What is the most useless thing you have memorized? (1 Viewer)

[Senor Schmutzig]

These are both from children's books that I remember as a child:

Tikki Tikki Tembo
No Sa Rembo
Chari Bari Ruchi
Pip Peri Pembo

I also memorized this story, mostly the last part that is bolded:

Once upon a time there lived a king who had three sons. The name of the first was Skrat, the name of the second Skratskratterat, and the name of the third Skratskratteratskratskrirumskrat.
Not far away lived another king who had three daughters. The name of the first was Sip, the name of the second Sipsippernip, and the name of the third Sipsippernipsipsirumsip.
One day, these two kings decided that their children should be married. Skrat got Sip, Skratskratterat got Sipsippernip, and Skratskratteratskratskrirumskrat got Sipsippernipsipsirumsip. And they lived happily ever after!

And this song from grade school. I can still remember singing it in music class. I had to look it up to see if the lyrics matched what I remembered (they did). Apparently it's a folk song from Ghana. I have no idea why they decided to teach it to a bunch of suburban Chicago 3rd graders in 1978.

Che che koolay (echo)
Che che kofee sa (echo)
Kofee salanga (echo)
Kaka shee langa (echo)
Koom ma-dye-day (echo)

 

[jhib]

Big Mac McDLT a quarter pounder with some cheese filet o fish a hamburger cheeseburger happy meal mcnuggets tasty golden fries regular or larger size and salad chef or garden or a chicken salad oriental big big breakfast egg mcmuffin hotcakes sausage maybe biscuits bacon egg and cheese a sausage danish hash browns too.

I remember... Big Mac, Filet O Fish, Quarter Pounder, French fry, icy Coke, thick shake, sundae and apple pie
Or this one... 2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a sesame seed bun
Or from their competition... Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. Special orders don't upset us. All we ask is that you let us serve it your way

... and the cup ran away with the spoon.

 

[jhib]

- Probably about ten different Sesame Street songs that rattle around in my brain and come out at random times.

- Another few songs from my 4th grade Catholic school play

- 8th grade English:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee.....

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

In 7th grade Mrs. Merkle made me memorize the 23 helping verbs. And that’s why I am where I am at today.

I can still recite them all in < 4 seconds.

 

[Zow]

Up up down down left right left right b a b a select start

 

[shuke]

Big Mac McDLT a quarter pounder with some cheese filet o fish a hamburger cheeseburger happy meal mcnuggets tasty golden fries regular or larger size and salad chef or garden or a chicken salad oriental big big breakfast egg mcmuffin hotcakes sausage maybe biscuits bacon egg and cheese a sausage danish hash browns too.

What is this from? I only remember "BIg Mac filet o' fish quarter pounder French fries, icy Coke thick shakes sundaes and apple pies".

 

[higgins]

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me
Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C

 

[ProstheticRGK]

“Eep, opp, ork, ah ah. Eep, opp, ork, ah ah.
Eep, opp, ork ah ah

And that means I love you

Come fly with me…
up high with me…

Eep, opp, ork ah ah and that means I love you”

Name that obscure reference from a famous cartoon.

 

[brun]

FNH 535
Licence plate of the family car - in1965

 

[Dennis Castro]

The capitals of every nation on earth and all sorts of other useless geographic knowledge

\cartographer

 

[Snoopy]

“Eep, opp, ork, ah ah. Eep, opp, ork, ah ah.
Eep, opp, ork ah ah

And that means I love you

Come fly with me…
up high with me…

Eep, opp, ork ah ah and that means I love you”

Name that obscure reference from a famous cartoon.

Some rock star in the Jetsons episode.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Up up down down left right left right b a b a select start

Mr R can confirm.

 

[Riffraff]

dee equals vee aye tee plus one-half aye tee squared

First couple of addresses memorized during elementary school.

tee ess slash ess cee aye via ess ess bee aye equals en oh why eff bee

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama

Plenty of jingles, show/cartoon intros, and of course songs.
Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size. Catches thieves just like flies. Look out! ....

For some mental music to pump myself up, will randomly hum the epic theme intro for Battle of the Planets
Random song popped in the head last week, somehow recited the lyrics - LL Cool J

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

Growing up in Cleveland and watching to much TV - “ Garfield one two three two three, Garfield one two three two three”. I don’t even know what the commercial was for.

