Image via Wikipedia (author Veronika Susova)
According to Wikipedia, mnemonics are “any learning technique that aids memory” and I think they are wonderful things if you can remember them! A school friend (back in the ’80s) gave me a tip on how to spell the word necessary and I can honestly say that I have recited the following phrase in my head almost every time I have written or typed it since:
never eat chocolate, eat smoked salmon ‘ary‘ (where ‘ary is short for Harry! Probably not the best ending for a mnemonic).
I googled the word to find out if there are other mnemonics and they all appear to have the same sort of theme; all focusing around salmon and other healthy foods. Here are two from ict4us.com:
- never eat crisps, eat salmon sandwiches and remain young
- never eat crisps, eat salad sandwiches and remain young
If you are more of a visual learner, you might like this 2007 YouTube video by Jodiedebt where some children are teaching the spelling of necessary using the mnemonic:
never eat caterpillars, eat salad sandwiches and raspberry yoghurt
I think that’ll be the one I’ll teach my children!
Please leave me a comment if you have any others mnemonics for the word necessary.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
Freelance Writer
www.sandramadeira.com
My Writing Notebook 
Well I’m certainly going to use this technique in the future – I can’t remember any words right now but they will come!
Posted by High River Arts | January 31, 2012, 11:20 pmI love the mnemonics for this word! I told my daughter about it and she found it very funny.
Posted by Sandra Madeira | February 6, 2012, 8:55 pmMy son was diagnosed with a chronological disorder at the age of 3 where he struggled to construct a word using the correct spelling or read a word by breaking it up into correct pairs. My son spent a number of hours with Angela Liddicoat and worked through a number of books for Dyslexics, one of them being Mnemonics which really speeded up my sons learning. he is now 13 and achieving top results in English and targeted for an A in English GCSE.
Posted by Gary Shapland | February 19, 2012, 5:21 pmThat’s really interesting how mnemonics helped your son and how he’s achieving top results with all the hard work. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Sandra
Posted by Sandra Madeira | February 23, 2012, 5:33 am