Palindrome: Having Fun with Words, Only Backwards

Recently, I listened to an intriguing broadcast on NPR that showcased a college student named Meghan Shea who has the ability to speak backwards. She first discovered her bizarre ability when she was in high school. She was able to see words backwards in her head. Throughout the NPR interview she proceeded to share her backwards language, even quoting the entire preamble to the Constitution backwards. This gives a new twist to the expression, "They knew that forwards and backwards". The full interview can be read and heard at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php

Listening to the NPR interview of Meghan Shea reminded me of the wordplay technique called palindromes. A palindrome is a word or phrase that can be read the same in both directions. Palindrome dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks and has its origins in the Greek word palindromos which means running back again. A palindrome comes in many forms and gets really interesting when phrases and sentences are used.

The most common palindrome is a character palindrome in which each character reads the same forwards and backwards.

eye
level
race car
deed
pup

A palindrome can be expanded and applied to phrases and sentences as well. Try reading these palindromes forwards and backwards. As a general rule, punctuation and word spacing is ignored when using a palindrome.

dammit, I'm mad
a toyota
madam, I'm Adam
do geese see God?
murder for a jar of red rum
never odd or even

Sometimes a palindrome is formed using whole words and not letters. Instead of reading each letter backwards, these palindromes read word by word backwords.

Blessed are they that believe they are blessed.
First Ladies rule the state and state the rule: ladies first.
Fall leaves after leaves fall.

All of these palindromes and more can be found at http://www.fun-with-words.com/palindromes.html

If this article has your skin crawling and afraid, you could be suffering from aibohphobia, a fear of palindromes. Look a little closer and you will see an ironic twist to the fear of palindromes. It's a palindrome itself!

Sources:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123463760

http://www.fun-with-words.com/palindromes.html