Looking back, it's astonishing how many ridiculous things I had to memorize in school. So much of history (a subject I love) is boring to so many people because of the way they were taught history in school. When all you need to do is memorize names and dates, it's easy to see why history can be seen as a slog.
People shared their thoughts after Redditor Korwas asked the online community,
"What is the most ridiculous thing you still have memorized because of school?"
"My sixth-grade teacher..."
"My sixth-grade teacher taught us a trick to always remember the difference between desert and dessert. The extra 's' is because you always want more dessert.
It's just always stuck with me."
I never heard of this, but that's actually brilliant. Don't think I need it, however. I'm a good speller!
"Kings..."
"Kings - Kingdom
Play - Phylum
Chess - Class
On - Order
Fine - Family
Gold - Genus
Stools - Species"
"Has anyone..."
"The Pledge of Allegiance. Has anyone recited it outside of school?"
No, thankfully.
And hopefully never again.
"I was given..."
"My alphabet backward. I was given a magnetic alphabet board and taught the letters but no one told me we read left to right. So I learned my alphabet backward first."
"Also..."
"The "old Indian chief" SOH-CAH-TOA. Also, the South American countries and their capitals as presented on a CD in a rhythmic beat by a nasal Spanish speaker."
I wish I understood why this was neccesary.
"I had..."
"I had a math teacher who made a lot of drug jokes. His acronym for SOH-CAH-TOA was "Some old hippie caught another hippie tripping on acid."
"In Idaho..."
"In Idaho, all school kids learn the counties by song in 4th grade.
I still knew it when I was 15 and taking driver's Ed.
I know it now at 35.
Plus side? I know where everyone is from just due to their license plates."
You must be fun at dinner parties.
"The song..."
"The song we sang in our first year of English class years ago. It went something like this:
Yellow and red makes orange
Yellow and blue makes green
Red and blue makes purple
Yellow and white make... .. Cream?"
"We had to learn..."
"The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou. We had to learn all the capitals of every country around the globe and our teacher said that you will forget many of them but you will remember the capital of Burkina Faso and somehow that worked."
Somehow it did. And now I need to go to YouTube so I can learn how to pronounce it.
"I dreamed..."
"Caracas, Venezuela…. Bogota, Columbia…Quito, Ecuador…. I dreamed that damn song in High School."
After reading these, all I can think is... why? Just why?
Have some additions of your own? Feel free to tell us in the comments below!
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@thepassingtramp/X
@BryceWayne10s/X
@PressSec/X
