I memorized it so I wouldn't have to remember it...

The 10 AM here at the CSC has been singing the gloria in two parts for the last few months.
The women are supposed to sing the one part, and the men are supposed to sing the next.
Typically, however, this means virtually no one sings any of the parts other than the choir.
My theory on this is that we've all gotten so used to singing or saying the gloria as a whole, that we are pretty much incapable of being able to sing every other verse...simply because that would require being able to recall that verse completely on its own.
It's like whenever one of the department copiers asks me to enter the last five digits of my social security number as a keycode, and I have to stop and rattle off the whole number in my head and start typing when I hit the fifth number.

Comments

[Thomas]

I think it's just part of the mechanics of memory - there are a lot of things (including a lot of prayers) I remember that way. I have an idea that the brain automatically picks the most efficient way to store a piece of info unless there is some overriding consideration or extra exercise that causes the particular memory to be imprinted in a more robust way.

[Al T]

I can't actually remember my debit card's pin number. But if you put a keypad in front of me, my hand is able to hit the keys in just the right order.