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I have a question about my English Language & Usage Stack Exchange post: Planets of the Solar System

So far, this is the only question I have asked on English Stack Exchange. But my question is downvoted to -1. I asked this question weeks ago and I have not received any answers. I have only received some comments. I just wanted to know what has been going on?

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  • Curiously no close votes...I guess it is a primarily opinion based question at best.
    – user 66974
    Commented Aug 21, 2020 at 18:36
  • 1
    At least the downvote has been removed.
    – Arunabh
    Commented Aug 22, 2020 at 0:09
  • @user121863 I think that asking about the origin of a word or phrase fits perfectly on this site. I think it's not getting answered because nobody knows the answer!
    – JeffUK
    Commented Aug 25, 2020 at 13:04
  • I can't ask you to clarify as someone has locked the comments, could you edit the questions with some examples of where you have seen this used, and if you're interested in the origin of the phrase, what is the earliest you remember seeing or hearing it?
    – JeffUK
    Commented Aug 25, 2020 at 13:46
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    hell of a lot easier just to know the order of the planets than memorize that stuff
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Commented Sep 30, 2020 at 17:55

1 Answer 1

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I am at a loss at to what the question intended to ask.

It seems to be erroneously based on a misunderstanding of mnemonics in general. Mnemonics are not standardised and any word beginning with E could be substituted or an entirely new sentence could be produced and it would still be a mnemonic. It is a better mnemonic when the mnemonic itself is memorable. Memorable mnemonics tend to become popular. It happens that a sentence (and especially a coherent sentence with simple words) is easier to memorise than a jumble of words or initial letters.

Had I seen it, I would have voted to close it.

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