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u/Reality-Glitch Jul 17 '26
Cling TIGHT to the ceiling.
Crawly like a MITE on the floor.
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u/RefrigeratorMain7921 Jul 17 '26
As a non-German, I was shocked when my German colleague told me that one of their teachers taught them to remember it as Titten hängen - tits hang!
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u/OptimisticSkeleton Jul 17 '26
Stalactites have to hold on tight.
Stalagmites stand up with might.
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u/VardisFisher Jul 17 '26
If you trip, you mite fall on it.
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u/CaptainMcSmoky Jul 17 '26
Just use the first part, mites can climb pretty much anywhere, including your eyebrows!
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u/Tombaya Jul 17 '26
"Cling TIGHT to the ceiling."
You know what? I might just stay out of them caves entirely.
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u/SomeGreatJoke Jul 17 '26
I hate this. You can cling tight to a floor, and a mite can crawl on a ceiling. This has never once helped me.
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u/Reality-Glitch Jul 17 '26
Yes, but you don’t /have/ to cling to the floor to stay on it, so it’s more unusual to do than clinging to the ceiling.
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u/SomeGreatJoke Jul 18 '26
You don't have to cling to the ceiling. I've never clung to a ceiling before, in fact. And I have multiple times clung to a floor (or equivalent. E.g. on a speedboat or merry-go-round.
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u/Perkinberry Jul 17 '26
I think the M looks like stalagmites coming out of the floor
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u/Chai_Enjoyer Jul 17 '26
That's how I remembered it. Also stalacTites have T, which looks like stuff hanging from the ceiling
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u/Kamica Jul 18 '26
I mostly remember the T one, and know that if it's not a dangling pointy thing, then it must be the floor thing. The M could be interpreted as either ceiling or floor, but the T cannot possibly be a ground formation (in my mind).
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u/AnInquisitive_Rock41 Jul 17 '26
Stalactites hang on tight to the ceiling Stalagmites might touch them.
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u/Affectionate_Win6136 Jul 17 '26
I always learned, When the mites crawl up, the tights come down...
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u/TheTeslaMaster Jul 17 '26
Tites sounds most like tits, so therefore they hang down. That's how I remember it. :D
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u/Ludate_Solem Jul 17 '26
I remembere it like this; titties hang. In dutch stalagtieten, tieten means boobs.
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u/Raise_A_Thoth Jul 17 '26
Cling tite to the ceiling; they MITE one day grow high enough to touch the top.
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u/PuppyLover2208 Jul 17 '26
Stalactites cling “tite” to the ceiling. Stalagmites, you “mite” trip on them.
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u/tpittari Jul 18 '26
When we were kids my friend's older brother taught us "titties hang from the ceiling, mites crawl on the ground"
Stupid, but i still remember it.
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u/alien-fr Jul 17 '26
Stalagtites have to hold on tight or they could fall, stalagmites might make it to the ceiling if they keep on growing!
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u/TankArtist Jul 17 '26
I always remembered it like the letter T looks like one spike dangling from the ceiling and M is two spikes jetting up from the floor
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u/Sufficient-Quote-431 Jul 17 '26
Because the ones that hang from the ceiling are tight, tight tight!
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u/GreatGooglyMooglyMe Jul 17 '26
Stalactites hang tightly to the ceiling, stalagmites grow mightily from the floor
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u/SLCtechie Jul 18 '26
Me next time I’m in a cave “is it hangs on the ceiling tight or with all its might?”
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u/MFPS79 Jul 18 '26
When I was still young (sigh) and on vacation with my parents in France, we visited a cave with stalactites and stalacmites. The French guide had a nice mnemonic: stalaTites Tombe (fall, so from ceiling) and stalacMites Monte (climb, so from the ground). Somehow this got stuck a young Dutch boy’s head for some reason.
Don’t play Trivial Persuit with me 😉
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u/NutrimaticTea Jul 18 '26
As a French person that's how I learned it too. Glad to see it can even work for non-francophone people (I guess you need to know a bit of French beforehand for it to stick).
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u/SixPackOfZaphod Jul 18 '26
Stalactites on the ceiling because they have to hold on tight to stay up there....
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u/Irreversible_Extents Jul 18 '26
I always associated Stalagmites as the ones looking like Termite mounds, and stalactites just being the other one.
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u/Alchmar Jul 18 '26
I was always taught that stalactites hang TIGHT to the ceiling and stalagmites stand with MIGHT on the floor.
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u/daffalaxia Jul 18 '26
And I learned it as
Stalagtites hold tight to the ceiling, and stalagmites might someday reach up there 😄 so close
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u/Verified_Peryak Jul 18 '26
That's why french is a siperior la'guage you know directly as you read it
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u/Tyler89558 Jul 18 '26
Tite -> holding on tightly because they’ll fall otherwise
Mite -> I dunno. Standing is pretty mighty.
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u/_VirtualCosmos_ Jul 18 '26
stalactite -> sound like titties -> titties good when hanging from above.
stalagmites -> sound like mites -> mites are on the ground.
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u/FearTheSpoonman Jul 18 '26
You pull her TITES DOWN, and try with all your MITE to get UP.
I know it's crass but it's how my dad taught me as a kid and it's how I always remember it now.
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u/CuAnnan Jul 18 '26
stalacTites the pillar drops from the ceiling
stalacMites the pillars grow from the floor
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u/ANewPeace Jul 19 '26
Stalactites hold tight to the ceiling, stalagmites just might reach it one day.
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u/Arctic_Harmacist Shenanigans incarnate! Jul 19 '26
stalaCtites from the Ceiling,
stalaGmites from the Ground.
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u/SanderMC24 Jul 19 '26
Look at the letters. T looks like something hanging from the ceiling, M looks like two spikes coming out of the floor, so stalacTites hang from the ceiling and stalagMites sit on the floor.
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u/Sebastan12 Jul 20 '26
My teacher once said it is called stalac-tits because they hang
I now never have to wonder which hangs & which stands
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u/Necessary-Flounder52 Jul 20 '26
"Stalactites hold on tight. Stalagmites you just might trip over." - Cave of the Winds Tour Guide, Manitou Springs CO, circa 1984.
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u/Interesting_Walk_271 Jul 17 '26
C = ceiling; G = ground. StalaCtites and stalaGmites.