Anacronyms – Weary Wretch

When faced with the task of learning a massive amount of information in a short period of time, there is no better technique than using mnemonics. It is usually for the purpose of short term recall, such as for a test, but is also helpful for long term recall as well.

Mnemonics are techniques of linking the thing you want to remember (which are usually unfamiliar, obtuse or complex things) to things that are familiar, easy to recall or outlandish. This is usually done with acronyms, anacronyms or initialisms. For most of us, these are all called acronyms, although they do differ.

Acronyms use the first letter of each word in a list to form a word that can be pronounced. There is even a website of what acronym is an acronym of.(1) My favorite is, “A Criminal Regiment of Nasty Young Men”. Typical examples of acronyms are radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) and scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus).

Anacronyms are acronyms that are old and the forming words are forgotten.

Initialisms are formed like acronyms but are pronounced by saying the letters instead of pronouncing a word. Like FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

A backronym is a contrived phrase that an acronym is made from (although not all acronyms come from phrases). An example is, Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT ACT).

A mnemonic is a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something. It is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory.(2)

Now that that is out of the way, lets move on to what I really wanted to say.

Mnemonics have to be nasty, funny, irreverent or outlandish to be remembered easily and for a long time.(3)

Lets look at some from the medical field for examples. There are a bunch of bones in the body and 7 make up the hand (excluding the fingers and thumb, which account for at least 14 more). The carpal bones are the scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform, hamate, trapeziod and trapezium. So how do medical students learn these complex, foreign names? They use mnemonics.

Here are two mnemonics from different medical schools.

Sally Let Tom Put His penis Through Twice
Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can’t Handle

Or to learn the twelve cranial nerves.

I Olfactory
II Opthalmic
III Oculomotor
IV Trochlear
V Trigeminal
VI Abducens
VII Facial
VIII Acoustic
IXGlossopharyngeal
X Vagus
XI Acessory
XII Hypoglossal

O,O,O, To Touch And Feel A Girl’s Vagina, Ah Heaven!

So, there are about 200 bones, 600 muscles, 1 million nerves, and 75,000 enzymes in the human body. Now add all the ways those can go wrong. After awhile, one begins to wonder if they will need acronyms to remember the acronyms of all these systems and their failures.

Not to worry. The millennials are adding acronyms by the dozen per day on social media.(4)

Your grumpy Uncle Dave

Weary