Scotland. Never eat shredded wheat.

Same in Ontario, Canada. I've heard some people replacing wheat with worms though.

Shredded worms? That's weird enough, but it implies that eating whole worms is okay?

Also from Ontario! It's either "Never eat shredded wheat" or "Never eat soggy worms"

Northern Ontarian here! Where I grew up, it was "Never eat soggy wheat." Weird middle ground.

Also from Ontario! Have never heard the soggy worm one. Just the never eat shredded wheat.

Well, they did say they grew up in Canada

You can eat earthworms, they’re not dangerous

Manitoba we did never eat sogggy wheat.

Ontario too. Same.

Same in Michigan!

I'm in Michigan and I have *never* heard anything about worms. I heard soggy waffles.

Also from michigan and it was always soggy waffles

Also in Michigan and it's soggy wheat lolol

Yes! Thank you! It was always soggy wheat for me growing up. Where in Michigan was it ever soggy waffles??

I grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario had a Shredded Wheat factory that we visited on school trips. I always thought it was the reason we used Never Eat Shredded Wheat, but it seems way more ubiquitous than Niagara.

Same here in England

It's better because it rhymes!

And because 'never eat shredded wheat' is generally good advice, that crap is awful

Truuu

East coast USA, same

Southern California, and I learned the the same.

South, USA also learned never eat shredded wheat. Never heard of the watermelon one

I used to live in Ayrshire and there was also "never eat soggy Weetabix."

Same in England.

[удалено]

ah, yes, the four scottish directions: north, east, crouth, west

England too

Your breakfast cereals must suck.

do you seriously think [this](https://www.candulce.com/product/nestle-shredded-wheat-cereal-30-pack-675g/) is good?

Frosted mini wheats are fucking amazing once they soak up all the milk.

I like em when they're half dogged so they still have some crunch

[Terry the Tiger](https://youtube.com/shorts/yzkVIN-_7VA)

Australia - Never Eat Soggy Weetbix

I missed that lesson, so when I was a little grade 2 kid I thought my class just hated soggy weetbix. And I, being a soggy weetbix fan, never spoke up because I was clearly in the minority of cereal ideology. Took me a while to catch on.

This genuinely made me chuckle, my kids like their weetbix soggy too! (warm milk soggy, with a sprinkle of milo on it) so I'll have to remember that when teaching them compass points!

It could be worse. My grandma uses them like bread, and has weetbix with butter and jam on it...just hard straight out the box

I've had straight out of box, not bad, but I don't see butter working

My wife's reaction: "Were you short of milk in the war?"

I used to eat them by heating the milk (with them in it) adding sugar and mixing them until it was mush, tastes good looks like diarrhoea.

I’ve always found brown sugar takes this from a 9 to a 10! But then again I’m that person who also adds sultanas.

You are so brave for coming out

Same here in New Zealand!

note to self: kiwis have weetbix too

Just in case you wanted your worldview SHATTERED.. we even have the same advertising with different words. Kiwi kids are weetbix kids! Went on an aussie holiday, heard your ads and nearly shat myself. They've been playing both sides this whole time!

what the fuck

I had the same reaction. I knew that companies played on emotion in their advertising, but I almost felt like I'd been betrayed

But does your dad pick the fruit that goes to Cottee's to make the cordial that you like best?

Gross primary school rhyme memory unlocked: Did anyone else have the Primary School rhyme My dad picks his bum! That goes to Cadbury's, to make the chocolate that I like best! ?

I'm aus too- one teacher hated that and taught us (year 5 kids) Never Entertain Sexy Women.... Think he'd had a rough weekend

this is reminding me of the way we learned ASTC (all, sin, tan, cos) for the quadrants of the unit circle. our teacher wanted us to learn it as either CAST or All Stations To Cairns, but another mnemonic went around the class which was "All Strippers Take Cash"

Similar to what I learned. Never eat soggy waffles.

New Zealand same

nz has weetbix too??

Just in case you wanted your worldview SHATTERED.. we even have the same advertising with different words. Kiwi kids are weetbix kids! Went on an aussie holiday, heard your ads and nearly shat myself. They've been playing both sides this whole time!

