Some of you may remember Agamemnon words. That is words made up of successive palindromic sequences. In Agamemnon, they are three 3-letter palindromes.
Ottawa words are similar. It’s made up of 1, 2, and 3 letter palindromic sequences. I don’t know of any others, can you think of any? Or how about reverse-Ottawa words. That is with 3, 2, and 1 palindromic sequences. I don’t know of any, but ANNATTO has 4, 2, and 1 sequences, so it’s close.
There’s also the possibility of longer Ottawa. That is, words of 1, 2, 3, 4 palindromes. Or longer reverse-Ottawa. Kookaburra is really close; just need to change the first A to a U. That shows that it’s not impossible there could be one.
Once I reluctantly accept that a single letter can be a palindrome, I could get into this. As a brain exercise, during work breaks, I’ll see if I can think of any without a digital aid.
(In Spanish, the first “Agamemnon” word that comes to mind is baboso, effectively meaning “drooling”).
I don’t know why you’re reluctant. Granted, a single letter is a trivial case, but it fits the definition.
Oh, I’m already over it. It’s just that any letter can be used, so it just feels a little too easy. The two-letter type can also be “any letter,” but at least there you’re restrained by the two-letter sequences allowed in that language. It’s not until you get to three letters that you are constrained by certain juxtapositions (sequences) of letters, which to me is closer to the essence of this kind of thing.
No threadshit intended…as I said, I’ve made my peace with it! This will be hard enough as it is; probably impossible if you disallowed single letter “sequences.”
Let me make clear that the palindromic sequences can be any set of letters. They don’t have to be pronounceable or have vowels or be wordlike or something like that.
Got it - thanks.
I started going through my head alphabetically.
ADDITI— is a qualifying sequence that starts several English words (addition, additive…), but none that I can think of with a four-letter palindromic sequence at the end (no ADDITIONNO* nor ADDITIVEEV).
Onward…
*I checked — there’s no Italian word “addizionno,” just “addizione.”
Just thought of ALLEGE — my first real qualifier (obviously many have thought of this before, but I’m avoiding looking anything up, in English at least). No four-letter sequence, though. .
Also ALLELE (appropriately, since it has to do with sequences of “letters”!).
Nice one.
Okay, busy day starting soon…but I’ll check in later today.
If a single letter counts as a valid palindromic sequence, then doesn’t that make every word an Agamemnon word?
LEERER
DEEDED
HEEDED
NEEDED
WEEDED
WOODED
No, Agamemnon words have 3-letter sequences, so a single letter doesn’t mean anything.
Also
HOODED
SEEDED
Well, single letters are technically palindromes, so all words are order-1 Agamemnon words. But it’s such a trivial and common thing that no one’s interested. Words with letter patterns are only interesting if they’re rare.
anally baboon cocoon rereel reroof tatoos
Agamemnons are not too common but I found these:
coccaceae susuhunan
123 Ottawas are pretty common:
accede affere aggada allana allege allele allene allene alleve
ammono annaba annada annexe appere appete arroyo assama assisi
baases beelol boorer boosts coonan deeded deeses deesis diiodo
doodad eddana effete ellata ellene errata essede essene essene
feeded geests gooses heeded heenan hooded illene jeerer kaaawa
keenan koosis looses meenen needed neeses noonan nooses ossete
ottava ottawa poorer reeded reests rooses roosts saanen seeded
teerer tooele uffizi ullucu weeded weewaw weewow wooded zoosis
(Some of these are probably proper names.)
Any 1234 Ottawas? Or 4321 Ottawas? I’m guessing not, or you’d have provided them.
That’s OK. Ottawa itself is a proper name as is Agamemnon.
No, there were no 1234 or 4321 examples in two pretty large word lists that I checked.
Okay, then! Fun ones include DOODAD and ANALLY. The most common ones might be NEEDED, POORER, and WOODED.
WEEWOW? Thats sounds like one of Borat’s favorite expressions of astonishment.