{"id":1316,"date":"2026-02-03T11:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T11:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/?p=1316"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:17:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:17:39","slug":"mesmerising-mnemonics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/mesmerising-mnemonics\/","title":{"rendered":"Mesmerising Mnemonics"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ll be pleased to hear that I\u2019ve cheered up a little since my last blog of bleakness.\u00a0 One of the things that has brought me some comfort is a joyous podcast that my cousin recommended to me which is the culmination of two of my loves – deep investigative thought, and Taylor Swift.\u00a0 \u00a0It brings together a literary scholar and historian uncle, Dr Jerry Coates, and his devoted Swiftie niece, Angela Wyatt McDow, who, within each episode, dissect one of Taylor\u2019s songs and draw parallels from poetry, history and art. It’s called The Swiftie and The Scholar and you can watch and listen at all the places you get your pods.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s teaching me the names of lots of literary devices and helping me to see songs I know and love with new emotional depth.\u00a0 I also love witnessing the connection that Angela and her Uncle have. It\u2019s so respectful and yet fun, you can just see how much they value and appreciate each other. It\u2019s delightful.<\/p>\n

One of these delights is Jerry\u2019s ability to quote reams of relevant text from different authors as he draws on the parallels between Taylor\u2019s work and Charles Dickens, or Emily Dickinson.\u00a0 Angela can do this too, but for Taylor Swift songs!\u00a0 I binged all of the episodes over the Christmas break and one of them gave me an idea for a blog<\/a>. It was actually an episode that was a bonus chat, not a song analysis, but Dr Uncle Jerry talked about how he had been incentivised to memorise poems, a dollar a time, by his Grandmother.\u00a0 This had impressed upon him the usefulness of being able to quote texts, initially for his financial gain, then for teaching, and now for Taylor Swift podcasts.\u00a0 He explained that he was assisted in this endeavour by one of his teachers \u201cMrs Martin\u201d who had taught him the power of using mnemonics to help him to memorise things.<\/p>\n

I too, love a mnemonic \u2013 a method to help you remember.<\/p>\n

I mean firstly, there\u2019s the word itself.\u00a0 An M and N snuggled up together at the beginning of the word?! Mnadness.\u00a0 Let alone the fact that it\u2019s a one word alliteration party.<\/p>\n

The mnemonic mentioned in the podcast is:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Someone, maybe Mrs Lydon, a teacher in my Primary School, taught me the power of mnemonics too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is necessary<\/strong> for a vicar to wear one collar and two socks\u201d.<\/p>\n

A sure way to remember that spelling necessary<\/strong> involves the deployment of one collar C<\/strong> and two socks SS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Emboldened by its genius when young I set about creating my own mnemonics to help me remember things. My most valuable device helps me to spell the oft tricky \u2018calendar\u2019 for example.<\/p>\n

To spell calendar correctly you need to LEND A CAR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You have to remember to hide the LEND A<\/strong> in the middle of CAR<\/strong> for this to work but it does work for me every time.<\/p>\n

Maybe it will work for you too?<\/p>\n

You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n

So now to Lean and its mnemonics!\u00a0 Most of the Mnemonics I can think of are acronyms, TIM WOODS<\/strong>, Tiger\u2019s brother, being the most famous:<\/p>\n