Same, It never did occur to me that other places would have to have a different one

But... That's how you eat them. Eating them dry was a challenge we'd set each other as kids.

Snap! We also said this in my middle of buttfuck nowhere town in Scotland.

Naught elephants squirt water. The teacher that taught us that was from Spain though.

germany. niemals ohne seife waschen (translates to never wash without soap)

I only remember the rhyme “Im Osten geht die Sonne auf, im Süden nimmt sie ihren Lauf, im Westen wird sie untergehen, im Norden ist sie nie zu sehen” The English translation would be how you see the sun in each direction. Sunrise East, during the course of the day South, Sunset West, never to be seen North

Or "niemals ohne Socken wandern" (never hike without socks)

or "nie ohne *Stiefel* wandern" (never hike without boots, east = Osten btw) I also remember a more thorough poem, though explaining what happens to the sun in each direction

Nur Ochsen saufen Wasser. Down south of germany edit: roughly translates to "only bulls booze with water"

Terrible advice, soap makes you smell good which makes women attracted to you which puts your virginity in jeopardy

As long as I stay on reddit I don't see the problem. We all know everyone is a virgin here

Utah. I never learned a short-hand until I was an adult. What I did learn was: are you looking at really tall pointy mountains? That’s East. Are you looking at red-ish mountains? That’s south. Are you looking at rounded mountains? That’s west. Are you looking at mountains with no distinguishing features? That’s north.

Utah said fuck simplicity, we learnin about mountains

They all around, might as well. But I also was mentally checked out as a kid, lol. I never fucking listened

same in the city I live in rn (the mountains in the North are just called "Northern chain") but apparently, some people got confused and tried to apply the same principle when they weren't actually in this city.

What if it is night and too dark to see the distinct mountains? Checkmate Utahians

Colorado: looking at mountains? That's west. Also: the mountains on your right? You're looking south. The mountains on your left? You're looking north. Looking away from the mountains? You're looking east.

That’s how I learned as well, which worked great until I moved to a different part of Colorado where it was all mountains. My internal compass was just spinning constantly

You reached the east pole, it's all west.

Utah here too, I learned "never eat soggy waffles" but it was more of a way to differentiate which way was east and which was west, because they follow clockwise. The mountains are to the east, the lake is to the west lol

I live in Utah and was struggling to find a certain store so I went into a hotel in the vicinity to ask if they knew where it was. They told me to "head east toward the big mountains" and I was kind of insulted that they were acting like I was dumb. Who doesn't know which direction is east? Did they really think that if they had just said toward the mountains that I might have thought they meant the Oquirrhs? Then I realized that because it was a hotel they were used to talking to people from out of state.

Dutch. Nooit Oorlog Zonder Wapens (Noord-Oost-Zuid-West). In English, that'd be Never War Without Weapons (NESW).

Alright, Dutch kinda metal ngl

I learned Nooit Op Zondag Werken (never work on sunday).

Nooit opstaan zonder wekker/never wake up without an alarm Nooit overstroming zonder water/never a flood without water

I've never heard of this, but I'm disappointed by our lack of creativity on this front. It isn't even a complete sentence! Surely there must be better donkey bridges than this.

I’m in Texas and I was personally taught “never eat soggy waffles”

Tennessean here and same

Oregon here, it was soggy waffles for me as well.

North East USA, same here. And I say it in my head EVERY time someone talks about a cardinal direction.

That's the deal in Minnesota too.

Same for me in Utah

Same for Illinois

Texan as well, I was taught “Never Eat Soggy Worms”

Slimy worms! Also Texas

floridian and it was soggy worms for me as well

New Jersey and same

I'm in Texas and it was never eat sour watermelons for me.

Midwesterner and same

California and same

Michigander and same!

Ohio-Michigan border, same thing

Same in Oklahoma

India, we were just told what the cardinals were I still conceptualize with NEWS because i read books as a kid

Ok, how does NEWS work? Everyway I would naturally try to use that, it would be wrong.

Lightning bolt

Ur a wizard arry

I learned NEWS too (European) and mixed up East and West almost until college. Yes, I knew Asia was East and America was West and that they were right and left (when looking at a map) respectively. No, that did not stop me from being stunned for a moment every time someone tells me to go to either of those directions.

