What is the meaning of 富士山麓オウム返しに?

Question

I am trying to translate a song from Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Private Lesson by Yuu Kobayashi).

This is the complete stanza:

水兵リーベ・悪いボク

シップスクラーク・いけないわ

ひと晩中ひと見頃

富士山麓オウム返しに

Repeat after me 今夜の授業は

真面目ぶった生態を小テストよ

In romaji:

suihei riibe warui boku
shippusu kuraaku ikenai wa
hitobanjuu hito migoro
fujisanroku oumugaeshi ni
repeat after me kon'ya no jugyou wa
majime butta seitai wo shoutesuto yo

The line which is troubling me is the fourth one: 富士山麓オウム返しに

I do have a fan-subbed version of this line as: "So repeat after me, 2.2360679", which makes no sense to me, as the original line is not related to square root of 5 in anyway. I suspect there might be a contextual meaning to this line rather than a literal translation (which I think is roughly: to repeat/mimic something like a parrot(?) at the foot of Mount Fuji).

Probably the translator just added square root of 5 for no reason whatsoever? Please I would like to know what might have been the case.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

These lines are famous mnemonics that everyone learns in highschool (or junior-high).

For atomic periodic table, we have 「水兵リーベ僕の船，七曲りシップス クラークか」

• 水{すい}[H, for 水素=hydrogen] 兵{へい} [He], リーベ [Li + Be, as in Geman Liebe], 僕の [B, C, N, O] 船 [F, Ne] → "Seaman, his love(r), and my ship."/ The reference to German Liebe is not obvious, and it seems there are many who regard it to be just a name (リーベ the sailor...). My teacher of chemistry taught us with Liebe(love), and after googling a bit I'd say neither is minority. Thanks @aguijonazo
• 七曲り [Na, Mg, Al], シップス [Si, P, S → Ships], クラークか[Cl, Ar, K, Ca: Probably a mention to William S. Clark who had strong connection to us) → Making a turn seven times, ships, is it Clark?

For square roots:

• √2 → 一夜{ひとよ}一夜{ひとよ}に人見頃{ひとみごろ} = Night after night, it's good time to watching people
  • more specifically, 1=ひと. 4よ，1ひと4よ2に1ひと3み5ご6ろ
• √3 → 人並み{ひとなみ}に奢れ{おごれ}や = Treat others (as in paying for the bill at the restaurant) just as others do!
  • 1ひと.7な3み2に0お5ご0れ8や
• √5 → 富士山麓オウム鳴く = A parrot sings in the mountain of Fuji
  • 2ふ.2じ3さん6ろく0おう6む7な9く

These lines (1) strongly reminds us of our school days and make the whole lyrics bear the atomosphere, (2) connects to the phrase "repeat after me" via オウム返し. The first line (水兵リーベ) perhaps adds an flirting/romantic air to the song, but as I wrote above, the reference might not be shared by everyone.