Fun_People Archive
12 Jan
A palindrome or two...

Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 12:52:23 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: A palindrome or two...

[Irene Herrmann has sent along some excruciating palindromes that I can't help  
but annotate a little.  First, by including the consummate seed (credited to  
Leigh Mercer of London) from which a series of them grew:

	A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama!

then, by including a parody (credited to J. A. Lindon of Weybridge, Surrey):

	A dog, a pant, a panic in a Patna pagoda!

- psl]

Forwarded-by: Irene Herrmann <irene_herrmann@macmail.ucsc.edu>
Forwarded-by: Richard Moorman <rmoorman@nyx.cs.du.edu>

Mail*Link(r) SMTP               Emordnilap

"A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal -- Panama!"
 

"A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps,
snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana
bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a
jar, sore hats, a peon, 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.
______________________________________________________________________________

From: georgem@cts.com (George Mitchell)
Subject: Re: LONGEST KNOWN PALINDROME

> From: mdavy@uoguelph.ca (Mark Davy)
> Subject: Re: LONGEST KNOWN PALINDROME
>
> longest known palindrome is: SATAN OSCILLATE MY METALLIC SONATAS

Or:

 Doc, note.  I dissent.  A fast never prevents a fatness.  I diet on cod.

Or:

"Miry rim!  So many daffodils," Delia wailed, "slid off a dynamo's miry rim!"

Or longer still, but making less sense:

T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang eminating, is sad.  I'd assign it a 

name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet
______________________________________________________________________________

[I believe that last one was written (by Alastair Reid) as a poem:

	T. Eliot, top bard
	Notes putrid tang emanating, is sad.
	I'd assign it a name:
	"Gnat dirt upset on drap pot toilet."

(some people just don't know how to tell a palindrome).
But these aren't even close to being contenders for the longest known  
palindrome.  For one thing, it's easy to make a palindrome arbitrarily long  
since the repetition of a palindrome is itself a palindrome.  Even disallowing  
such simple repetition, a palindrome like the Panama one can be expanded  
endlessly by the symmetric insertion of invertible pairs (e.g. "a pap, " and  
", papa"), as amply demonstrated above.  Even requiring a modicum of meaning  
from the result leaves us with some large examples.  Howard Bergerson, in his  
nifty little book "Palindromes and Anagrams" (Dover, New York, 1973), includes  
a poem called "Edna Waterfall" that's a 35-line long end-to-end palindrome and  
still manages to make sense.  I think my favorite palindromic poem from  
Bergeron's book is the following poem; it's not a letter-unit palindrome (the  
usual kind), but a line-unit one instead.

		Doppelganger

I   Entering the lonely house with my wife
    I saw him for the first time
    Peeking furtively from behind a bush--
    Blackness that moved,
    A shape amid the shadows,
    A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
    Revealed in the ragged moon.
    A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
    Put him to flight forever--
    I dared not
    (For reasons that I failed to understand),
    Though I knew I should act at once.

II  I puzzled over it, hiding alone,
    Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
    He came, and I saw him crouching
    Night after night.
    Night after night
    He came, and I saw him crouching,
    Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
    

III I puzzled over it, hiding alone--
    Though I knew I should act at once,
    For reasons that I failed to understand
    I dared not
    Put him to flight forever.
    

IV  A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
    Revealed in the ragged moon
    A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes,
    A shape amid the shadows,
    Blackness that moved.
    

V   Peeking furtively from behind a bush,
    I saw him for the first time,
    Entering the lonely house with my wife.

			- J. A. Lindon

Okay, enough on palindromes...
-- psl]
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