18 February 2008

Hail to the Chiefs

Do you have any strange things that have been burned into your brain for eternity? Things that you learned once upon a time, and now you find them taking up the memory space that could be used for remembering where your put the @#!% car keys?

I have two weird capsules of knowledge in this category. One is the memorized list of American presidents, thanks to Mr. Koswol, my fifth-grade Social Studies teacher. Each election that passes finds me incorporating that new name into the roll, because apparently I care that it remains complete and accurate.

The second is a memorized Calgon Water Softener commercial, circa 1975 (see my profile). Great party trick, I know.



If you have any strange tidbits lodged in your long-term memory, feel free to comment on them here. Perhaps by sharing our random trivia we can purge it from our brains (it's worth a shot). Enjoy!

4 comments:

deb said...

I know the first sixteen lines of "Paul Revere's Ride" and I recite it many many times on the 18th of April every year.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
'Twas the eighteenth of April in '75 -
Nary a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friends "If the British march
By land or sea, from the town tonight,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower
As a signal light.
One if by land and two if by sea
And I on the opposite shore will be
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Just as the moon rose over the bay



OK that's all I know.

deb said...

I thought I had all the auxiliary verbs, but now I'm not so sure.

am is are was were be being been had have will shall could should would might ought

I think I missed a couple.

Memory. Easy come, easy go.

monica said...

I remember all the states in alphabetical order, and the prologue to the Canterbury tales in Middle English. The states come in handy sometimes, but the prologue is completely useless.

Cate said...

I will always know how to spell R-O-L-A-I-D-S. :)