# A Man. A Plan. A Canal. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357 "2011-09-23T17:58:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/1 "2011-09-23T17:58:12Z")
Panama! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/2 "2011-09-23T18:03:06Z")
Tot. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/3 "2011-09-23T18:15:34Z")
You can cage a swallow, can’t you, but you can’t swallow a cage, can you? Straw?!? No, too stupid a fad! I put _soot_ on warts. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/4 "2011-09-23T18:25:20Z")
Q: What does a palindromiphile drive? A: Race car! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/5 "2011-09-23T19:05:07Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > Q: What does a palindromiphile drive? > > A: Race car! Alternative answer? “A Toyota” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/6 "2011-09-23T19:10:07Z")
“Damn! I, Agassi, miss again! Mad!” “Joe Montana ran at Nome, O.J.” “So, G. Rivera’s tots are Virgos.” “Lisa Bonet ate no basil.” I made up the first three years ago, for a palindrome contest at Games magazine… the Lisa Bonet one (which I did NOT make up) was the winner of that contest. And it even worked its way into a Weird Al Yankovic song. The best palindrome I’ve ever seen, howver, was this one: **T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: "Gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet."** I have no idea who came up with that one, but I’d like to shake his hand. ---
**Author:** ![Scathach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Scathach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scathach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/7 "2011-09-23T19:39:59Z")
Able was I, ere I saw Elba. e: Inspired by Napolean’s imprisonment on Elba apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/8 "2011-09-23T19:48:07Z")
never mind ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/9 "2011-09-23T19:56:12Z")
I was quite pleased with post #7 in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=617878). I came up with another Panama variant a while ago. Let’s see if I can recall it… A man, a plan, a case of reviled Spam. Onward, go deliver a dare, vile dog! Draw no maps, deliver foes! A canal, Panama! (The good thing about palindromes is you only have to remember half of them…) Palindrome is a funny word, though. Makes me think of a stadium where you race Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/10 "2011-09-23T21:00:36Z")
Anna: Did Otto peep? Otto: Did Anna? (each\* word\* is a palidrome) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/11 "2011-09-23T21:09:05Z")
I Love Me, Vol. I ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/12 "2011-09-23T21:47:05Z")
Check out this palindrome! !emordnilap siht tou kcehC [sub]OK, so I’m not very good at this siht ta doog yrev ton m’I os ,KO[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/13 "2011-09-23T21:59:02Z")
There were some great ones on the Weekend Edition puzzle segment [last week](http://www.npr.org/2011/09/18/140561332/a-college-campus-mix-up). Listeners had to incorporate the name of a famous person. The examples given were “No, Mel Gibson is a casino’s big lemon,” and “Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside.” And the winning entry (by Dan Duke from St. Paul, Minn) was “Did I cite operas I’d revere? Verdi’s are poetic. I did!” ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/14 "2011-09-23T22:24:06Z")
Ten animals slam in a net. Do geese see God? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/15 "2011-09-23T22:51:53Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I Love Me, Vol. I You just blew my mind. Dnim ym welb tsuj uoy. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/16 "2011-09-24T01:00:16Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > “Damn! I, Agassi, miss again! Mad!” > > “Joe Montana ran at Nome, O.J.” > > “So, G. Rivera’s tots are Virgos.” > > “Lisa Bonet ate no basil.” > > I made up the first three years ago, for a palindrome contest at Games magazine… the Lisa Bonet one (which I did NOT make up) was the winner of that contest.\*\* I remember that contest! Here are two I made up after the shooting death of Tupac Shakur(tho I cheat on both of them.) Tupak Kaput. Cap 2Pac. And here is one I saw the other day, that I like, on a list of palindromes(which included the Lisa Bonet one!) A nut for a jar of tuna. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/17 "2011-09-24T03:11:46Z")
[Bob](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg) ---
**Author:** ![Petek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/petek/32/1590_2.png) [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/18 "2011-09-24T04:39:13Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The best palindrome I’ve ever seen, howver, was this one: > > **T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: “Gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet.”** > I have no idea who came up with that one, but I’d like to shake his hand. [Attributed](http://www.pleacher.com/mp/puzzles/miscpuz/palwhat.html) to the English poet, Alastair Reid. A parody on “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama”: A dog, a pant, a panic in a Patna pagoda." by J. A. Lindon All this, and much more, in [Palindromes and Anagrams](http://www.amazon.com/Palindromes-Anagrams-Howard-W-Bergerson/dp/0486206645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316838858&sr=1-1) by Howard W. Bergerson. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/19 "2011-09-24T09:29:06Z")
[Here is a reading of the poem _The Lost Generation_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teIzH1p-6kQ), a line palindrome in which reversal also reversing the meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357/20 "2011-09-24T10:19:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > **T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: “Gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet.”** > I have no idea who came up with that one, but I’d like to shake his hand. The first time I heard that one was twenty-odd years ago in Stephen Fry’s old Daily Telegraph column. I believe he also included it in his book of collected columns and ephemera ["Paperweight"](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paperweight-Stephen-Fry/dp/0099457024)But I don’t know if it was original then. I do recall another nifty one from that same article though “Satan, oscilate my metallic sonatas” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-a-plan-a-canal/597357.md?page=2)