by Benjamin Lloyd

Created on: May 20, 2009   Last Updated: May 21, 2009

Palindromes have always fascinated me. Semordnilap (words that spell different words when spelt backwards, such as STAR and RATS) are popular with me too. I know of a few palindrome sentences, but the longest one I know of is this one.

Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Betty, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.

I do not know who thought this one up, but I'm sure it took them a while. Of course, I cannot repeat the whole thing from memory, but I remember reading it numerous times before. Other palindrome sentences that I am familiar with are as follows:

Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Anna: Did Otto peep? Otto: Did Anna? (each word is a palindrome)

We panic in a pew.

Able was I ere I saw Elba.

A man a plan a canal, Panama.

Is it I? It is I!

Step on no pets.

A Toyota racecar! A Toyota?

Never odd or even.

No lemon no melon.

Devil lived.

Devils, evil lives lived.

God lived as a devil dog.

Reward a drawer.

Slap my gym pals!

Madam, I'm Adam.

Madam in Eden, I'm Adam.

Eve, sin is Eve.

Even I sin, Eve.

He go*am mad dog, eh?

Do geese see God?

Boston did not sob.

God sees pup, pup sees dog.

Rise sir!

These are just a few of the palindromic sentences that I know of. Of course there are oodles of them online. I would just like to know who has so much free time to come up with all these palindromes? They are very interesting. I have even read online that there is a palindrome sentence that is over 31,000 words long. I wouldn't even dare try to type it or memorize that one. Imagine if you messed up and had to go back and do it all over again? And spell check certainly wouldn't be very helpful.

Palindromes are simply a way for man to have fun with the English language. It is such a tough language to learn that you must throw some humor in there somewhere. I also wonder how dyslexic people read palindromic sentences? Forwards or backwards? I may never know.

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