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A man, a plan, a canal ... happy palindrome month!
Linda Feldmann
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by symmetry in words and numbers. And on Wednesday, 12/1/21, it hit me: We had entered a month of palindromes, 11 out of 31 dates that read the same backward and forward, at least in the American 鈥渕onth/day/year鈥� way of doing things.聽
I noted this on Facebook, and launched a frenzy of palindromania 鈥� friends sharing their favorite words, phrases, and sentences that read the same in both directions: 鈥淭una Nut,鈥� the name of a friend鈥檚 boat. 鈥淭acoCat,鈥� a card game, rock band, and now聽. 鈥淎ble was I ere I saw Elba,鈥� as Napoleon allegedly said upon his exile.聽
The best-known example of all time is 鈥淎 man, a plan, a canal: Panama鈥� according to the聽. But when my friend Eric Troseth offered this 鈥� 鈥淎re we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?鈥� 鈥� I stopped in my tracks. The potential for deep meaning is vast.
Indeed, the Hall of Fame includes this marvelous , transliterated: 鈥淣ipson anomemata me monan opsin,鈥� meaning 鈥淲ash the sins, not only the face.鈥�
Love of palindromes is a rabbit hole down which one can vanish forever 鈥� or at least as a break from the headlines. This palindrome-filled聽聽guarantees a laugh.
But before I go, I must point out something especially remarkable about yesterday鈥檚 date: 12/02/2021. Ignore the slashes and write the numbers in digital script, and you get the rarest of palindromes, an ambigram:聽, it reads the same. Wow.
