Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November...

Why is it that many people still remember phrases like the above from their school days and actually remember what happened at the date in question? And why do we forget so much of the other stuff we learnt at school?

In order to help us remember things, we need to connect them to emotions. Most likely, rhyming phrases appeal to some area in our brain, maybe the one responsible for having fun, and are recognised as 'Oh, funny, save for later'.

I still remember a poem by heart which we learnt in ninth year at school. Our German teacher made us memorise it and say it as fast as we could. He would stop the time and make a competition out of it. Although the poem itself is really nice, I doubt I'd remember much of it, let alone all three stanzas, without that competition.

So, since it is Saturday, I'll just give you my two cents about this phenomenon:

I think it's really cool that there are phrases like the above for many historical dates. I like history, but it's not one of my main areas of interest, so I often forget things I've read or heard. Those catchy phrases, however, stick to my mind much more likely, and with the phrase, some of the other information about that particular event in history might be brought back from the abyss of deleted memories in my brain.