Celebrate 11022011 with a palindrome, LOL

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It’s still 11-02-2011, an auspicious day for fans of palindromes -- those words, phrases or numbers that can be read the same way backward and forward. As reported earlier in Nation Now, it’s a very rare occurrence, one of only 12 eight-digit palindrome days this century.

To mark the occasion, we talked to Mark Saltveit, editor of the Palindromist magazine and website, ‘for people who write and read palindromes,’ and asked him for some of his favorites.

‘My absolute favorite is, ‘Doc, note -- I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.’ ‘

Saltveit provided a little history for that one. He says it was written by mathematician Peter Hilton. Hilton, who died in December, was a code breaker during World War II, alongside Alan Turing, a pioneer in artificial intelligence and computing.

Hilton wrote the palindrome in 1943, Saltveit said, when he ‘was breaking Nazi secret codes at Bletchley Park outside London, along with Alan Turing and others. It wasn’t published until the late 1960s due to wartime secrecy.’

Here are some of Saltveit’s other favorites, along with their authors, gleaned from the Palindromist:

‘Stark rabid, I bark ‘Rats!’ ‘ -- by Howard Bergerson

‘Lapses? Order red roses, pal.’ -- Jim Beloff

‘Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog!’ -- Jon Agee

‘O, slag! I boo the city, L.A. -- tacky! Rampant aches, eh? (Cat-nap, Maryk?) Catalytic, eh? Too big, also.’ -- John Connett

And here’s one that Salveit penned that he said could be interpreted as making fun of palindrome days, or commenting on them: ‘Today -- a dot.’

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-- Amy Hubbard

Video: Mark Saltveit / YouTube