SCHOOLCHILDREN of past generations used to learn the names of the planets, in their correct order outwards from the Sun, by various mnemonics, the first letter of each word being the first letter of each planet. The most popular was “My very elegant mother just served us nine pies”.
With three new planets announced today, a new aidemémoire is required to list the constituent bodies of our solar system, whose names begin with M, V, E, M, C, J, S, U, N, P, C and X.
Mama now needs to do something different, and we suggest: “My Very Eccentric Mother Called Janet Sang Utter Nonsense Playing Charlie’s Xylophone”. Or we could have “Most Victorian Euphoniums Make Cats Jump Suddenly Unless Neighbours Play Calming Xylophones”.
Doubtless there will be many other suggestions from readers. Post them in the form below