It takes off from puns on the English words "motor" and "bus", ascribing them to the third and second declensions respectively in Latin, and declining them.
The poem has since been cited in the context of the recent introduction of larger vehicles (including "bendy" buses).
The poem may owe its continued popularity to the large number of pupils who formerly had to learn Latin as a compulsory subject for University entrance exams (not just for Oxford and Cambridge) in the United Kingdom.
The poem's rhymes assume that the Latin words are read using the traditional English pronunciation, which was taught in British (and American) schools until well into the 20th century.
Following each repetition of the phrase "Motor Bus" is the Latin number and case of the words in the original poem.
Thus I sang; and still anigh Came in hordes Motores Bi, Et complebat omne forum Copia Motorum Borum.
(plural accusative) The poem is quoted by Dorothy L. Sayers in her essay "The greatest single defect of my own Latin education" and other texts.
[5][6][7] Herbert H. Huxley dedicated to A. D. Godley his short Latin poem "Mars Bar":[8] Est praedulcis esu Mars-Bar.