Food for the Brain!
The English language holds many curious surprises.
From anagrams to spoonerisms, pangrams to holoryhmes.
(And no, I never remember what each of those things stands for either.)
One of my favourite twists and turn of our great tongue is the palindrome.
A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same forwards as it does backwards.
For example:
Tango, O Gnat!
Okay, so Shakespeare it ain't.
But you can start reading the sentence from either end and you'll still end up encountering the exact same letters in identical sequence.
That's a palindrome.
My favourite such novelty however was supposedly created in honour of former US President Theodore Roosevelt.
It's relatively popular -- but if you don't know it (and I'm kind of hoping you don't), then you'll be impressed. Often incorrectly labelled as the world's longest palindrome, here it is...
A man, a plan, a canal - Panama.
This refers to Roosevelt's idea to take over the building of the Panama Canal, perhaps his most famous legacy. This initiative significantly shortened trading journeys between San Francisco, California and New York.
And reading that sentence either backwards or forwards, you'll still get the picture.
Cool, eh?
Here's something else to ponder over...
Up until 1901, The White House wasn't called The White House!
Before that date, they called it The President's Palace, The President's Building -- and even The Executive Mansion. It was Roosevelt that christened it with that now famous name.
Send this blog post onto your friends. It's food for the brain!
Here's something else to ponder over...
Up until 1901, The White House wasn't called The White House!
Before that date, they called it The President's Palace, The President's Building -- and even The Executive Mansion. It was Roosevelt that christened it with that now famous name.
Send this blog post onto your friends. It's food for the brain!
Drawing of Roosevelt "Digging the Panama Canal"
by Karl
12:38 AM
Subscribe
1 Comments:
I wonder how the first chancellor of the German Empire must have felt. His first name was spelt the same forwards as it was backwards....Otto...von Bismarck!
By
Johnathan, at
9:25 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home