Alternative science mnemonics

Just in time for the lull in the conversation at your holiday dinner table, XKCD brings us these handy, sure-fire conversation-starting mnemonics for scientific concepts. Click through for the full set.

Mnemonics

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Guysmiley

The “none I care for” got me laughing. He must know the same one I do.
Lobster

I think he means, “My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nacho PLATTERS.”
- chenille
  
  Of course, if anyone still wants those little objects to count, now it should be “My Very Excellent Mother Can Just Serve Us Nachos Or Perhaps Hot Quick Meals Eaten Slowly“.
Steve Miller

I will always have warm spot in my heart for dear Violet.
- swishercutter
  
  Because Violet goes willingly…right?
- http://twitter.com/dbrunker Dave Brunker
  
  That’s the Devil’s version. God’s version goes like this, “Beloved brethren remember our yoke, God brings victory God’s way.”
  Have a whole Mnemonics Page http://bradley.bradley.edu/~campbell/mnemonic.html
Mark Dow

“… Upstairs Neighbor Peter”
OR
“… Upstairs Neighbor’s Peter”
Stephen M

As students where taught the racist one for the resistor colour code – sticks in head but can’t really repeat it in polite company.
- Tyler Puryear
  
  Dude… this is the internet, if there ever was a complete and other antithesis to polite company it would be here….
  - CastanhasDoPara
    
    Well, technically this is Boing Boing, which is an awesome if fairly small part of the Internet. As such I’m pretty sure anything racist or hateful will be removed by the mods. So yeah, this would (is supposed to) be ‘polite company’ (sort of). Then again for informational purposes it may just stick around, who knows. As they say speech is free, Boing Boing is moderated. YMMV.
    - Beanolini
      
      Does that mean it’s OK to reveal that my class’s mnemonic for Fleming’s left-hand and right-hand rules was ‘mother-fucking ****’ for motion, field, and current?
      
      And while I’m being filthy, the planets were ‘Mary’s vagina emits many juices sitting upon Neil’s prick’.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        As you can see by the asterisks, no.
      - digi_owl
        
        Funny what got censored there.
nixiebunny

The resistor color code I was taught wasn’t racist, but it was sexist. Then again, it was taught to me by men. And I don’t live in the South.
Tao_art

It’s not science, but to remember Aristotle’s Elements of Drama (Plot, Character, Theme, Dialog, Melody and Spectacle I came up with: Pirates Chased The Duke’s Many Sluts. Still stuck in the old brain cells over 20 years later. Go mnemonics!
iCowboy

Geologists already have a mnemonic for periods in the stratigraphic column: camels often sit down carefully, perhaps their joints creak. Possibly easing oil might prove positively helpful.
- jasongnc
  
  Or Mohs scale of mineral hardness: Toronto Girls Can F… (flirt) And Other Queer Things Can Do. Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Quartz, Topaz, Orthoclase, Corundum, Diamond
siloxane

The problem with the resistor color code is that there are so many duplicate first letters (three Bs and two Gs) that it is helpful to use a mnemonic that incorporates a second letter or the whole word. The one I like is:
Black Bears Rarely Outrun Young Grizzlies But Victimize Gray Wolves
bth

For the bass clef, I came up with George Bush Done F**ed America. Or you can go with Glenn Beck Deserves Full Attention. For some reason I remember stuff better when it’s attached to emotionally irrational absolutes.
soap

Mom Very Easily Made a Jam Sandwich Using No Peanuts, Mayonnaise or Glue.
jes5199

The rhyme I learned for the planets goes like this:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto
Guido

Oh, be a fine guy, kiss me (Spectral star types)
pjcamp

I had one, back before Pluto got demoted: “My Very Easy Mother Just Sat Up ‘N’ Puked.”

Pluto wuz robbed.
Roy Trumbull

Before rings were discovered around Uranus you could hear it pronounced as Your Ann Us or Your Ain Us. The media settled on Your Ann Us as they didn’t like to say “Rings around Your Ain Us.”
the lurch

Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perpendicular. Thank-you Miss Danyluk where ever you are! (1978, if I recall!)
JhmL

The mother is no longer educated, I see. Then again, no pizzapies on the menu no longer either. What a bummer.