SuPerman is Prone, waterSlides are Supine is just not working for me.

June 24, 2009 10:35 AM

Help me with a mnemonic device to remember that "prone" is face down, "supine" is face up.
posted by thebrokedown to Grab Bag (29 answers total)

"Prone" and "down" both have o's; "supine" and "up" both have p's.
posted by runningwithscissors at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: "Supine" includes the word "up."
posted by carmicha at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You mean just to remember which is which? It may not exactly be a mnemonic, but I'd just remember that the word up is contained within supine.
posted by thoughtless at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: I lay on my back in the woods and say "Sup, pines?"
posted by jessamyn at 10:37 AM on June 24, 2009 [25 favorites]

I always just think that when someone is lying prone, I don't think of someone laying face up, I think face down. So then supine is just the opposite. Has always worked for me once I thought of it that way. Don't over-complicate, it's only two things you are trying to remember. A silly rhyme is probably overkill.
posted by GleepGlop at 10:39 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: Actually, "supine" has "up" right there in the word. "Prone," on the other hand, is a slant rhyme for "down."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:39 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: Supine includes 'sup (as in what's up!) and therefore denotes facing up.

The 'oan' sound in 'prone' sounds a bit like the 'own' in down.
posted by laumry at 10:39 AM on June 24, 2009

Actually one thing. If you know what one is, you know what the other is.
posted by GleepGlop at 10:40 AM on June 24, 2009

It's Raining Florence Henderson said it better than I.
posted by laumry at 10:40 AM on June 24, 2009

Supine almost sounds like spine, and to lie supine means to lie on your spine.
posted by pravit at 10:44 AM on June 24, 2009

Supine on your spine; prone on your nose. Doesn't quite rhyme, but works for me. Courtesy of English teacher many years ago.
posted by x46 at 10:45 AM on June 24, 2009

"Supine" sounds a little like "spine," and if you're supine you'd be laying on your spine...
posted by LolaGeek at 10:45 AM on June 24, 2009

Lupine, a wolf looking up at the moon.

Just crazy enough that it might work.
posted by codswallop at 10:45 AM on June 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It all seems perfectly obvious now. Thank you!
posted by thebrokedown at 10:49 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: A silly rhyme is probably overkill.

Tell that to "Righty tighty, lefty loosey".

"Supine, stars shine. Prone, dogs bone."

Of course, 'dog bone' referring to a buried bone.
posted by qwip at 10:52 AM on June 24, 2009 [2 favorites]

When I hear the word prone I picture the Army Man lying on the ground.

To be lying supine is to be relatively helpless.
posted by @troy at 10:53 AM on June 24, 2009

I lay on my back in the woods and say "Sup, pines?"
Bad grammar! Bad grammar!!!
*points*
posted by fish tick at 11:03 AM on June 24, 2009

I remember that the word 'pronate' is something people used to do for a king - kneel down, throw themselves face down to the floor. For them to throw themselves on their backs for the king would just be silly.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:07 AM on June 24, 2009

I'm prone to drool when laying face down?!
posted by B-squared at 11:11 AM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: I think I read a variant of this in a decades-old Playboy or somewhere, and it's how I remember:

While in Athens a tourist named Joan
Told her guide, with a trace of a groan,
"Though a fuck is just fine
when I'm lying supine
It's a pain in the ass when I'm prone!"
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:12 AM on June 24, 2009 [10 favorites]

> To be lying supine is to be relatively helpless.

Supine is fine if you're a feline.
Don't mess with an angry cat lying on its back.
posted by bjrn at 11:16 AM on June 24, 2009

If you're laying supine you lay on your spine.
posted by SassHat at 11:37 AM on June 24, 2009

Metriod's limerick has always worked for me, but I can never remember the first 2 lines - thanks!
posted by coolguymichael at 11:52 AM on June 24, 2009

In the hammock feelin' fine, supine.

Layin' on my bone, prone. (substitute "cones" if needed)
posted by Askr at 12:44 PM on June 24, 2009

Recline supine in the sunshine, else you're prone to burn your back.
posted by EnsignLunchmeat at 12:50 PM on June 24, 2009

Soup will stay in your navel when you are supine.
posted by jet_silver at 1:39 PM on June 24, 2009

chrisamiller, I think you are referring to "prostrate." Although, the idea still works, given that both words have the same first 3 letters.

When I was learning the difference between supinate and pronate, we learned to imagine your hand holding a bowl of soup - if your hand is supine, you won't spill. If your hand turns to the prone position, oops, there goes your soup.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 1:42 PM on June 24, 2009

Soup's up!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:49 PM on June 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

The police "prone you out".
posted by Tube at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2009