Gillian’s Island theme song.

Brady Bunch theme song.

Laverne and Shirley theme song.

Happy Days theme song.

Love Boat theme song.

The A Team theme song. No words, but I can hear it in my head right now.

Magnum PI theme song. Again, no words, but it’s all up there in the memory bank.

I watched to much TV!

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Growing up in Cleveland and watching to much TV - “ Garfield one two three two three, Garfield one two three two three”. I don’t even know what the commercial was for.

YouTube has you.

I had the same problem. I'm from Chicago. I had no idea what "Hudson 3 27 huuundred" was for. But anyone from Chicago knows it.

Also, the music for Dark Shadows.

 

[Galileo]

dee equals vee aye tee plus one-half aye tee squared

definitely NOT useless...but I use x and v naught...and these days kids all get to use equation sheets anyways and don't memorize

 

[Galileo]

Growing up in Cleveland and watching to much TV - “ Garfield one two three two three, Garfield one two three two three”. I don’t even know what the commercial was for.

I'm with you on this one...it was for a house siding company

ETA...I now see Mrs. R beat me too the punch

 

[-OZ-]

The Detroit zoo commercial from the 80s.

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

My college (undergraduate) fight song.

 

[-OZ-]

In 7th grade Mrs. Merkle made me memorize the 23 helping verbs. And that’s why I am where I am at today.

I can still recite them all in < 4 seconds.

I’m not even sure I know what a helping verb is.

 

[Jayrok]

Rapper's Delight. 1979, I think, Freshman in HS and learned the lyrics, and it was always stuck in my mind. I'll be 60 next month and I can still roll out the whole song.

I do not know why. Maybe it will be useful in wooing the ladies while we're eating pudding at Shady Pines one day.

 

[Ron Popeil]

3.14159265358979323

 

[massraider]

In 7th grade Mrs. Merkle made me memorize the 23 helping verbs. And that’s why I am where I am at today.

I can still recite them all in < 4 seconds.

I’m not even sure I know what a helping verb is.

Right?

And they have a song and everything

 

[ProstheticRGK]

“Eep, opp, ork, ah ah. Eep, opp, ork, ah ah.
Eep, opp, ork ah ah

And that means I love you

Come fly with me…
up high with me…

Eep, opp, ork ah ah and that means I love you”

Name that obscure reference from a famous cartoon.

Some rock star in the Jetsons episode.

Yessir. Good pull. The legendary Jet Screamer, teen heartthrob, made that song a smash hit after a hilarious mix-up, in which Elroy’s made-up robot language got sent as Judy’s entry into the “Win a Dream Date with Jet Screamer by sending in the lyrics to his new song”.

This, I remember somehow. The birth of my kids- a little hazy.

 

[McBokonon]

Big Mac McDLT a quarter pounder with some cheese filet o fish a hamburger cheeseburger happy meal mcnuggets tasty golden fries regular or larger size and salad chef or garden or a chicken salad oriental big big breakfast egg mcmuffin hotcakes sausage maybe biscuits bacon egg and cheese a sausage danish hash browns too.

What is this from? I only remember "BIg Mac filet o' fish quarter pounder French fries, icy Coke thick shakes sundaes and apple pies".

McD’s ran a contest back in the day where they added a 45 record into the Sunday newspaper of people trying to get the menu song correct. If you got the ONE where they did it correctly, you won $1,000,000. https://youtu.be/G4gSCQ3-he4?si=2MTVuWEIaeNQnKfq

 

[KarmaPolice]

I still remember our cadence from HS marching band, and mindlessly drum it from time to time.

 

[zamboni]

The Gettysburg Address, in middle school.

Our homeroom teacher asked all of us to memorize it and recite in front of her, with the best regurgitation to be presented in front of the school and all our parents. Unfortunately I won.

 

[strykerpks]

Up up down down left right left right b a b a select start

007 373 5963

 

[BrutalPenguin]

A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent

 

[Long Ball Larry]

It would take a lot less time to list the things that I have memorized that aren’t useless.

