# palindrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 1999, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336 "1999-08-04T02:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/1 "1999-08-04T02:54:00Z")
What is the world’s longest palindrome? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/2 "1999-08-04T03:15:00Z")
I don’t know what the longest palindromic sentence is. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest palindromic word is \*saippuakivikauppias/i]. It’s a Finnish word for a seller of lye. The longest English word is _redivider_. In American English _releveler_ is the same length, however in England it’s spelled _releveller_. * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/3 "1999-08-04T03:21:00Z")
There are a lot of very long palindromes, but most of them don’t make much sense. The longest palindrome I’ve ever seen that actually made some sense was this one (rather clever, I thought, but I have no idea who wrote it): “T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet.” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/4 "1999-08-04T03:33:00Z")
After a little web-surfing I found this 540 word variation on “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama” - A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag, a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu, a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a yaw, a tab, a raj, a gab, a nag, a pagan, a bag, a jar, a bat, a way, a papa, a local, a gar, a baron, a mat, a rag, a gap, a tar, a decal, a tot, a led, a tic, a bard, a leg, a bog, a burg, a keel, a doom, a mix, a map, an atom, a gum, a kit, a baleen, a gala, a ten, a don, a mural, a pan, a faun, a ducat, a pagoda, a lob, a rap, a keep, a nip, a gulp, a loop, a deer, a leer, a lever, a hair, a pad, a tapir, a door, a moor, an aid, a raid, a wad, an alias, an ox, an atlas, a bus, a madam, a jag, a saw, a mass, an anus, a gnat, a lab, a cadet, an em, a natural, a tip, a caress, a pass, a baronet, a minimax, a sari, a fall, a ballot, a knot, a pot, a rep, a carrot, a mart, a part, a tort, a gut, a poll, a gateway, a law, a jay, a sap, a zag, a fat, a hall, a gamut, a dab, a can, a tabu, a day, a batt, a waterfall, a patina, a nut, a flow, a lass, a van, a mow, a nib, a draw, a regular, a call, a war, a stay, a gam, a yap, a cam, a ray, an ax, a tag, a wax, a paw, a cat, a valley, a drib, a lion, a saga, a plat, a catnip, a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal–Panama.\* * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/5 "1999-08-04T03:51:00Z")
you win, the palindrome I was thinking of is; ‘go hang a salami i’m a lasagna hog’ go wings! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/6 "1999-08-04T03:57:00Z")
In the “Giving credit where credit is due” category: The 540 word Panama palindrome above was written by Dan Hoey with the help of a Unix computer program. His site is: [gopher://wiretap.spies.com/00/Library/Article/Language/palindro.txt](http://gopher://wiretap.spies.com/00/Library/Article/Language/palindro.txt) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/7 "1999-08-04T03:59:00Z")
Sorry, to get the above link to work, you will have to delete the “http://” off the front of it after you click on it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/8 "1999-08-04T21:44:00Z")
There was a palindrome thread a couple of months back in the MPSIMMS forum that I put this in, but nobody knew the rest of it. A friend who’ve I’ve fallen out of touch with used to know a _very_ long palindrome (composed _without_ the aid of a computer) that began and ended with: “Do good, I? No! Evil I deliver…reviled, I live on. I do, O God!” Where the elipses are in the above, there were about 5 or 6 long sentences that made absolute sense - I just don’t remember them. Don’t know how many total words there were in the thing, but it was damned impressive. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/9 "1999-08-04T22:19:00Z")
Well, I always thought a true palindrome was supposed to make sense – thus the beauty of “A man, a plan, a canal – Panana!” It seems to me to be far easier to run together palindromic phrases that don’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/10 "1999-08-05T00:04:00Z")
panana? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/11 "1999-08-05T00:41:00Z")
The palindrome of Bolton would be notloB. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/12 "1999-08-05T02:41:00Z")
OK, folks, time to give credit where credit is due. According to a creative writing website for which I’ve unfortunately lost the URL: In 1980, David Stephens wrote a 58,000 letter palindrome “Satire: Veritas.” Lawrence Levine wrote a palindromic novel of 31,957 words, \*Dr. Awkward and Olson in Oslo \* in 1986. There you have it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palindrome/2336/13 "1999-08-05T02:43:00Z")
Insert commas after “palindrome” and “Oslo.”