It Pays to Remember Dates

"What day is today?"
"Gosh, you've got me, I don't know what day it is." "Well, why don't you look at that newspaper you have in

your pocket—that should tell us."

 

"Oh, no, that won't do us any good; it's yesterday's paper!"

although all of us can tell what day today is by looking at yesterday's paper—how many of you can tell quickly, or slowly, for that matter, the day of the week that any date this year will fall on? Not many, I'm sure. If you feel that having this information at your fingertips, with hardly any effort, is worthwhile—then read on. There are, of course, many different methods for calculating the day of the week for any given date, not the least of which is counting on your fingers.

Some of the systems are so involved that it seems much simpler to take the time to find a calendar, and get your information there. On the other hand, there are ways of actually knowing the day of the week for any date in the twentieth century! This doesn't seem to me to have any particular practical value; although it may have for some of you. Used as a memory stunt, however, it is quite impressive.

I intend to teach you how to do that in this chapter, but

104 first, for practical use, I have come across a very simple way to find the day of the week for any date of the current year. This idea is so easy, that most of you will wonder why you didn't think of it yourselves. This is it:—

All you have to do is memorize this twelve digit number:— 633752741631, the way you've been taught to do. You can break the digits down into your peg words and link them, or make up words to take in more than two digits at a time. For example, you can remember this number by making a link of these four words, chum, mug, linger and dishmat. Once you have memorized the number, you can tell the day of the week for any date of the year 1957! Each digit in the number represents the first Sunday of the month for one of the twelve months! The first Sunday in January falls on the 6th of January; the first Sunday in February falls on the 3rd of February; the first Sunday in March is the 3rd of March; April 7th is the first Sunday in April; May 5th is the first Sunday in May, and so on.

All right, so now you know the day of the month upon which the first Sunday falls for each month. How can this help you to know the day of the week for any date of the current year? Simple! You wish to know the day of the week for August 22nd, 1957—you know that the first Sunday of August is the 4th of the month. Knowing this, your calculations are elementary. If the 4th is a Sunday, then the next Sunday is the nth and the following Sunday, the 18th. The 18th is a Sunday, so the 19th is Monday, the 2oth is Tuesday, the 21st is Wednesday, and, of course, August 22nd is a Thursday!

Do you want to know the day of the week on which Christmas falls this year (1957)? Well, thanks to the twelve digit number, you know that the first Sunday of December is the 1st of the month. Therefore the 8th must be a Sunday, the 15th is a Sunday, and the 22nd is a Sunday. If the 22nd of December is a Sunday, then the 23rd is Monday, the 24th is Tuesday, and the 25th of December (Christmas) must fall on Wednesday this year!

Here is the way my mind actually works when I want the day of the week for any date this year:— I use the words, chum, mug, linger and dishmat to remember the twelve digits. I know that the word, "chum," gives me the first Sunday of the month for January and February. The word, "mug" tells me the first Sunday of March and April. "Linger" gives me the same information for May, June, July and August, and I know that "dishmat" represents September, October, November and December.

Now, if I wanted to know the day of the week for, say, November 9, 1957—I immediately think of "dishmat." I know that the third consonant sound of this word represents the first Sunday of November. The first Sunday is the 3rd, therefore the loth of November is also a Sunday; and, if the loth is a Sunday, the 9th of November must be a Saturday.

If, in your particular business, it would be a help if you knew the day of the week for the present year and the following year—get a hold of next year's calendar, and memorize the twelve digits for that year by making up a link of four or five words. You could do this for as many years as you want to, but I don't believe it's practical for more than two years. However, the memory feat that follows is also a practical method of knowing the day of the week for any date in the twentieth century.

As a stunt, you would tell your friends that you've memorized all the calendars of the twentieth century. To prove it, ask them to call out any date; a date of which they themselves know the day of the week. This is necessary, of course, so that they can check your answer. Most people remember the day of the week of their weddings, graduations or other important anniversaries. When the date is
called, you almost immediately tell them the day of the week for that particular date!

