"King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti"…

“King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti” is a taxonomy mnemonic to remember Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species. There were various rulers named King Philip, but no specific “King Philip” (or “King Phillip”) is intended.

“King Phillip Came Over For Green Spaghetti?” was posted on the newsgroup rec.humor on October 2, 1993. “King Philip came over for good spaghetti” was printed in the book Cooperative Learning in the Science Classroom (1994) by Linda Lundgren. “King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti” was printed in Science Scope (Washington, DC) in May 1997.

“Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti” is a taxonomy mnemonic to remember Domain-Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species. “Dear king phillip came over for good spahgetti” was posted on Twitter by D. on May 5, 2011. “Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti” was posted on Twitter by Samantha Dionisio on Feburary 1, 2012.

”(Dear) King Philip Came Over For Good Soup” is a similar taxonomy mnemonic.

Wikipedia: Taxonomy mnemonic
Taxonomy mnemonics are used to memorize the scientific classification applied in taxonomy. They are usually constructed with a series of words that begin with the letters KPCOFGS, corresponding to the initials of the primary taxonomic ranks. Words beginning with D (corresponding to domain) are sometimes added to the beginning of the sequence, and words beginning with S (corresponding to subspecies) are sometimes added at the end of the sequence.

For example:

King Phillip came over for good spaghetti has the first letter of each word corresponding in order to the first letter of the descending order of scientific classification.

Mnemonic Zoology term
King Kingdom
Phillip Phylum
Came Class
Over Order
For Family
Great Genus
Spaghetti Species

Google Groups: rec.humor
mnemonics:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
10/2/93
or perhaps
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
King Phillip Came Over For Green Spaghetti?

Google Books
Cooperative Learning in the Science Classroom
By Linda Lundgren
New York, NY: Glencoe
1994
Pg. 21:
For example, “King Philip came over for good spaghetti” is a mnemonic for the taxonomic hierarchy: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

Google Groups: k12.ed.science
Mnemonics
Roberta C. Johnson
7/14/94
Ditto. I’d also be interested. The only tried and true one that I know is good ole

“King Phillip (or David if you use Division) came over from Greece Saturday” or alternatively, “came over for good spaghetti”

—for Linnaean classification: Kingdom, Phyllum (Division), Order, Family, Genus, Species. Is this one universal?
(courtesy Mrs. Sprague of PHS)

Google Groups: bionet.plants.education
Trivia Summary
Pat Kasa
3/13/96
To everyone who responded to my request for an outrageous acronym for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, THANK YOU!

A summary of your creative and entertaining posts follows:
(...)
King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.

Google Groups: alt.algebra.help
My Favorite Mnemonics
JJuran2
4/16/96
(...)
The taxonomic system is as follows:

1. Kingdom
2. Phylum
3. Class
4. ORDER
5. Family
6. Genus
7. Species

The mnemonic I was taught is:

King Philip Came Over From Geneva, Switzerland
or
King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti

May 1997, Science Scope (Washington, DC), “Beyond King Philip” by Anne Marshall Cox, pg. 44, col. 1:
The mnemonic device “King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti” is often used to teach middle school students the modern biology classification system of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.

15 October 1997, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Some people are hooked on mnemonics” by Steve Blow, pg. 27A:
...to report that “King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.” That’s the order of the biological classifications - kingdom,.phylum, class, order, family, genus and species.

Google Books
The Living World:
Basic Concepts
By George Johnson
Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Companies,Incorporated
2005
Pg. 298:
To remember the seven categories in their proper order, it may prove useful to memorize a phrase such as “kindly pay cash or furnish good security” or “King Philip came over for green spaghetti” (kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species).

Twitter
Nick Harper
@NickHarper4
King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti and King Henry Doesn’t Usually Drink Chocolate Milk…these kings are pretty picky… #praxisII
5:24 PM - 12 Mar 2010

Twitter
D.
@darnaeeeee
Dear king phillip came over for good spahgetti llsssss
11:07 AM · May 5, 2011 · Cloudhopper

Twitter
Samantha Dionisio
@saaamdionisio
Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti
11:10 AM · Feb 1, 2012 · Twitter Web Client

Google Books
Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook:
The Complete Middle School Study Guide
By Workman Publishing
New York, NY: Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
2016
Pg. 302:
Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species (Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti!)

Twitter
angge
@geluhto
Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti
9:19 PM · Nov 25, 2018 · Twitter for Android

“King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti” (taxonomy mnemonic)