Red letter day

[owlfish]

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.

Comments

[of-remedye.livejournal.com]

It's a good acronym! It brought all of them quickly to memory for me!

[nwhyte]

What an enlightened curriculum you had!

[genibane.livejournal.com]

I remember Jess and I had to learn about that when we were in middle school in N.C. Then when we moved up north again, I found that I'd missed out on the entire Gulf War. Everyone had learned about that the previous year, so when we came, we were expected to know all about it. It's amazing what you miss when you're not exposed to the news, my parents never discussed it.

[printperson.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Mallett bug Ruakk...the memories come flooding back.

[bill (from livejournal.com)]

The worst mnemonic I've ever come across was in a (post mortem) Dr. Seuss book about the planets. "Mallory Valerie Emily Mickles Just Saved Up Nine hundred ninety-nine nickles!" If I can't remember Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars then I'm certainly not going to remember Mallory Valerie Emily Mickles.