 

[Scoresman]

The product codes for the scales at the butcher shop/deli I worked at in high school/college.

Prime rib 129!
Meatloaf 141!
Italian salami 705!

Haven’t used them in 25 years but I can keep going!

 

[Ted Stickles]

Learned the 50 state alphabetical order song in elementary school. From time to time it still comes in handy.

Alabamaaa.., Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Coloradoooo..., Connect-I-Cuttttttttt!

 

[belljr]

My wedding anniversary

 

[heckmanm]

Whitey Herzog was the first MLB player to hit into an all-Cuban triple play.

 

[kardplayer]

Learned a song with 55 prepositions at some point in school. Useless because a) no one has asked me to identify the parts of speech in a sentence in about 35 years and b) it isn't even a complete list (which I only know because as I searched YouTube to find a video I could torture you all with, I found other songs which had words like "amid" which was DEFINITELY not on my list).

 

[Snoopy]

Learned a song with 55 prepositions at some point in school. Useless because a) no one has asked me to identify the parts of speech in a sentence in about 35 years and b) it isn't even a complete list (which I only know because as I searched YouTube to find a video I could torture you all with, I found other songs which had words like "amid" which was DEFINITELY not on my list).

In 8th grade, we were given a test to list all the prepositions given in the textbook from memorization. Needless to say I got a F there.

 

[titusbramble]

It is one of three things:

- The combination to President Skroob's luggage
- The routing of the X12 bus away from campus so I knew exactly when to start paying attention in order to get off regardless of how drunk/tired I was, once I feel a certain left turn then right turn timing I know to wake up
- How to do 100% of everything in GTA Vice City

 

[KarmaPolice]

The dates in Back to the Future that they travel to and from timelines.

 

[Navin Johnson]

3.14159265358979323

How I wish I could calculate Pi.

 

[AAABatteries]

Not sure this qualifies as useless per se as I don’t think the Bible is useless (YMMV). But, I participated in HS in essentially Bible Trivia on a team. I had the entire book of Titus memorized and could quote the whole thing for years. It’s one of the more lesser known books and a letter from Paul to Titus about the church.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

3.14159265358979323

How I wish I could calculate Pi.

I wish I knew how to cook a good one.

 

[TheAristocrat]

Learned a song with 55 prepositions at some point in school. Useless because a) no one has asked me to identify the parts of speech in a sentence in about 35 years and b) it isn't even a complete list (which I only know because as I searched YouTube to find a video I could torture you all with, I found other songs which had words like "amid" which was DEFINITELY not on my list).

I know this song and it was the first thing I thought of.

 

[TheAristocrat]

Also, 5 31 17 which was my high school lock combination. Super useful knowledge about a lock at the bottom of the Mississippi somewhere.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

I still remember our cadence from HS marching band, and mindlessly drum it from time to time.

Mr R is humming "The Horse" right now.

 

[The General]

My friends in Middle School and I spoke a “language” called “Obenglobish”. You place the sound “Ob” in front of vowel sounds of a word.

I can still speak it very quickly

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Old phone numbers, even when I was 7 and couldn't use the telephone

The majority of the periodic table elements based upon their chemical symbols

A couple of locker combinations in high school

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Learned the 50 state alphabetical order song in elementary school. From time to time it still comes in handy.

Alabamaaa.., Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Coloradoooo..., Connect-I-Cuttttttttt!

This. I usually miss one or two, but I can still blow through all 50 in like 10 seconds.

 

[jhib]

Up up down down left right left right b a b a select start

007 373 5963

5318008

 

[Gatorade]

Aye, Aye, Aye, Ayeeeee. I am the Frito Bandido. I love fritos corn chips, I love them I do. I want Fritos corn chips , I'll get them from you.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Aye, Aye, Aye, Ayeeeee. I am the Frito Bandido. I love fritos corn chips, I love them I do. I want Fritos corn chips , I'll get them from you.

Wow, there's one they won't bring back.

 

[zamboni]

The Oscar Meyer bologna & weiner songs.

How about Fruit of the Loom? Fig Newtons? Toys 'R' Us?

As a latchkey kid, my memorization of '70s/'80s commercials in their entirety runs way too deep.

Another example: pretty sneaky, sis.