Your New Mnemonic

some doggerel by Jon Morris - I am not he, but I find it amusing and hope you do too.

http://calamityjon.livejournal.com/1052800.html

"I" before "E"
When sounded like "ee"
As in "shrieve" and "believe"
Except after "C"
Such as "receive" and "deceive"
Or when sounded like "A"
As in "neighbor" or "weigh"
Unless there's an "S"
Such as "Science" and "Prescience"
And speaking of science
To rules it does violence
with "caffeine" and "protein"
And other such nonsense
Or if one is a doer
Such as a "financier"
Or in climates icier
Such as near a glacier
Or if a word is all fancy
Like "Oneiromancies"
It breaks the rule twice
(which isn't too nice)
Oh, and in New England
Where "ee-ther" and "nee-ther"
Might, with local accents,
Be "neye-ther" and "eye-ther"
And then there's prefixes
Which make innocent i-words
With a "de-" or a "re-"
Rule violators
And then there are names
Of places and people
But outside of those
It's really quite simple.