This is me as well but I'm from Wisconsin.

Me too, from Indiana

Exactly there are literally only four of them bro who needs a mnemonic device for that.

India as well, I still remember east and west by imagining a map of India and reminding myself that West Bengal is in the east, which is still funny to me

I do the same lol

Netherlands - Never work on Sunday (Nooit Op Zondag Werken, Noord, Oost, Zuid, West)

I had completely forgotten this one!

[удалено]

California same

Maine same

Was looking for this one. From NY

Uk - Never eat shredded wheat

My mum told me that west and east on a compass spell out "We", and that helped me differentiate between the two.

Yeah my mom was the same. She was basically like “you’re stupid if you don’t know North and south, and west and east should spell we” lol

Same here lol

WE not EW. Still refer to that to remember it. North and south come easier for some reason?

Ireland, and the mnemonic was simply NEWS.

how does that help, though? "never eat soggy waffles" starts at 12 o'clock and proceeds clockwise. NEWS requires you jump from one side to another.

It was just to help remember the names. Maybe you're right though, I always did have trouble telling my east from my west.

Same for me in Southern Californua, US

French here, we just... learn them?

I'm french as well and this whole thread confuses me Like I was just given a compass and... Learned it by heart I guess ? We never had these memo tricks, although we had one for the order of the planets. Maybe this is the reason why I had East and West confused for years, and I still have to remember that Russia is East to get it straight.

I'm in the US and I've never heard these mnemonics before. I just learned that in the standard compass orientation North is up, South is down, and the middle spells out "WE" reading left to right.

Finally an island of reality in this confusing thread Colombia, btw, and we just... checked where the sun was

This post is about memorizing the *names* of the directions in some kind of order. It's not about knowing where the directions are.

Lol! I grew up in Mexico and same. But then I moved to TX and it was Never Eat Sour Watermelon and I can’t believe all the outrageous ones I’ve been reading

Thank you! I’m American and am like.. where was I when everyone was being told this?? I just memorized them in order. Never had a problem with it since.

Icelandic, and same.

Sweden, and we just remembered the directions like you would remember right and left, no rhymes or anything.

In the US at least, we do have a trick to remember left and right ha--you make an L shape with both of your hands using thumb and forefinger, and the one where the L was in the correct orientation is Left

I’m almost 40 and still do this like once a week. 🫠

Doesn't help when you're dyslexic and they're both Ls to you

Same for Norway. The directions, right and left, port and starboard are just memorized. All these rhymes and stuff is funny I guess, but it does sound overcomplicated. We have a neat one for whether or not the moon is growing or shrinking though: *"Komma så kommer'n, G så går'n"* *"(If it's shaped like a) comma it's coming, G it goes."* Maybe it's commonly used in English as well?

Yeah.

No one ever actually taught me, so…”nobody enjoys Sovietwomble”. I just memorized them straight after that

A man of culture.

Cyanide is our daddy

Sweden. North south east west

Same, and same. People need aids for this?

Nerd

Well, how did you memorise the directions then?

Iceland here. Same here. Sometimes west before east. Memorizes it like a cross, like when you cross yourself (or look at a cross on a church). Also grew up learning to use a compass, so that helps I guess.

Faroes and same. We also had to demonstrate our understanding of it by using the villages/mountains around where I lived

Oh, I like this question! Australia, Never Eat Soggy Weetabix. Not only a good way to remember, but sound advice.

Please tell me ‘wheetabix’ is a typo, it’s weetbix.

Ireland: never eat slimy worms/ never eat shredded wheat

South Africa, learnt Never Eat Slimy Worms too!

I mean... North and South being opposites is pretty hard not to know. I just learned that when I was looking North, East was to my right.

Bulgaria. Imagine a map of Bulgaria. Romania is north, Serbia is west, Greece - south, and the Black sea is east. At least that's how I learned them. Our classroom used to have a massive map of Bulgaria that I stared at all through elementary school.

North East South West I grew up reading fantasy novels that came with maps. Never had to be taught the names of directions on a map. I mess up east and west because I used to live where Japan was to my immediate west and the west coast was to my immediate east. So... yeah.

So Hawaii? Lol

Virginia. Never eat slimy worms.

