When I was about twelve and starting to experiment with electronics, a friend's older brother told me the resistor color code mnemonic which he learned in the US Navy.

It's absurdly terrible. Racist and sexist, not to mention grossly inappropriate for a preteen.

So of course I remembered it instantly, and permanently. I've spoken it aloud maybe twice in my life (among trusted friends and with a longer version of the above disclaimer!), but it rings in my head every single time I even glance at the colored bands on a resistor.