Donkey Bridges

It’s always good to have a donkey bridge if you can’t remember a word.

I can never remember the German word Dozent, for example. So ,I imagine a lecturer who is a little bit dozy. And there it is: Dozent. Admittedly, this may not be the most respectful way of remembering your university lecturer, but it works for me!

A donkey bridge – Eselsbrücke in German – is, of course, not an real English expression. In English, we would normally call it a mnemonic or a memory aid. But I rather like donkey bridge. It sounds much more entertaining than mnemonic, which sounds like something you might be prescribed by a doctor.

We all have our own donkey bridges, and they don’t have to make sense to anybody else. They just have to get you safely across the river of forgetfulness.

Here are a few that you might recognise.

Since or for?
Since has an I with a dot over it – think of a particular point in time. For has an O, which can remind you of a period of time: for two years, for three weeks. A tiny visual trick, but surprisingly useful.

A, I or E?
If you having trouble, think of i for iPhone and e for email. Or, if you prefer something more memorable: I Ate Eels! Why eels? I have absolutely no idea. But perhaps that’s why it works.

A friend with a sweet tooth told me about this one: dessert or desert? Dessert is the one you eat – and you always want two helpings. So, dessert has two s’s. The desert only has one.

The beauty of donkey bridges is that they can be completely ridiculous. In fact, the more ridiculous they are, the more likely they are to stick in your head.

So, what are your donkey bridges? Do you have a clever way of remembering an English word, spelling, pronunciation or grammar rule? Please let me know! I’d love to collect them and perhaps compile a whole collection of donkey bridges for a future blog.