# My very excellent mother just sent us nine pizza utensils? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2006, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655 "2006-02-02T08:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/21 "2006-02-02T20:02:57Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I like it. Dionysus - the party planet! [Demeter is semi-taken.] But isn’t Dionysus a Greek god? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/22 "2006-02-02T20:35:00Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > But isn’t Dionysus a Greek god? Him and Demeter were the only Deities coming to mind with a ‘D’ when I posted originally. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/23 "2006-02-02T21:48:05Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > But isn’t Dionysus a Greek god? Yes. Ouranos is too. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/24 "2006-02-02T22:04:47Z")
I learned the mnemonic as “Mary’s violet eyes made John stay up nights playing.” That mnemonic didn’t take the asteroids into account, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/25 "2006-02-03T00:10:50Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I remember a lot of talk back when it was first discovered about a name, and how some group of people awnted to call it Xene…huh? Ummm…no. Why not just stick with the Roman god scheme we got going now? There’s no reason to not make the new one follow the pattern. Some might argue the other way around, but why mess up a good thing? The consistancy might help people remember it beter. No no: Goofy! It has so got to be named Goofy. That way we can have “The Regular Planets” and “The Disney Planets.” My Very Enigmatic Mother Just Stacked Up Nine Pressure Gauges. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/26 "2006-02-03T01:26:08Z")
Mother Very Easily Made a Jam Sandwich Using No Peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/27 "2006-02-03T01:53:02Z")
We learned it, “My very energetic mother just showed us nine planets.” Not very interesting, but at least we knew why we were memorizing the sentence. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/28 "2006-02-03T02:36:45Z")
Mother Very Thoughtfully Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest. Personally, I’ve never need a mnenomic. That one just stuck in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/29 "2006-02-03T03:23:37Z")
Will the scientists please make up their mind about the planet debate? Do we need to subtract Pluto? I have no opinion on it, but someone smarter than me needs to tell me what is what. My Very Excellent Mother Just Sat Upon New Paint. It was kind of clumsy in my opinion, but it worked. Fmoss3 ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/30 "2006-02-03T03:52:14Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Mother Very **Thoughtfully** Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest. > > Personally, I’ve never need a mnenomic. That one just stuck in my mind. Good thing you don’t need that particular mnenomic. 😉 Madeline’s Voluptous Emus Made Jesse Sigh Unctuously? Nasty Pervert! Actually, we learned it as, Mary Very Easily Makes Jelly Sandwiches Using No Peanutbutter. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/31 "2006-02-03T04:04:06Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I just memorized the names of the planets in order. Yes, simply memorising the planets’ names in order was the practice at my school too. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/32 "2006-02-03T05:42:30Z")
I learned the planet names in order, then a teacher taught us “Mary Very Early Made Jane Some Unusually Nice Pie”. I always thought the grammar was a bit off. It takes me longer to name the planets with a mnenomic than by memory. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/33 "2006-02-03T06:43:05Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#): > > [minor geeky rant] > > The inner eight, actually follow a mathematical pattern in their average orbit radii; this last little guy (who is the smallest by far) doesn’t. Then, we find this other body, even further away from our star, find out he’s a bit larger than the oddball, and people want to call him a “planet.” All I want to know is, what is the definition of planet, and does that definition have any meaning to it. > > [/minor geeky rant] Actually, Pluto fits the Bode pattern almost perfectly. It’s Neptune that isn’t supposed to be there according to the relation. As for what’s a planet and what isn’t, the Asteroids were considered real planets for about a half century after the discovery of Ceres (as a result of the Bode relation, for the record - I’m a big Bode’s Law fan). [Link](http://aa.usno.navy.mil/hilton/AsteroidHistory/minorplanets.html). I think the time will eventually come when Pluto and the other Kuiper Belt objects are no longer regarded as planets, but patience is required. It takes the world at large some time to accept these things. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/34 "2006-02-03T11:32:46Z")
People, it’s: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. That’s what the teachers at the Middle School that I worked at for 9 years taught the kids. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/35 "2006-02-03T15:37:22Z")
Having never heard the mnenomic (I thought it was mneumonic, like pneumatic, oops), I opened the thread thinking you got new pizza untensils, wondered why nine, and then thought that I was envious and would love a set of pizza utensils. But this is fun too. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/36 "2006-02-03T17:21:02Z")
**Not** all of the Roman deity names have been taken, not by a long shot! I vote for Vulcan. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/37 "2006-02-03T18:04:18Z")
Mary’s Vagina Eats My Johnson… …Okay, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/38 "2006-02-03T18:39:58Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > **Not** all of the Roman deity names have been taken, not by a long shot! > > I vote for Vulcan. 😃 Vulcan is sort of taken and is the name of a hypothetical planet that orbits between Mercury and the sun. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/39 "2006-02-03T18:50:16Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Vulcan is sort of taken and is the name of a hypothetical planet that orbits between Mercury and the sun. I’ve also heard it applied to Nega-Earth (Earth’s shadowy opposite that supposedly orbits exactly on the opposite side of the sun), and the planet which may or may not have existed between Mars and Jupiter. But if we did use Vulcan, we could modify all the mnemonics with ‘… verily.’ ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655/40 "2006-02-03T19:05:52Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by asterion Mother Very **Thoughtfully** Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest. > [@Tikki](#): > > Good thing you don’t need that particular mnenomic. 😉 Obviously **asterion** (an appropriate username for this thread) is of the same mind as was my college roommate, who believed Earth should be called _Terra_ in keeping with the Roman-Latin theme evident in names of (most of) the other planets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-very-excellent-mother-just-sent-us-nine-pizza-utensils/342655.md?page=3)