My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

That's what I said!

Now what does in mean?

Anyone familiar with Roy G. Biv or HOMES?

Roy G. Biv is:Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. In other words the color of a rainbow.

Whereas HOMES is: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. You got it, the Great Lakes.

So that means that:

My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants. Is what?

Any guesses? Okay, I will tell you. It is a Mnemonic for the eleven planets of the solar system; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris. I know, I know, you all thought that Pluto was no longer designated as a planet, and you are probably thinking Ceres and Eris, what are those?

Well, fear not, friends I shall tell you. Pluto, Ceres, and Eris are still planets, however they are known officially as Dwarf Planets. I think Ceres should be called Happy,(glad to be finally noticed) and Eris should be Bashful,(it was hard to find) and Pluto should be renamed Grumpy, especially since it wasn't deemed to be worthy of "planet status."

This Mnemonic, I thought it was an Acrostic myself (running to get dictionary - for next post, maybe), was the winner in a contest to come up with such. Have to make learning as easy as we can for the little ones. Forget about us 'old' people that thought there were only nine planets and had our own Mnemonic, remember... My Very Eager Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Planets.

I find it interesting that Neptune is represented by the word 'nine' both times. I guess finding an appropriate 'n' word is hard to do.

So, say goodbye to: My Very Eager Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Planets, and hello to, My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?



*** EDIT: Maryn Smith (10) from Montana won the contest with this entry. Just thought you would like to know. :)