A lad at school noticed that the FeCoNiCuZn could be pronounced as a word, and that set me off to learn the elements up to krypton, element 36 - H-HeLiBeBCNOF, NeNaM-gAlSiPSCLAr, CaSc-TiV, CrMn, FeCoNiCuZn, GaGe-AsSe, BrKr. After that it gets unpronounceable. [CrMn pronounced 'crumun', GaGe pronounced 'gaggy', AsSe pronounced 'assy']
I had learned the symbols for most of the elements in my first year of chemistry.
I don't know what I did yesterday or last week, but I've remembered the first 36 elements for 50 years! And, no, it's never come in handy.