ROY G BIV / Roy G Biv tweaked.
Roy G Biv could do with some tweaking.
The “I” stands for indigo which a lot of physicists think is not a real color of the spectrum. These physicists would say the spectrum is:
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.
No indigo.
Here is an article about the controversy, and you can join the debate in the comment there:
I therefore propose ROY G B(I)V as an alternative that explicitly sits on the fence regarding whether indigo should be included.
You’d pronounce it the same as ever, and the initials of the name would still be RGB which are still the initials of the light primaries.
This is a similar idea to my pentasyllabic mnemonic for the the planets:
M VEM J SUN (P) which explicitly sits on the fence about whether Pluto is still a planet.
Come to think of it, how about making a pentasyllable out of Roy G Biv while still sitting on the fence about indigo?
How about:
mi roy g b(i)v ux
meaning microwaves, infrared, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, (indigo), violet, ultraviolet, X-rays.
or
MI ROY G B(I)V UX
or
Mi Roy G B(i)v Ux
?
Also “mi roy g b(i)v ux” meaning “microwaves, infrared, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, (indigo), violet, ultraviolet, and X-rays”, works well to recall the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, which is radio waves, microwaves, infrared, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, (indigo), violet, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays because ordinary memory can easily recall that “radio waves” comes before “microwaves” (it helps that they both end in “waves”), and (symmetrically) that “gamma rays” comes after “X-rays” (and again, it helps that they both end “rays”).
If someone mentions Roy G Biv, you can have fun by saying, “You mean, Mi Roy G B(i)v Ux, right?”.
“Mi” can be thought of as the title, Roy G Biv as the name, and Ux as letters after the name like PhD. As is Dr. Roy G Biv PhD. Mi Roy G Biv Ux.
And don’t forget that Dr. Roy G Biv PhD still has the same initials: RGB, which recall that the light primaries are red, green, and blue.
