Acrostics and Acronyms as Mnemonics: Planets & Wonders

Introduction to Mnemonic Devices

Some of the most practical mnemonic devices available to learners are acrostics and acronyms. Both techniques work by connecting unfamiliar or complex information to a memorable verbal cue, making lengthy lists far easier to retain and recall.

Acrostics and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World include the Pyramids of Egypt, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Colossus of Rhodes. Because of the unfamiliarity of these sights to modern eyes, and the strange-sounding names of these wonders to modern ears, these marvels may seem difficult to remember.

One mnemonic device for learning these wonders is an acrostic: "Seems Like MataHari Picked Her Targets Carefully" — standing for the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and Colossus of Rhodes. Memorizing this sentence is more effective than trying to picture the Hanging Gardens or trying to remember these complicated names by rote. Although associating lists of words with pictures can be effective for some material, because no living individual has a mental image of most of the Wonders, this relatively easy-to-say sentence — depicting the famous female spy shooting at targets — is more useful to a student learner.

Acrostics and the Planets of the Solar System

Another common list that often needs to be remembered is the order or names of the planets. An effective acrostic for this purpose is: "My very educated mother just sent us nine pizzas" — standing for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and (controversially) Pluto. Again, few individuals have a clear image of what the planets of our solar system look like in daily life, but everyone can imagine a mother holding nine pizzas.

How Acrostics Support Recall

These examples illustrate how "acrostics support recall by creating an entire sentence with the first letter of each word being the prompt for the to-be-recalled information" ("Mnemonics: Acrostics," 2000, Learning Disabilities). The usefulness of acrostics lies in making learning comprehensible by providing an ordering structure that relates a list of facts within a short, memorable sentence. Although they are verbal in nature, the striking imagery of many mnemonics — such as MataHari the spy, or a mother delivering nine pizzas — is a key part of what makes them effective.

Acronyms as an Alternative Mnemonic Technique

Another mnemonic technique is to create an acronym — a word formed from the initial letters of the items that need to be remembered (Keeley 1999). Some acronyms, like radar or NASA, have become so widely used that they have effectively replaced the full phrases they were originally created to help people recall.

An example of an acronym for the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World would be "MC SLAG": M (The Mausoleum), C (Colossus of Rhodes), S (Statue of Zeus), L (Lighthouse of Alexandria), A (Temple of Artemis), G (Hanging Gardens). Acronyms can be effective if they sound amusing or memorable, even if "MC SLAG" is unlikely to replace the actual list of the beautiful Seven Wonders. For the planets, however, an acronym presents a greater challenge because their order must also be retained; still, "M-VEM J-SUNP" might serve, for a learner who enjoys nonsense syllables.