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Fun With Words

Palindromes

A palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward. The words a and I are perhaps the simplest and least interesting palindromes; the word racecar and the name Hannah are more interesting and illustrative. Neither spaces nor punctuation are usually taken into consideration when constructing sentences that are palindromes -- one of the most famous palindromes is "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" -- but when the spaces are properly positioned as well, so much the better. An example would be the also famous palindrome "Able was I ere I saw Elba," purportedly spoken by Napoleon, referring to his first sighting of Elba, the island where the British exiled him.

Palindromes are a type of palingram called letter palingrams. A palingram is a sentence in which the letters, syllables, or words read the same backward as they do forward. The sentence, "He was, was he?" is a word palingram, because the words can be placed in reverse order and still read the same. The sentence, "I did, did I?" is not only a word palingram but a letter palingram (or palindrome) as well.

A number of interesting palindromes are given below for your amusement. Can you make up your own?

Words

  • aibohphobia
  • alula
  • cammac
  • civic
  • deified
  • deleveled
  • detartrated
  • devoved
  • dewed
  • evitative
  • Hannah
  • kayak
  • kinnikinnik
  • lemel
  • level
  • madam
  • Malayalam
  • minim
  • murdrum
  • peeweep
  • racecar
  • radar
  • redder
  • refer
  • reifier
  • repaper
  • reviver
  • rotator
  • rotavator
  • rotor
  • sagas
  • solos
  • sexes
  • stats
  • tenet
  • terret
  • testset

Places

  • Glenelg (Australia)
  • Kanakanak (Alaska)
  • Kinikinik (Colorado)
  • Navan (Meath, Ireland)
  • Neuquen (Argentina)
  • Ward Draw (South Dakota)
  • Wassamassaw (South Carolina)
  • Yreka Bakery (Yreka, California)

Not Quite Legitimate

  • Retteb, si flahd noces eht tub, but the second half is better.
  • Doctor Reubenstein was shocked and dismayed when he answered the ringing telephone, only to hear a strange, metallic, alien voice say, "Yasec iovn eilacilla temeg! Nartsa raehoty lnoenoh pelet gnig, nirehtde rewsnaehn ehw. Deya! Msid! Dnadek cohssaw nietsne buerro, tcod?"

Phrases and Sentences

  • A dog, a plan, a canal: pagoda.
  • A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.
  • A new order began, a more Roman age bred Rowena.
  • A tin mug for a jar of gum, Nita.
  • A Toyota. Race fast, safe car. A Toyota.
  • Able was I ere I saw Elba.
  • Animal loots foliated detail of stool lamina.
  • Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna.
  • Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
  • Are we not pure? "No sir!" Panama's moody Noriega brags. "It is garbage!" Irony dooms a man; a prisoner up to new era.
  • As I pee, sir, I see Pisa!
  • Barge in! Relate mere war of 1991 for a were-metal Ernie grab!
  • Bombard a drab mob.
  • Bush saw Sununu swash sub.
  • Cain: a maniac.
  • Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
  • Daedalus: nine. Peninsula: dead.
  • Dammit, I'm mad!
  • Delia saw I was ailed.
  • Denim axes examined.
  • Dennis and Edna sinned.
  • Depardieu, go razz a rogue I draped.
  • Desserts, I stressed!
  • Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did?
  • Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver. I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I -- lo! -- rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero-men in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I do, O God!
  • Doc, note I dissent: a fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.
  • Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.
  • Drat Saddam, a mad dastard!
  • Draw, O coward!
  • Draw pupil's lip upward.
  • Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside.
  • Eva, can I stab bats in a cave?
  • Evil did I dwell; lewd I did live.
  • Gateman sees name, garageman sees name tag.
  • Go hang a salami; I'm a lasagna hog.
  • Goldenrod-adorned log.
  • Golf? No sir, prefer prison-flog.
  • Harass sensuousness, Sarah.
  • I roamed under it as a tired, nude Maori.
  • Laminated E.T. animal.
  • Lay a wallaby baby ball away, Al.
  • Lepers repel.
  • Let O'Hara gain an inn in a Niagara hotel.
  • Live not on evil.
  • Lived on Decaf; faced no Devil.
  • Lonely Tylenol.
  • Ma is a nun, as I am.
  • Ma is as selfless as I am.
  • Madam, I'm Adam.
  • Madam in Eden, I'm Adam.
  • Marge lets Norah see Sharon's telegram.
  • May a moody baby doom a yam.
  • Meet animals; laminate 'em.
  • Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.
  • Murder for a jar of red rum.
  • Never odd or even.
  • No, Mel Gibson is a casino's big lemon.
  • No cab, no tuna nut on bacon.
  • No lemon, no melon.
  • No sir -- away! A papaya war is on.
  • On a clover, if alive, erupts a vast, pure evil; a fire volcano.
  • Party boobytrap.
  • Poor Dan is in a droop.
  • Reviled did I live, said I, as evil I did deliver.
  • Rise to vote, sir.
  • Saw tide rose? So red it was.
  • Senile felines.
  • So many dynamos!
  • Some men interpret nine memos.
  • Stab nail at ill Italian bats.
  • Stack cats.
  • Stella won no wallets.
  • Step on no pets.
  • Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots!
  • Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts.
  • T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I'd assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.
  • Tarzan raised Desi Arnaz' rat.
  • Ten animals I slam in a net.
  • Too bad I hid a boot.
  • Was it a car or a cat I saw?
  • Wonder if Sununu's fired now.
  • Won't I panic in a pit now?
  • Won't lovers revolt now?
  • Yo, banana boy!
  • Yo, Bob! Mug o' gumbo, boy!
  • Yo, bottoms up! (U.S. motto, boy.)