# palindrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 17, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979 "2003-10-17T12:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gillesmt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@gillesmt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gillesmt)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/1 "2003-10-17T12:36:19Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/managram.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/managram.html) The longest palindrome I’ve ever seen was “A man, a plan, a canal; Panama”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/2 "2003-10-17T12:45:56Z")
[Prepare to be amazed](http://www.norvig.com/palindrome.html). And welcome to the boards! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/3 "2003-10-17T13:07:13Z")
Yeah, but like it says in that article, the palindrome in question is nothing more than a series of words strung together - they make no sense as a unit. “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama” makes actual sense. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/4 "2003-10-17T13:09:22Z")
Ah well, as Napoleon said, “Able was I, ere I saw Elba”. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/5 "2003-10-17T18:12:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*Yeah, but like it says in that article, the palindrome in question is nothing more than a series of words strung together - they make no sense as a unit. > > “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama” makes actual sense. \*\* As much sense as a verbless sentence can make. 😛 Wow. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/6 "2003-10-17T20:43:34Z")
Go hang a salami; I’m a lasagna hog! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/7 "2003-10-17T20:46:15Z")
Dad, step aside - Ed is a pet’s dad. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/8 "2003-10-18T22:17:43Z")
[Bob](http://www.com-www.com/weirdal/bob.html) ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/9 "2003-10-19T04:17:38Z")
Have you ever heard of this nonsense word: drowesnesnonsihtfodraehreveuoyevah? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/10 "2003-10-19T17:34:25Z")
Oh, I can do better than that, **RM**! “Have you ever heard of this nonsense word: kozargluflenbobvcaxacvbobnelfulgrazokdrowesnesnonsihtfodraehreveuoyevah?” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/11 "2003-10-20T04:41:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gillesmt \* > \*\*[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/managram.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/managram.html) > > The longest palindrome I’ve ever seen was “A man, a plan, a canal; Panama”. \*\* **Try these:** Are we not drawn onwards, we Jews, drawn onward to new era? Now ere we nine were held idle here, we nine were won. Now saw ye no mosses or foam, or aroma of roses. So money was won. **And the magnificent:** Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel and Ellen sinned. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/12 "2003-10-27T03:12:57Z")
The best Ive ever seen (not the longest, I’ve seen longer but they didn’t make much sense) was: **Doc, note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.** Great, isn’t it. Sounds like a perfectly natural saying, you could imagine someone actually saying that. With most long pallindromres the sentence is unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/207979/13 "2003-10-29T02:06:13Z")
> [@](#): > > _from SongBird’s staff report_ > What do you call an anagram that simply reverses the spelling of the original word to create another word? The usual term is **reversal**. However, a number of people (the first, I believe, being Lewis Carroll) have come up with the clever name **semordnilap** for them. Re: Napoleon’s words. Later on he was heard to say “An elehts was I ere I saw St. Helena.” And why doesn’t anyone remember the earlier epigram: “A man, a plan, a canal – Suez”?