Remember?

This past Sunday I read an article in the NYTimes ("Dinner and Deception" by Edward Frame) about waiting on tables that included a mnemonic waiters use, "raise on the right and lower on the left"; it is used when they are clearing and serving tables. That got me to think about how helpful mnemonics can be for children and adults. Here are a few of my favorites:

• I before E except after C or when sounded A as in "neighbor" and "weigh" (helpful when spelling words when letters I and E come together)
• Red, right, return (where the red buoy should be upon returning to port)
• Roy G. Biv (colors of the spectrum — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
• Please excuse my dear aunt Sally. (order of mathematical operations — parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction)
• Red sky in the morn, sailors take warn. Red sky at night, sailors delight (when referring to weather forecasting)