At on of the training sessions I conducted for adult educators last week in Little Rock, Arkansas, the participants raised the issue that not everyone understands all of the mnemonic clues.  For example the clue for the spelling of the word receive (Mnemonic clue 35) and the fish or alligator mnemonic clue that many people use for the concept of greater than and less than.  Pointing out that there is no one way to make a mnemonic clue and that what works for one person may not work for another, I challenged the training participants to make a mnemonic clue for the concept of greater than and less than. 

This exercise resulted in a simple mnemonic clue to help those individuals who find the fish or alligator eating the numbers confusing.  This clue was created by Philip Less, who works at the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education, Adult Education Section.  This clue uses two numbers, the one and the two and uses the shape of the two to help to remember the direction of the symbol of greater than.