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Or… ‘Naughty Elephants Squirt Water’

I’m sure everybody has childhood mantras mnemonics and rhymes they used (or had used on them) to remember key pieces of information. Others that spring easily to mind as I type are “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vein” for the colours of the rainbow, and, strangely, BODMAS (Brackets (of) Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction) for precedence in mathematics. I hope!

As with most things learnt by rote, it’s not really much of a surprise they stick with us throughout life. Of course, they don’t necessary imbue any understanding, certainly when it comes to more complex concepts and ideas. Far better, in my mind, to teach the mechanics and principles of learning so we appreciate and understand, and can apply it, than simple mindless repetition of pieces of information.

But I still find it amusing that I catch myself automatically referring back to those mantras. In my minds eye, if I hear “westbound delays on the M8″, as well as feeling sorry for the poor sods caught in their car, my mind does a quick check which way is west relative to north.

Perhaps more amusingly (some might say concerning), is I have a recollection from when I must have been a few years old, learning my left from my right. I struggled a bit for some reason, but seemed to finally ‘get it’ at the top of some stairs at my parents’ land ladies house (a huge, vast and therefore endlessly fascinating house, near where we lived). Ask me now to ‘picture’ left and right, I’ll immediately find myself transported back there. I even remember the carpet detail, the large wooden banister rails and the carvings, now that I think about it.

I also remember my brother and I genuinely surprising my father, just a year or two back, by both recalling the number plates of all the cars he’d ever owned whilst we were growing up.

Curious thing, memory.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.