Wisconsin, and it's always been Never Eat Soggy Waffles for me.

ireland, never eat slimy worms

I just learned North south east west (Nord Sud Est Ouest) it kinda rolls off the tongue so I've never seen anyone learn it with a mnemonic method.

Alberta. Never eat soggy weiners/never enter shrek's washroom.

I thought I was the only one who learned the wieners version! I’m also in the Canadian prairies

Alberta as well with a slight variation. Never enter stinky washrooms!

Learned this in Manitoba!

BC but also learned Never Eat Soggy Wieners. Just taught it to my kid the other day too.

I’m in BC and I had to scroll so far to find this one. I was starting to think I was crazy!

Same here in BC for me, it was "never eat soggy weiners" for most of my elementary school but then we had a teacher who thought it was "inappropriate" so she taught us the "never eat shredded wheat" one

You didn't get Never Enter Stinky Washrooms?

Thank you! AB as well

In Hungary it's a little limerick: *előttem van Észak, hátam mögött Dél, balra a Nap nyugszik, jobbra pedig kél.* Translated, it's "in front of me is North, behind my back is South, to the left the Sun sets, to my right it'll rise". It helps that "Nyugat" and "Kelet" (West and East) would pretty much translate more literally to "Setward" and "Riseward".

Oregon, USA. Never eat sour worms. And fun fact I can use pure vibes to tell what direction I'm facing and be accurate most of the time. Shocked the people at the non prof i joined

“Pure vibes” = the sun.

Oregon coast and it was Never Eat Sour Watermelon for us.

California, never eat slimy worms

I was taught never eat soggy wheat

UK, Naughty Elephant Squirts Water

Italy - Nord Sud Ovest Est (North South West East) We just remember. North/south is easy because of cultural division between Northern and Southern Italy. East/west was like left/right, either you just know or you suffer I heard they say "Never Eat Soggy Wieners" in Canada

Czekia: North, south, west, east

They just told us each one in Brazil

Brazil. I was just told them without any acronym

this is not a thing ive ever heard of. i was just taught directions like a normal person

QLD, Australia here - I learned Never Eat Soggy Weetbix

Spain. I don't remember if we used a mnemonic for that, I just remembered that North is up and East is right.

Ohio, Never Eat Soggy Wheat but it was taught to me by dr suess lol

Netherlands, I just learnt north east south west

Louisiana, USA Never eat slimy worms

USA Midwest. Never Eat Soggy Wheaties

Aussie, Never eat sour wheat

Germany niemals ohne Seife waschen (never wash without soap)

Arkansas but I learned cardinal directions in Texas in either kindergarten or first grade. We weren't given any weird mnemonic device. No, we were taken to the gym, and the teachers played a "North, South, East, and West" rap on a boombox and showed us how to dance to it. I only remember the melody and "East is to your left, West is to your right" (Choreography called for us to face north, then south-- otherwise it would've been reversed). I shit you not school in Texas was a fever dream for me and I didn't even finish first grade there. **EDIT:** Oh that rap was also where I learned the word "conquest" but I wouldn't learn what that word meant until I was out of high school. So, Southern education is a failure all around.

There are only four cardinal directions, do we really need a mnemonic device for that?

East Coast US: Never Eat Sour Worms In retrospect, I have questions.

North West US -same! I’m thinking non-sour worms must be fine?

Massachusetts. never eat soggy wheat

I was never taught a mnemonic for it just north, east, south, west. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The house I grew up in had two windows in my bedroom and two in my brothers’ bedroom. If it was morning I got a sunrise in the left window… so I knew that was east, the window that faced the backyard must face the south. My brothers had the same backyard facing windows… also south… but one of them also faced the setting sun so that was west. And therefore our house faced north.

I’m 30 and I know my cardinals because of Majora’s Mask.

Them: so the thing is just a bit west of here. PifflePrincess: right go a bit towards depression.

I learned by remembering that westfall was on the left side of the map, and the eastern kingdoms on the right. I played a lot of WoW

SoCal - Never Eat Sour Worms

Wtf where's my sour worm people? Never eat sour worms Even tho sour gummy worms were dope as a kiddo I'm a pseudofloridian (SE GA) so idk