To accomplish this you must know two things besides the month, day and year: a certain number for the year, which I will refer to as the "year key," and a certain number for the month, which I'll call the "month key."

Perhaps, if I explained the method and procedure before going into the technicalities, you would find it easier to understand. This is it:— Let's assume that you want to know the day of the week for March 27, 1913. Let's also assume that you know the "year key" for 1913 is 2, and that the "month key" for March is 4. You would add these two keys, arriving at #6. Now you add this number (6) to the day, in this particular case—#27 (March 27). This gives you a total of 33. The last step is to remove all the sevens from your total. Seven goes into 33 four times, (4X7== 28); remove 28 from 33, which gives you a final total of 5. That is your day—the fifth day of the week is Thursday! For this stunt we must consider Sunday as the first day, Monday the second day; Tuesday the third day; Wednesday the fourth day; Thursday the fifth day; Friday the sixth day and Saturday the seventh day.

March 27, 1913 did fall on a Thursday! Please don't consider this complicated; it isn't. Actually you will never have to add any numbers higher than seven. The keys for the years and the months are all either 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Sevens are always removed as soon as possible. If you had to add a "year key" of 5 to a "month key" of 6, you would arrive at 11; but immediately remove one seven, which leaves you with 4. The 4 is all you would have to keep working with. If the day that is given you is higher than seven, you remove all the sevens, i.e.—the date is the 16th; remove the two sevens (2X7= 14) and use the remainder of 2 only. In the above example, you would simply add 4 to 2, which tells you that the day of the week is the sixth, or Friday.

I will give you a few more actual examples, after I acquaint you with the year and month keys, and my methods for remembering them.

These are the month keys, which will always remain the same:—

January — 1 July — 0
February — 4 August — 3
March — 4 September — 6
April — 0 October — 1
May — 2 November — 4
June — 5 December — 6

I'll give you a memory aid for remembering each of these keys. The method that follows is one way, and I'll explain one other. You can use whichever you like best, or one which you think of yourself.

January is the first month of the year; therefore it is easy to recall that the key for January is 1.
February is a cold month, it usually has plenty of snow; both the words, "cold" and "snow" have four letters, so the key for February is 4.
In March the wind Wows. Both "wind" and "blow" have four letters; which will help you to remember that the key for March is 4.
April is known for its showers. "Showers" has seven letters; all the sevens must be removed; (7 — 7 = 0) so we know that the key for April is zero.
The key for May is 2. Do you recall the game we used to play when we were children, the one in which we would say, "May I take 2 giant steps?" Well, if you remember that phrase, you will recall that the key for May is 2. Or, you
might think of "May Day" or "May Pole," consisting of two words.
"June Bride" is a common phrase; "bride" has five letters, so you will remember that the key for June is # 5.
For July, you could use this for a memory aid:— We all know that July 4th is a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Take the two sevens from the year 1776, leaving 1 and 6. One and six are seven; remove this seven, leaving 0. Or, July 4th is usually associated with fire crackers; the word "cracker" has seven letters; remove the seven, leaving 0. The key for July is zero.
August is a hot month. The word "hot" has three letters; the key for August is 3.
September is the month during which the leaves start turning brown. "Leaves" has six letters; the key for September is 6.
Octo means eight, remove the seven (8 — 7 = 1) leaving one. The key for October is 1.
November is the election month. We vote in November; the word, "vote" has four letters, so the key for November is 4. Or, November is the nth month of the year, remove seven, leaving four.
Finally, the big holiday in December is Christmas. Christmas is the anniversary of the birth of Christ. "Christ" has six letters, so we know that 6 is the key for December.
Although some of the above may seem a bit far fetched, they will help you remember the keys. Another way would be to form a substitute word for each month, (the system of substitute words will be explained thoroughly in the following chapter) and associate that to the peg word that represents its key number. For zero, use any word that contains the s or z sound only; "zoo" is good, because it is easy to picture.
Here are some suggestions as to substitute words for all twelve months:—
January—Jan.—Abbreviation of "janitor." Associate janitor to "tie."
February—Fed.—Federal man. Fib or fob. Associate any of these to "rye."
March—See the object associated (rye) marching.

