# What was the planet mnemonic before the discovery of Pluto? Was there one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529 "2006-04-13T15:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/1 "2006-04-13T15:33:47Z")
Many learned the 9 planets via a mnemonic such as “My very efficient mother just served us nine pizzas” or some variation; was there a popular similar mnemonic before the discovery of Pluto? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/2 "2006-04-13T15:42:16Z")
I never heard the mnemonic. I learned the plantes from a song called _The Wandering Stars_. _Mercury Venus Earth and Mars Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus Neptune and Pluto The wandering stars…_ ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/3 "2006-04-13T16:07:56Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Many learned the 9 planets via a mnemonic such as “My very efficient mother just served us nine pizzas” or some variation; was there a popular similar mnemonic before the discovery of Pluto? Your mnemonic is as good as any. Thinking back about this, I never had a mnemonic since it’s only nine planets. The first 4 everyone knows. After that, there are only 5 more to remember. Easy. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/4 "2006-04-13T16:21:36Z")
Mary visits every Monday (and) just stays until noon. The (and) covers the asteroid belt. Apparently when Pluto was discovered they modified this one by saying aloud the period at the end of the sentence. :dubious: That’s how I first learned it. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/5 "2006-04-13T16:23:33Z")
My very educated mother just served us? Nein! ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/6 "2006-04-13T16:43:31Z")
My very educated mother just served us ninjas. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/7 "2006-04-13T17:24:54Z")
M VEM J SUN P - Pronounced em vem jay sun pea ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/8 "2006-04-13T17:53:10Z")
Way back I was told one in french: _Mon Vieux Tu M’as Jeté Sur Une Nouvelle Planète_. Works fine for me, and it seems there’s a [few more](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan%C3%A8te) on Wikipedia. 🙂 (None for english that I can find though). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/9 "2006-04-13T19:27:23Z")
Now we just need to figure out a way to stick an X on the end, for Xena. Or whatever the IAU intends to call it, but they’d better announce it quick, or everyone’s just going to keep calling it Xena anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-planet-mnemonic-before-the-discovery-of-pluto-was-there-one/352529/10 "2006-04-13T19:34:19Z")
Slightly off topic, but I don’t use a mnemonic to remember the names of the planets. I have no recollection of how or when I actually did memorize them. It’s like the piece of information just kind of made its way inside my brain one day, weird, huh?