Do you know what a palindrome is?

@GardenGerty (157552)
United States
January 25, 2009 7:25pm CST
I found it fun, as a young person to ponder palindromes. A friend pointed out just now that my count at that moment was a palindrome, but it will not stay that way. A palindrome is something that reads the same both backward and forward. It can be a number or a word, or a phrase. Two that come to mind are "Madam, I'm Adam" (punchline for the old riddle, what did the first man say to the first woman?) and "Desserts is just stressed spelled backwards." Honestly, that is how I finally could keep the spelling of desert and dessert sorted out. So, did you know what a palindrome is? Do you know any palindromes?
4 people like this
30 responses
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
26 Jan 09
stressed is not a palindrome though it does not read the same way backwards and forwards, radar is a palindrome
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
You are right Carol, it is just a favorite joke, and I got carried away.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Boy, Thorogrym, you have a quick wit.
1 person likes this
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
26 Jan 09
whipped cream = stressed desserts :)
2 people like this
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Gotta love the palindrome! There are, of course, the easy ones: RADAR refer stats kayak But then you can get into the phrases and sentences: Able was I ere I saw Elba. A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. So many more to be had, but I will leave some for others. :)
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Thanks for the great idea. Someone pointed out that my desserts and stressed are not palindromes, but they are something I just like. I guess your next palindrome will be 181.
1 person likes this
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Gads! That last post brought me to 171! A palindrome! Hah!
2 people like this
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
26 Jan 09
While the individual words are not palindromes, the phrase "stressed desserts" IS a palindrome.
• United States
26 Jan 09
I probably knew what a palindrome was at some point in time in my life. Menopausal memory causes me to forget a lot lately. I noticed your post and decided that I needed to refresh my memory. Wish my body came with a "F5" button.
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Thanks for the smile. I have been blaming it on winter brain freeze.
1 person likes this
• United States
27 Jan 09
That's a new one. May I use it?
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Sure, you may use it. I wonder if when Spring arrives I can pass of my glitches by saying my brain thawed and ran out? There is always a reason, in every season.
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
26 Jan 09
Would it be the same word or a different word? You said desserts and stressed, but those are two different words. Now for instance, noon and eye, are examples of words that are the same backwards and forward. Whereas, words like, evil and live or god and dog are two different words.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
It can be either. On the other hand, maybe desserts and stressed are not. Thanks for pointing that out. They are just a punch line to a good joke. I liked it a lot, so it got stuck in my mind.
1 person likes this
@thorgrym (675)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Ah, but "God's dog" is a palindrome. Punctuation doesn't count...just the letters (or numbers). Fun!
1 person likes this
• India
26 Jan 09
Hehehe...I knew plenty of them when I had the time for all this fun. Right now, the only one I can remember is "MALAYALAM" LOL!! In case you don't know, it is a south Indian language. ;) Cheers and happy Mylotting
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
I did not know that.
1 person likes this
@wrangel15 (1443)
• Philippines
26 Jan 09
I was introduced to palindromes during my programming class in college. It is because we are told to determine, using a program we would write, if a certain phrase is a palindrome or not. It is fun learning basics of programming and learning palindromes at the same time. Here are some web pages with list of palindromes: - http://www.geocities.com/~harveyh/palindromes.htm#Word%20palindromes - from Wikipedia: * A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! * Rats live on no evil star. * Neil, a trap! Sid is part alien! * Step on no pets. * Dammit, I'm mad! * Madam, I'm Adam. * Madam, in Eden, I'm Adam. * Rise to vote, sir. * Never odd or even * If I had a hi-fi * War, sir, is raw. * Yo, banana boy! * Do geese see God? * No devil lived on. * Ah, Satan sees Natasha. * Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel! * A dog, a panic in a pagoda * Was it a cat I saw? * Was it a car or a cat I saw? * A Toyota's a Toyota. * No lemons, no melon * Now I see bees, I won. * Ma is as selfless as I am. * Nurse, I spy gypsies—run! * A dog, a plan, a canal, pagoda * Was it Eliot's toilet I saw? * No, sir, away! A papaya war is on! * Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog. * I, madam, I made radio! So I dared! Am I mad? Am I? * Swap God for a janitor, rot in a jar of dog paws. * Eva, can I see bees in a cave? * Taco Cat * So many dynamos! * Red rum, sir, is murder.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Wow, I think you have the best list so far.
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
26 Jan 09
I have know about palindromes since I was a kid and the main example I was taught and used to describe it has been shared already and that's "Madam I'm Adam" There is a guy that claims to have come up with a palindrome using over 17,000 words! Here's the link: http://norvig.com/palindrome.html I've never read the entire thing myself, but this is unbelievable!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
James,that is neat to know, but I probably will not read the entire thing either. Thanks for sharing. The one about Adam and the one about a canal are both good examples and pretty standard from out text books.