April—Ape.

 

May—Use a person whose name is May, or picture a

Maypole.
June—Picture a June Bride.
July—Jewel.
August—Gust of wind. Picture "ma" being blown about

by a gust of wind.
September—Scepter or sipped.
October—Octopus or oboe.
November—Ember, new member.
December—Decimal, deceased or descend.
You can use either one of the two methods, or one that

you come up with yourself.

Now we come to the year keys. I'll give you all the keys for the years 1900 to 1987. All the years that have 1 for a key, are listed together; the years with 2, are listed together, and so on.

I would suggest the use of another peg list to help you remember these keys. All you actually need is six words, representing the numbers 1 to 6, which will not conflict with your basic peg list. You can use any of the lists that I suggested in the previous chapter; the alphabet idea; ape, bean, sea, etc., or, pencil, swan, clover, table, star, yo-yo, etc. For zero, use "zoo" or "sue."

Since every year listed begins with 19, you don't have to try to remember that. Just associate the peg word for the last two digits of the year, to the word that you are using to represent the key numbers.

For instance, the key for 1941 is 2. Associate "rod" (41) to either "swan" or "bean," according to the list you're using. Make your associations for all of them. Go over them a few times, and before you know it, you'll have memorized them all.

1900 1901 1902 1903
1906 1907 1913 1908
1917 1912 1919 1914
1923 1918 1924 1925
1928 1929 1930 1931
1934 1935 1941 1936
1945 — 0 1940 — 1 1947 — 2 1942 — 3
1951 1946 1952 1953
1956 1957 1958 1959
1962 1963 1969 1964
1973^{1968 1975} 1970
1979^{1974 1980} 1976
1984^{1985 1986} 1981
1987

1909 1904 1905
191; 1910 1911
1920 1921 1916
1926 1927 1922
1937 1932 1933
1943 — 4 1938—5 1939 — 6
1948 1949 1944
1954 1955 1950
1965 1960 1961
1971 1966 1967_{1982 1977 1972}

1983 1978

You now have all the information necessary to do the calendar stunt, except for one thing. If it is a leap year and the date you are interested in is for either January or February —then the day of the week will be one day earlier than what your calculations tell you. For example:— If you wanted to find the day of the week for February 15th, 1944:— The key for 1944 is 6- Add this to the key for February, which is 4, to get a total of 10. Remove the seven, leaving 3. Add the 3 to the day minus the sevens, (15th day minus 14) which is 3 plus one, giving you a final total of 4. Four would ordinarily represent Wednesday, but in this case, you know that it is actually one day earlier, or Tuesday.

Remember that you do this only for January and February of a leap year. You can tell if a year is a leap year by dividing four into the last two digits. If four goes in evenly, with no remainder, then it is a leap year. (1944—4 into 44 is 11, no remainder). The year 1900 is not a leap year.

Two more examples of the system:—

June 2, 1923 — 0 plus 5 is 5
5 plus 2 is 7
7 minus 7 is 0
0 is Saturday.
January 29, 1937 — 4 plus 1 is 5
5 plus 29 is 34
34 minus 28 (4 X 7) is 6
6 is Friday.

See if you can find the day of the week for the following dates:— September 9, 1906, January 18, 1916 (leap year), August 20, 1974, March 12, 1931 and December 25, 1921.

I don't intend to tell you that this system is a snap to
learn to do quickly; it does take some time and study, but, as I'm sure most of you know—nothing worthwhile comes too easily.

By the way, if you like this idea better than the one at the beginning of this chapter, and would like to use it for practical purposes—you could remember the "year keys" of only the years you're interested in. That might be the previous year, the present year and the following year. With that, and your "month keys," you would be able to know the day of the week for any date within those three years.