One of the most important documents in history has an anniversary this week. The Magna Carta (which is Latin for "Great Charter") was agreed to on June 15 and signed on June 19 in the year 1215.
King John of England had so abused his power (by increasing taxes whenever he wished and by ignoring the law in deciding criminal cases, for example), that a group of wealthy barons raised an army against him and forced him to agree to 63 demands laid out in the Magna Carta. Among the most important stipulations were that the king must obey the laws of the land, that a freeman couldn't be punished unless judged guilty by his peers and that the king couldn't raise taxes without the consent of the barons.These articles became the foundation for the principles of justice that the colonists brought with them from England and embodied in our Constitution.
I will always remember what year it was that the Magna Carta became law because, a long time ago, a teacher told me to picture in my mind a sign announcing the historic event outside the castle where King John and the barons were meeting. In large letters the advertisement proclaimed: "Come one and all! See the Magna Carta signed today at 12:15. Lunch will be served." The idea of having lunch at this event reinforces the time mentioned on the sign (12:15), and 1215 is also the year that the Magna Carta was signed.
A memory aid like this is called a mnemonic (pronounced nee-MAH-nick), which comes from the name of the Greek goddess of memory - Mnemosyne (nee-MAH-sin-ee). We see her name most commonly in words that combine it with the Greek prefix a-, meaning "without": amnesia and amnesty both convey the idea of forgetting (without + memory).
Mnemonics are used every day to help adults as well as children link various items one to another so that they can be remembered together. Perhaps the most common use of this type of memory aid is in the spelling of English words. It can be so effective in allowing people to spell with absolute confidence those certain words that give them such difficulty (and seem to crop up so frequently) that I wholeheartedly recommend you make a habit out of creating your own mnemonics and encouraging your children to do so, too.
When you do, however, be careful that whatever images you create to help you spell one word don't confuse you into misspelling other words. Let me show you what I mean.
"The principAL is your pAL" is a mnemonic device that has been used by teachers and parents for generations now, yet every year it creates more MISspelling than it cures. Students who try to spell the word that means "a leading part in a play," or the word that means "the main body of money (as distinct from the interest)" will, with perfect surety, write "principle" - which is incorrect. They know the mnemonic, and so they think that any meaning other than "the head of a school" must be spelled "principle."
We would all be far better off by retiring that old mnemonic altogether and replacing it with the words "mAin" and "ruLE." Any meaning of principal that carries the idea of "mAin" (a "mAin" part in a play; the "mAin" part of your money; the "mAin" teacher at a school) is spelled "principAl." Any meaning that conveys a "ruLE" (a "ruLE" of etiquette; a moral "ruLE" or standard; the "ruLE" of relativity) is spelled "principLE."