A Palindrome is a funny part of language. It can be a word or a name. It reads the same from left to right or from right to left. A few examples include: Eye, Bob, Eve, Wow, Noon, Civic, Anna, Hannah, Refer, Kayak, Radar, Solos, Stats, Racecar.
A palindrome can also be a short phrase or saying: Tuna nut; My gym; Mao Foam; Taco Cat; Top Spot; Tahiti hat; No’s in Unison; No lemon, no melon; A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama.
A palindrome can also be a complete sentence with a noun and a verb. Step on no pets. Madam, I am Adam. Nate bit a Tibetan. Draw, O Coward! Go Hang a Salami; I’m a Lasagna Hog! (Which is also the title of a book just about palindromes.)
Some can even be a question or a dialogue.
Was it a cat I saw?
Eva, can I see bees in a cave?
Wonton? Not now.
Palindromes can be numbers too. Because this is December in 2021, we have nine such dates in a row: December 1-9. December 11 and 22 are also palindrome dates.
According to a December 1 article in The Seattle Times, “Digiphiles, delight! A rare stretch of palindrome days has begun,” having nine such dates in a row is unusual. Dr. Aziz Inan, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Portland, studies palindromes and says there were no palindromic dates from the 1400s until 1999, at least in countries like the US where we record our dates in “month, day, year.”
There is a lot to celebrate this time of year, but for number lovers, December 2021 has some extra quirks to enjoy.
–Scott Dreyer