Palindromes. If you know what I'm sayin.

In My Humble Opinion
41

The best palindrome I’ve ever seen went like this:

T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: “gnat-dirt upset on drab pot toilet.”

The best one I ever made up was for a contest (I missed out on the cash prize, and got only a lousy t-shirt). It starts with the supposition that a former Super Bowl MVP is trying to make a big comeback with the Green Bay Packers, and Orenthal James Simpson has inquired what this quarterback had been doing to get back into shape and to prepare for the frigid temperatures at Lambeau Field. The answer:

“Joe Montana ran at Nome, O.J.”

42

Years ago, my father – who’s Finnish – sold these beautiful soapstone fireplaces for a (Finnish) company named Tulikivi. He revelled in reminding friends that he was a saippuakivikauppias (in Finnish, literally “soapstone salesman”), which I believe is the world’s longest palindromic word.

Don’t know how often you’ll be able to work that 19-letter behemoth into a cocktail party, but it’s still my favorite palindrome.