@penny64 (1106)
• Australia
26 Jan 09
It has always disappointed me that the word "palindrome" isn't a palindrome. It would somehow be more fitting if it were. The only one I remember is the "Madam, I'm Adam" one - I think it must be the standard example in schools.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
That would be great to have a word be what it defines.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
26 Jan 09
that is the first time in my life i ever heard the word. thanks, i like leaerning new things.
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Keeps us young. Hey, did you ever hear that grandmas are just antique little girls?
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@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
26 Jan 09
i like the sound of that. lol
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@savypat (20216)
• United States
26 Jan 09
It's 4:30 AM here and the first thing that popped into my head was toot, I guess we had split soup for dinner last night. I don't think I have to explan. Thanks for the hint about dessert etc. I always have trouble with that.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
I love little keys that help me remember stuff.
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
26 Jan 09
On his album "Poodle Hat", Weird Al Yankovich has a song called "Bob" which was ENTIRELY palindromes. You should check it out - it is definately a hoot. "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog." A classic, that one, LOL.
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I think I remember Bob. My kids were big fans of Weird Al. Never heard the one about the lasagna hog.
@Paula1966 (1102)
• United States
26 Jan 09
It was one of the lines from the song... not sure if Al came up with it or if it was around before... the guy is pretty creative, though, so I would not put it past him.
1 person likes this
• India
26 Jan 09
// Palindrome.java It check if a string is a palindrome.. public class Palindrome { public static void main(String[] args) { String str1 = "eye", str2 = "bye"; System.out.println("Palindrome detection"); System.out.println(str1 + " " + isPalindrome(str1)); System.out.println(str2 + " " + isPalindrome(str2)); } static boolean isPalindrome(String s) { int left = 0; int right = s.length() - 1; while (left
@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
I did not realize there was an application called palindrome
@inkyuboz (1392)
• Mandaluyong City, Philippines
26 Jan 09
The most popular palindrome I know is: "Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?" It's so cool!
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
That one is very thought provoking as well.
• India
26 Jan 09
of course i know wat it means not before my c language teacher asked me to write a program to detect weather a give word is palindrome or not.....the word palindrome was unfamiliar to me then but when i came to know i was driven by the idea.. some of the palindromes are as followed: 1)madam 2)malayalam 3)dad 4)mam,mom...........etc....
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Really good job, thanks.
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I love stuff like that lol. I remember 'Madam I'm Adam' from English class, our one teacher was fond about bringing up neat stuff like that. I never knew about the desserts one...sure explains a lot (for me, I get stressed when I don't have any hahaha) Only ones I can think of right now are 'Too hot to hoot' & "dammit, I'm mad!"
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Joyful, those are funny, they make me "joyful" so thanks for responding. I will remember in July that I will be too hot to hoot. Sounds like something my late Aunt Ginny would have said.
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@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I've always thought palindromes were kinda neat. But, I never thought of them in numbers...
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I do not usually think of them that way, but I had to start this discussion when my friend pointed out I was at a palindrome number. It will be along time until I reach another.
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• United States
26 Jan 09
There are many single words. I like phrases, here are some: "Able was I ere I saw Elba" "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama." "Bird rib" "Borrow or rob?" "Don't nod"
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Phrases are more challenging, and they can be very interesting.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I think I have heard of this word before. I had forgotten what it meant until now though. I know a few palindromes like noon, racecar, rotor, eye, deed, civic, nun, level, pop, radar, pip, and toot. Words like LIVE and STRAW (which read EVIL and WARTS backwards) are not themselves palindromes but the "phrases" LIVE EVIL and STRAW WARTS are. A palindrome is not necessarily a single word. The longest single English word in common usage which is a palindrome is REDIVIDER, although the contrived chemical term DETARTRATED is two letters longer. In Finnish there is a 25-letter palindromic word: SOLUTOMAATTIMITTAAMOTULOS which means the result from a measurement laboratory for tomatoes, although technically it is a compound of four words. There is also the equally long SAIPPUAKUPPINIPPUKAUPPIAS which means soap cup trader.
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
So Steph, are you a Finlander, or a good student of language? Hubby's family line is from Finland. Thanks for reminding us of other languages as well.
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
26 Jan 09
My husband actually has one on a bumper sticker on his truck. It says: Race Car spelled backwards is Race Car
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@GardenGerty (157552)
• United States
29 Mar 09
Very Good. I think I may have seen that one, now that you mention it.
• India
27 Jan 09
You are right. A palindrome is something that read same either way. I responded in the morning with a couple of palindromes which I know. But I am not able to see them now. I am giving them once again. 1. "Malayalam" (a language in India down South spoken by the people hailing from State Kerala in India. It spells same either way. 2. "Was it a car or a cat I saw" is a sentence which spells exactly same when read backwards. Isn't it interesting.
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