Month number mnemonics
I somehow never managed to really memorise the month numbers. January, February, November and December are fine, but the others, especially June and July, would force me to count up from January — often with my fingers.
The Internet surfaced a whole bunch of mnemonics for the days in each month, including the amazing knuckle mnemonic. But I couldn't find anything for the month numbers. Well, I can't be the only one who struggles with it, so here are some mnemonics that I came up with for me:
| No. | Month | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | n.a. |
| 2 | February | "Feb-ru-ary" rhymes with "2" |
| 3 | March | "M" looks like "3" rotated; "the right March" → right of clockface is 3 |
| 4 | April | "A" looks like "4" (leet) |
| 5 | May | "Maive", like "May" + "Five" |
| 6 | June | "Six" and "June" are both monosyllabic1; "June" rhymes with "doon" (Scot. "down") → bottom of clockface is 6 |
| 7 | July | "Se-ven" and "Ju-ly" are both disyllabic1; "7" looks like "J" and "l" |
| 8 | August | "Augustus the gr8" |
| 9 | September2 | "September" is 9 letters long (only month like this) |
| 10 | October2 | The "0" in "10" looks like the "O" (only month with 0/O) |
| 11 | November2 | "N" looks like "11"; "Noveleven", like "Novel" + "Eleven" |
| 12 | December2 | n.a. |
My understanding of associative memory (i.e. the fast one, that requires little to no conscious effort) is that you just need to build a connection between two things you already know, however tenuous that connection is. Once the connection is established, the connector becomes increasinlgy less important or conscious.
Happy memorising.