Palindrome Definition and Examples

Palindrome Definition and Examples A Palindrome is a type of word play in which a word, phrase, or sentence reads the same backward or forwardsuch as Madam, Im Adam.   Semordnilaps (the word palindromes in reverse) are words that spell other words when spelled backwards (for example, star/rats, drawer/reward). Aibohphobia is the palindromic term for an irrational fear of palindromes. Palindrome Examples popdeedkayakcivicradarleveldeifiedrotatorrepapertestsetracecarredividerdetartratedtattarrattat(James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922)Wassamassaw(from an American Indian name for water, a swamp outside of Summerville, South Carolina)A man, a plan, a canalPanama!Able was I ere I saw Elba.Too badI hid a boot.Do geese see God?Murder for a jar of red rum.Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.Go deliver a dare, vile dog![Caption below a cartoon of a family sitting around a dinner table; the boy is speaking]Mom, Dad, sisIm not like youIm not a palindrome.(Paul Karasik, The New Yorker, January 21, 2013)Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron.(attributed to poet W.H. Auden)Gateman sees name, garageman sees name tag.Some men interpret nine memos.Go Hang a Salami! Im a Lasagna Hog!(title of a book on palindromes by Jon Agee, 1991)Doc: note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.(James Michie, New Statesman, May 5, 1967)Once you notice that decaf backward is faced, it is but the work of a moment to invent the indignant complaint of a coffee drinker confronting the absence of regular coffee: I faced decaf! I!! The same process yields a tailors cranky opinion (Knits stink!) and a travel agents apology to a volcanologist: Avalon? No lava . . .(Ellis Weiner, Mind Games. Smithsonian, April 2008) T.S. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. Id assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.(Alastair Reid)Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? Demetri Martins Palindromes for Specific Occasions A FATHER TRYING TO CONNECT WITH HIS ESTRANGED SON BY OFFERING HIM SOME PIZZA:Son, Im odd. Dominos?A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A MAN AND HIS YOUNG SON. THE MAN IS TRYING TO TEACH THE BOY THE NAME OF A PIECE OF FRUIT AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SINGULAR AND PLURAL:Son, say a papaya.Papayas.No s.  A SCIENTISTS REACTION TO WHAT HE FINDS IN A PETRI DISH.P.U.! Organisms in a group.(Demetri Martin, This Is a Book. Grand Central, 2011) The Longest Palindromes Malayalam, the native tongue of the people of Kerala, is the longest palindromic language-name. The credit of the longest palindromic place-name goes to Kanakanak, which is near Dillingham, Alaska, USA. The 19-letter Finnish word saippuakivikauppias, meaning a dealer in caustic soda, is the longest known palindromic word. . . .The first palindromic sentence in English appeared in 1614: Lewd did I live evil I did dwel. (O.Abootty, The Funny Side of English. Pustak Mahal, 2002) The Language of Magic For the most part finding palindromic words or composing palindromic phrases and sentences is a form of light entertainment. Some devotees display great ingenuity in finding long palindromes covering more than one sentence. In the past, however, palindromes have figured in the language of magic, and many have taken reversibility to be significant.(Barry J. Blake, Secret Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 2010) Dylan Thomass Semordnilap The first minister chuckled as he pointed out how [Dylan] Thomass fictional village in Under Milk WoodLlareggubspelled out something rather rude backwards. That shows the devilment of the man.(Steven Morris, Dylan Thomas Centenary: South Wales Gets Ready to Welcome the World. The Guardian [UK], January 5, 2014) Roger Angell on the Darker Side of Palindromes [T]hat night, shortly after four, I began with the words. In a few minutes, I found gulp plug (something to do with bass fishing) and live evil, and sailed off into the best sleep I had enjoyed in several weeks. The next night brought straw warts and repaid diaper, and, in time, a long if faintly troubled snooze (ezoons). I was delighted. My palindromic skills improved rapidly, and soon I was no longer content with mere words. . . . One morning, after a mere twenty minutes of shut-eye, I met my wife at the breakfast table and announced, Editor rubs ward, draws burro tide.Terrific, she said, unenthusiastically. I dont get it. I mean, what does it mean?Well, you see, I began, theres this editor in Mexico who goes camping with his niece, andListen, she said. I think you should take a phenobarb tonight. You look terrible.(Roger Angell, A Day in the Life of Roger Angell. Viking Press, 1970) Etymology:From the Greek, running back again Pronunciation: PAL-in-drome

Pluto, Lord of the Ancient Underworld

Pluto, Lord of the Ancient Underworld Pluto is often considered King of the Underworld in Roman mythology. How did we get from Hades, Greek god of the underworld, to Pluto? Well, according to Cicero, Hades had a bunch of epithets (pretty common for an ancient god), which included Dis, or the rich, in Latin; in Greek, that translated to Plouton. So basically Pluto was a Latinization of one of Hadess Greek nicknames.  The name Pluto is more common in Roman mythology, so it is sometimes said that Pluto is the Roman version of the  Greek god Hades. Pluto was a god of riches, which is etymologically connected with his name. As Cicero notes, he got his money because all things fall back into the earth and also arise from the earth.  Since mining digs up wealth from under the earth, Pluto came to be associated with the Underworld. This made it possible to refer to a god Pluto ruling a land of the dead called Hades, named for its Greek overlord. Like many deities associated with death, Pluto received his moniker because it was one associated with the more positive aspects of his character. After all, if you had to pray to a god of the underworld, would you really want to invoke death over and over again? So, as Plato has Socrates recount in his  Cratylus, People in general appear to imagine that the term Hades  is connected with the invisible (aeides) and so they are led by their fears  to call the God Pluto instead. This nickname became increasingly popular in Greece thanks to the Eleusinian Mysteries, initiation rites into the cult of the goddess Demeter, mistress of the harvest. As the story goes, Hades/Pluto abducted Demeters daughter, Persephone (also called Kore, or maiden) and wound up keeping her as his wife in the underworld for most of the year. In the mysteries, Hades/Pluto becomes a personification of his mother-in-laws bounty, a benevolent deity and protector and a possessor of great wealth, rather than an evil uncle/abductor. His riches wound up including not only the stuff  under  the Earth but the stuff on top of it - i.e., Demeters bountiful crops. Edited  by Carly Silver.