The word snoop - Ursula Dubosarsky 2009

Palindromes
Is that another greek word?

Palindromes are words or sentences that are spelled the same backward or forward. The word palindromecomes from two ancient Greek words—palin, meaning “back again,” and dromos, meaning “running”—so it’s a word that runs forward and then back again. Look closely at the words EYE, NOON, and RADAR. It doesn’t matter at which end you start writing the word, it’s spelled the same. This means they are palindromes.

The ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed making palindromes, especially for inscriptions on public monuments, but lots of languages have them. In English, the longest common word that is a palindrome is REDIVIDER. But in Finnish, the word for a soapstone seller, believe it or not, is a palindrome—SAIPPUAKIVIKAUPPIAS. (Now that’s an unusual occupation—soapstone, anyone?)

Palindromes can be found in names like Hannah, Otto, Pip, or Aviva, or places like Glenelg (where they even have an annual palindrome festival!). And then there’s always ABBA, the Swedish pop group. But a whole sentence can be a palindrome. Have a look at the ones below. Ignore the punctuation and the gaps, just look at the letters.

Go, dog!

Was it a cat I saw?

Don’t nod.

Do geese see God?

Believe it or not, in 1969 the French writer Georges Perec wrote a palindromic story that was 500 words long! The whole story reads the same backward as forward. It would have been very difficult to do, and it was a very strange piece of writing. In fact, some people who read it didn’t realize it was a palindrome and thought he had gone mad . . .

The comedian Weird Al Yankovic wrote a song of palindromes about singer Bob Dylan. Try singing this:

Madam, I’m Adam

Too hot to hoot

No lemons, no melon

Too bad I hid a boot

Wow! (Hey, that’s a palindrome too.)

I wonder if you can make up your own palindrome song? First, you need a supply of words. To get you started, try to figure out the palindromes on the opposite page, but I’m sure you can think of lots more yourself.

Palindromes

1. Another name for father

2. The sound of popcorn cooking

3. More red

4. A kind of canoe

5. If you’re in the Scouts, you’ll try to do a good one of these every day

6. The sound a horn makes

7. Another word for peek