The Buddy Check Mnemonic Revisited

[ev780]

Those of us in medicine have lived and died by the mnemonic. Love 'em or hate' em the stick and they work.

Mnemonics for cranial nerves, bones of the wrist, triage methods, ultrasound, and dozens more, helped us all get through medical training.

Pilots too use a boat load of them. It works.

 

[kmarks]

Direct to the OP's question, perhaps the nonsense sentence: "Buoyant weights release air, finally." (five hooks) It can also work with the other memory trick of building strange visuals in your mind (perhaps a Buoyant Weight floating up and hitting an lever that Releases Air from a valve, but only after we waited for it (Finally)).

That's exactly the same mnemonic I came up with. I thought it made way more sense and actually gave you a hint for what each of the letters was actually supposed to mean. My wife told me it was stupid and made no sense. I told her she was stupid and made no sense. Now she sleeps in a different bedroom. Sigh...

 

[agilis]

E G B D F

Every good boy deserves fruit. If you can't read music, don't give it a second thought.

 

[Skittl1321]

My wife told me it was stupid and made no sense.

What the heck is a buoyant weight? It makes no sense.

I personally think a good mnemonic makes remembering most things incredibly easy, so I'm not arguing against the use of one.

The problem with this one is the R (though if you assume that a bouyant weight is a thing, using the word release in the sentence solves the problem- so it is way better than the BS one PADI comes up with, and also better than all the versions of 'bruce willis ruins all films" etc. PADI's is definitely the worst though as there is no sense to it and nothing that hooks your memory.)

 

[kmarks]

What the heck is a buoyant weight? It makes no sense.

When I was 8, I got a pack of diving toys to take the pool. It was 8 different little "oysters" in 4 colors. They were about 3 inches long, hollow plastic, and had a small round weight inside of them. The weight was more than enough to hold the plastic down, but not enough to hold the whole thing down and make it sink until some of the air trapped inside the oyster shell had bubbled out and been replaced by water. That's what I always think of as buoyant weights [that] release air finally [allowing me to dive to the bottom of the pool to get them].

 

[Skittl1321]

kmarks- that story is fabulous.

Reminds me of the guy who taught me to sail who told us his Dad has a port-a-potty on the left side of his boat. I never forgot port side (though it got confusing when I started to row), but there is no reason the port-a-potty might not have been on the right side...

Which really just shows- tools to remember things are only good if you actually remember what they are for.

 

[The Chairman]

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West... Now there's mnemonic you don't hear everyday.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Bad Boys Rob Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly. Any old school electronic techs out there?

Look up resistor colors if you are not.

That version was taught to us by my high school electronics teacher.

Only one I can seem to remember.

 

[agilis]

BBROYGBVGW. Unless some fool spliced a temporary connection somewhere using whatever wire was handy.

Two old standards so familiar and so absolutely accurate that one has become a word in itself, though both are mnemonics: SNAFU and FUBAR.

 

[The Chairman]

Don't confuse acronyms with mnemonics. TANSTAAFL is my favorite.