S. Worthen | Weblog

In seventh grade, we were required to memorize the then-republics of the USSR. I did my best to make a mnemonic for myself, but they weren't the best set of letters to work with.

I ended up with "Mallett bug ruakk" as my solution. Ignoring the letters doubled for expediency, it wasn't most elegant that "ruak" wasn't a word. But I made do, and the mnemonic worked for me.

Today, reading vaguely recent news from Timor-Leste, I learn that its new president's last name is Ruak. (And, looking further online, that it's a tributary river in the Mekong River basin.) All these years later, it's good to find it really is a word! If a proper name.