Acronyms and mnemonic devices are techniques that help us remember long and/or complex things. Acronyms are abbreviations commonly formed from the initial letters of a phrase or a list of key words. Mnemonic devices help our brains convert information into a format we can better understand.

A mnemonic device I remember from back in school is “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.” The sentence uses the first letter of each word to help us remember the names and position of the planets in our solar system. However, now that Pluto has been downgraded from a planet we have no idea what our mother is going to serve us nine of.