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Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, love to reminisce about their childhoods. From long gone phrases heard in the hallways to the sights and smells from grade school, growing up as a kid in 80s and 90s is seriously nostalgic. Without smart phones to look up any and everything, millennials had to get creative (shout-out to mnemonics) to help them remember facts, mathematics and etiquette.

So when Reddit user PickledBih asked millennials, "What random thing did you learn as a kid that you still use as an adult?", they spilled almost 200 replies with some of the most useful and practical tidbits that still stick with them. Even 20+ years later, they are still relevant and useful today.


Here are 22 of the most interesting responses to the question: "What random thing did you learn as a kid that you still use as an adult?"

  1. "I caught myself doing Never Eat Sour Watermelons earlier (mnemonic device for compass directions going clockwise) because it’s freezing tonight in Texas and I was trying to figure out what direction the wind was coming from in relation to my house (and pipes)." PickledBih

  2. "I have a very specific memory of seeing a peer say to himself 'righty tighty lefty loosey' as he was fixing a bike in elementary school. It was the very first time I ever heard that, and it blew my mind since before then the idea that there might be any kind of a standard for that sort of thing had never crossed my mind." amsterdam_sniffr

  3. "On my knuckles I count the months:
    - January would be the pointer knuckle.
    - February would be the gap between my middle knuckle and pointer knuckle.
    - March would be the middle finger knuckle.
    - July/August are both the pinkly knuckle.
    - Months that land on the knuckle are 31 days.
    - Months that land between knuckles are 30 days.
    - February is a weird month.
    So October would land on the ring finger knuckle and would have 31 days."
    Ashi4Days

  4. "Tech n9ne lyrics taught me which side of the sink it’s hot- “cause I’m hot like the left sink handle'." – skeletoorr

  5. "Bananas have potassium, burned into my mind because of honey we shrunk ourselves." – Merciless972

  6. Honey We Shrunk OurselvesMagnify Rick Moranis GIFGiphy

  7. "Beautiful. every time I write it out, I have trigger in my head spelling it B-E-A-utiful." – rjwyonch
  8. "BEDMAS and SohCahToh are burned into my brain along with the quadratic formula." –rjwyonch
  9. "Moss grows more on the north side of trees (in the northern hemisphere), helpful for keeping track of direction in the woods." –rjwyonch

  10. "I have to put my Left hand up with an L so I can verify that’s the left when giving directions." – Mission-Degree93

  11. "A pint is a pound the world ‘round. Both are 16oz, yeah, one is to measure volume the other to measure weight but it makes it easy to remember." – f0zzy17

  12. "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine [Pizzas] for the planets." – lightning_teacher_11

  13. Kings Play Chess On Flat Grey Squares: Kingdom, Phylum, Order, Family, Genus, Species." – Rascalbean

  14. "Cut towards your buddy not your belly, prevents you from cutting yourself." – Thick_Maximum7808

  15. "We had a woodshop class a few times back in elementary school. In it the shop teacher told us that x is read as 'by' IE a 3 by 4 is written as 3x4. So I took it upon myself to write 'X = by' on my instruction sheet he'd given us. He saw me do this and told the rest of the class to do the same. I was quite proud of myself at the time. Now my brain will revert back to that moment whenever I see a measurement written out." – MorganL420

  16. "I whisper WED NES day every single time I spell it." – ImaginaryFriend123

  17. "The school PrinciPAL is your pal. Principle is the other one." – IH8BART

  18. "🎵Certain as the sun rising in the east🎵 I am lost without these lyrics from Beauty and the Beast." – cameandlurked

  19. Beauty and the Beastbeauty and the beast ballroom GIF by DisneyGiphy

  20. "FACE and All Cows Eat Grass for reading music." – basilobs

  21. "If you make a ring with your thumb and index fingers on both hands, your left hand makes a b and your right a d. B for bread — bread plate at a restaurant is on your left. D for drink - drink at a restaurant is on your right. Sixth grade teacher taught us that — said we’d eventually need it and didn’t want to embarrass ourselves by taking the wrong drink or bread plate. She was right — I STILL use it at important work dinners to make sure I don’t mess it up." – TheGirlInTheApron

  22. "When dealing with car batteries it’s always 'negative is the first off and last on'. I say it every time even though I’ve known it for decades." – SCCRXER

  23. "In one of my early jobs an older lady said '30 days have September - April, June and November' when inquiring about the days in a month and it stuck with me ever since as well." – SCCRXER

  24. "Another from watching the crocodile hunter I think, “if red touches black, friend of jack. If red touches yellow, kill a fellow” talking about a pair of snakes that have alternating color rings." – SCCRXER

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