone the way it clicks for me.

It's entirely possible that the didactic method of medical schools is designed to make any capable person into a competent doctor, regardless of whether they're a capable linguist.

And I'm pretty sure that me being a capable linguist doesn't even remotely suggest I'd be a competent doctor.
 
Following etymology reduces the number of words you need to learn while increasing the number of occurrences you experience with each one. That's making less of a demand on your linguistic abilities, not more.
 
Etymology is just really goddamn fascinating anyway. Especially English etymology. The number and variety of sources for our modern words is amazing.
 
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