What is a Palindrome?


A palindrome is a word, phrase, or number that can be read the same way backwards or forwards.   For example, RADAR is RADAR spelled backwards, and it gets you coming or going.

Palindromic Numbers:
1991,   232,   666,   040,   7117,   1223221

Palindromic Words:
kayak,   mom,   dad,   sis,   eve,   level,
tenet,   noon     nun,   pip,   deed,   pop,   eye,   ewe,   pup,   madam

Palindromic Phrases:
Star comedy by Democrats,
A Toyota,   Race Car,     Red roots to order,   Straw Warts,   Taco Cat

Palindromic Place Names:
Kanakanak (a town in Alaska),   Apollo, PA,     Wassamassaw (a swamp in SC),   Adaven, Nevada

Palindromic Commercial Products:
Civic,   Elle,     Yreka Bakery (in Yreka, CA)

Palindromic Names:
Anna,   Otto,   Hannah,   Bob,   Ada,     Lon Nol (Cambodian leader)

Palindromic Sentences:
Egad, an adage!
Sit on a potato pan, Otis!
Step on no pets.
Stella won no wallets.
A slut nixes sex in Tulsa.
Drat Saddam, a mad dastard!
Draw, O Caesar! Erase a coward!
Don did nod.




Here are some additional palindromic sentences (where letters are the unit):

John Taylor (1580 - 1653) is the author of the first English palindrome:
"Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel."

Mankind's first pickup lines:
"Madam, I'm Adam."
  or
"Madam, in Eden, I'm Adam."

  And then Eve's joke on Adam by responding,
  "Adam, I'm Ada."

  Sam Lloyd: "Was it a cat I saw?"

  "Was it a car or a cat I saw?"
 

Napoleon:
"Able was I ere I saw Elba."

Dmitri Borgmann:
"Pa's a sap."

Dmitri Borgmann:
" Ma is as selfless as I am."

Dmitri Borgmann:
"Was it a car or a cat I saw?"

Howard Bergerson: (a double Palindrome!)
"Rise to vote, sir.
Name now one man."

Howard Bergerson:
"Niagara, O roar again!"

Howard Bergerson:
"Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus."
  (translation: Arithmetic problems aren't used to test a student's knowledge of a Renaissance writer.)

J.A. Lindon:
"Dennis and Edna sinned."

Alastair Reid:
"T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad.   I'd assign it a name: 'Gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet."

Leigh Mercer:
"A man, a plan, a canal -- panama!"

"A man, a plan, a cat, a canal; panama?"

"A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal -- panama!"

"Tara sees a rat."

"Rats live on no evil star."

"Dammit, I'm mad!"

"Yo, banana boy!"

"Do geese see God?"

"A dog, a panic in a pagoda."

"No lemons, no melon."

"Was it a can on a cat I saw?"

"Egad!   A base tone denotes a bad age."

"Straw?   No, too stupid a fad.   I put soot on warts."

"Ten animals I slam in a net."

"Man, Eve let an irate tar in at eleven AM"

"Marge lets Norah see Sharon's telegram."

"He goddam mad dog, eh?"

"Doc note, I dissent.   A fast never prevents a fatness.   I diet on cod."

"A Toyota's a Toyota."

"Neil, a trap!   Sid is part alien!"

"Never odd or even."

"A dog, a plan, a canal, pagoda."

"Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?"

"Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog."

"Swap God for a janitor, rot in a jar of dog paws."

"No, sir, away! A papaya war is on!"

"Eva, can I see bees in a cave?"

"Red rum, sir, is murder."

"A Toyota! Race fast... safe car: a Toyota"

"Campus Motto: Bottoms up, Mac."

"Lisa Bonet ate no basil."

"God saw I was dog."

"Live not on evil."

"Tarzan raised a Desi Arnaz rat."

"Cigar?   Toss it in a can, it is so tragic."

"Oh, no!   Don Ho!"

"Vanna, wanna V?"

"Cain -- a maniac!"

"Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside."

"Yo!   Bottoms up, U.S. motto, boy!"




Here are some additional palindromic sentences (where words are the unit):

"So patient a doctor to doctor a patient so."

"Girl, bathing on a bikini, eyeing boy, finds boy eyeing bikini on bathing girl"

"Odd men in drag may drag in men. Odd!"

"You can cage a swallow, can't you, but you can't swallow a cage, can you?"


Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher