A mnemonic is usually a way to memorize the order of a group of hard-to-remember words or phrases. You come up with a set of easy to remember words, or a phrase that starts with the same first letter of the harder to memorize words. For example, Every Good Boy Does Fine is a mnemonic to help people remember the lines on a musical note staff (E, G, B, D, F). For most people, it is easier to remember the phrase “Every Good Boy Does Fine” than to remember E, G, B, D, F so if you can remember the mnemonic, it makes it easier to remember the things that you’re actually trying to remember.

In the picture, the mnemonic is “Lisa Likes Licking Lettuce Lightly” which is supposed to be used to help someone remember the great Lakes. However, notice how every word in the mnemonic starts with the same letter (L) and is used to memorize the Lakes which also all start with L. This makes the mnemonic pretty useless.

A proper mnemonic for the lakes would be something like “Super Heros Must Eat Oats” (Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario).