PALINDROMES: The world's longest, oldest & most impressive

If you like wordplay, you'll love this brief guide to palindromes: words and phrases that say the same thing forwards & backwards (think "wow", "RADAR" or... "taco cat").
What's the longest palindrome in English? What's the longest in any language? What's the oldest palindrome we've found? And what does it have to do with the movie Tenet? I'll answer these questions and more.
Including...
🔠 What is the Sator square?
🖊 What is a "palindromist"?
🖊 What was the best palindrome of 2020?
🖊 What palindromes to French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Chinese have to offer?
🖊 What's the longest word with rotational symmetry?
🖊 What's the longest word with reflective symmetry?
🖊 What is a semordnilap?
Check me out on Twitter & TikTok:
/ robwordsyt​​
/ robwords
==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Intro - What is a palindrome?
0:46 Longest palindrome words in English
1:32 Palindrom phrases - Elba & Panama
3:05 Palindrome poem - Dammit I'm Mad
3:30 The palindromists
4:00 2020's best palindromes
4:49 World's oldest palindrome - Sator square
5:53 Tenet and the Sator square
6:25 World's oldest - Le Grand Palindrome
7:05 Spanish, Italian, Russian & Chinese
8:00 Symmetrical words
9:05 Semordnilap
9:22 Goodbye

[@tocaat2410]

My favourite (found on line several years ago) is: Gert, I saw Ron avoid a radio van, or was it Reg? Another favourite was given to me by a friend: Doc note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod. The most cringeworthy one I found on line was: Did I strap red nude, red rump, also slap murdered underparts? I did! 😫 A few others, courtesy of Bill Bryson (some clever, some gratuitous): Was it Eliot's toilet I saw? Sex at noon taxes. Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus. Too far, Edna, we wander afoot.

[@RobWords]

All glorious!

[@rogink]

Those first few I can't help hearing in the voice of Barry Cryer :)

[@tiyenin]

@@RobWords Sun Is Wolf; A Valhalla Allah Lava Flows In Us

[@prajeeshprasannakumar]

MALAYALAM, a language using in Southern India is also a palindrome.

[@rogink]

@@prajeeshprasannakumar But is that the name of language in that language? I suspect it doesn't use the Latin alphabet!

[@thewebexpert3311]

Most impressive (to me, at least) is "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Bob." Not only is the title a palindrome, the song is constructed exclusively out of palindromes - which he, the creative genius that he is, has caused to rhyme with near-perfection throughout the entire song.

[@giftedunderachiever5919]

The best part for me was how long it took me to figure out what it was. I thought it was just Dylanesque nonsense until I started noticing patterns.

[@JefAlanLong]

@@giftedunderachiever5919 me too! I had the album for years and then somehow saw the music video one day, the video makes it quite obvious. Felt more than a little foolish

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

Best line in the song is "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog!". Al's delivery is just impeccable.

[@reubenmckay]

The sheer genius of that song (and Weird Al as an artist in general) cannot be understated.

[@DRWDesigns]

And the video is a prefect parody of Subterranean Homesick Blues.

[@dopebeatstudios]

One example of a Greek palindrome which has a real meaning and is not only words "νίψον ανομήματα μη μόναν όψιν" which translates as "wash off your sins, not only your face"

[@DJruslan4ic]

There was a russian meme with a picture of Housemade soap with a caption in russian "Can even wash off your sins!"

[@Giannis_Sarafis]

I believe it was first sculpted on a fountain (fyali or perirantirion) sited in the yard of the church of Agia Sophia in Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul). After that, it is quite common to be found on founts of orthodox churches.

[@robertchambers8725]

Many years ago I saw it in the Guinness Book of Records as probably the oldest palindrome. But I guess earlier ones have been discovered now.

[@pattysherwood7091]

@@Giannis_Sarafis yes, at Hagia Sophia. My favorite palindrome

[@TheRootedWord]

The words is not exactly "sins" but rather "lawless deeds". They are not the same.

[@FinFan94]

Finnish has A LOT of palindromes and a few quite popular radio hosts used to have a 'palindrome of the week'. Few classics are "saippuakauppias" (a soap sales man) "innostunut sonni" (exited bull) and my favorite that i can remember "iso ja hatara ruma rata hajosi" (a large and unstable ugly railway collapsed). The last one makes perfect sense!

[@KolonE]

Vielä parempi ois "saippuakivikauppias" nii siitä saa vähä pitemmäm :)

[@MetallicMutalisk]

Solutomaattimittaamotulos - cell tomato measuring centre result. Oma lemppari on kuitenkin "saippuakullipyllypillukauppias"

[@mikitz]

"Naamiokalle, mene mellakoimaan."

[@jscire__872]

My favorite one in Finnish is ”Neulo taas niin saat oluen” which means ”Go knit again and you’ll get a beer”😂🧶

[@random_Finnish_guy]

Yes, there are a lot of funny palindromes in Finnish.

[@Ghiaman1334]

I've always thought the word for palindromes should have been a palindrome in itself. Knowing 'Palinilap' is now actually a thing, that leaves the ever powerful sounding 'semordromes', though a single one would have to be an 'emordrome' to preserve this quality

[@alveolate]

i 100% second this notion!

[@todortodorov940]

But then we also need to replace the word *abbreviation* with something shorter.

[@Ghiaman1334]

@@todortodorov940 No, we just need to refer to it by an abbreviation, like abb. or brev.

[@thevalarauka101]

@@Ghiaman1334 I think abbr. or abbrev. is the usual one in dictionaries?

[@amilgz]

There's a Galician book called “A torre da derrota” (The tower of defeat), by Gonzalo Navaza. It's a poetry book, and all of the poems are palindromes. 😊

[@slohmann1572]

That works in Portuguese too :) By the way, we have this: “Socorram-me, subi no ônibus em Marrocos”.

[@amilgz]

@@slohmann1572 Well, I'm a reintegrationist, I defend that Galician and Portuguese are one and the same. 😊

[@alanr4447a]

Strap racecar parts!

[@rhombicuboctahedron7811]

@@slohmann1572 cool

[@kellytozarindamasceno6709]

In Portuguese is exact the same.

[@daviddeming218]

For forty years I worked as a bus driver and would often spend my time at stop lights creating palindromes. Working from an already created palindrome, "Eva can I stab bats in a cave?" Here we have a nested palindrome. If you insert a verb/object pair that is itself a palindrome you build new ones, all starting with "Eva can I ... ending with ... in a cave?" So one could insert "stir grits" or even "evade Dave" /// Very cool to see Graham Maddocks entry in these comments: Eva can ignite virtuosos out riveting in a cave.

[@RobWords]

This is marvellous, thanks!

[@alfonsofrontera6425]

Stressed desserts!

[@timc5768]

@@alfonsofrontera6425 Stressed? No tips? Spit on desserts. (Not my creation)

[@alfonsofrontera6425]

@@timc5768 Stressed? No tips? Bob, spit on desserts!

[@timc5768]

@@alfonsofrontera6425 Nice ! Maybe Hannah spits longer!

[@friederike114]

Hi Rob, German here :) 2nd: Otto of course is a name, which means... Otto. Haha. No, it actually has a "real" meaning which is "eight". Originating in Italian (or is it even Latin?). And that again opens up a whole other world with "8" having such beautiful symmetry horizontally and vertically - as well as allowing for endless movement. 1st: "Pils mit Bier treibt im Slip" actually does make sense. "Treiben" has various meanings - one being " to float" but another one being "to urge". So, it means "A lot of beer makes you have to pee". Lastly: I really enjoy your videos! Thank you!!

[@angreagach]

You stole my thunder!

[@bouboulroz]

Fun little fact: Georges Perrec, the author of Le Grand Palindrome, was specialized in writting with multiple constraints (he was even part of a community dedicaded to that kind of exercise). His most known work is "La Vie mode d'emploi" (Life: A User's Manual) written multiple constraints. Another notable work is "La Disparition" (A Void) which doesn't use the letter e (very hard to do in a lot of languages, and French is definitiely one of them).

[@dariusdaguerre3535]

If you love English, you'll stop using "multiple" so much, which has begun to displace _many,_ _several,_ _numerous,_ _countless,_ and other words.

[@bouboulroz]

@@dariusdaguerre3535 Good thing I don't love english then.

[@dariusdaguerre3535]

@@bouboulroz The wasting of mind is never a good thing. I recommend two hours a day with Mencken or Pauline Kael or Pope every day for a fortnight until you begin to feel less cranky and witless. Of course, I'm not sure how you can appreciate Perec or anyone else in Oulipo if you can't understand that, in order for constraints to be productive, you must have an extraordinary command of language. But you unknowingly have been made to suffer _une disparition_ that is far deadlier than the vanishing of that fabled something up the fundus of Edward II. See how you fume?

[@bouboulroz]

@@dariusdaguerre3535 Did you ignore my obvious dismissiveness on purpose just to satisfy your need of producing a pompuous rant, or are you so dense it was wasted on you ? If it's the latter, then let me clarify: I'm not interested in debating the richness (or lack thereof) of my vocabulary in a language that's not even my native one, particularly in a comment thread I started 7 months ago.

[@dariusdaguerre3535]

@@bouboulroz I thought that you were a typical American who has lost a sense of the power of English, the language that has the largest vocabulary of any that has ever existed, and who might have noticed, as I've seen some ordinary KZbinrs notice, the proliferation of meaningless or wordy expressions like "in terms of" or "have a lack of." And I thought that, if a person is interested enough in language to watch a video on palindromes, and is interested enough in literature to know about Georges Perec, they would most likely take my initial comment with delighted surprise. For instance, I know ancient Greek, and once, in speaking with a Greek friend, he pointed out to me that I pronounced the word "hosios" with a medial sounded hard s, which isn't a variant in Greek-and I was both shocked and delighted: shocked because in twenty years nobody had ever corrected me, and delighted because my friend is just the sort of person who would notice that sort of thing. And again, still thinking you were an American, I answered you the second time the way I did because I am intolerant of militant ignorance-and again, I thought that someone who, etc., might be shocked into wondering what they would find in the authors I recommended in light of my comments. So I owe you an apology. I'm sorry that you don't care enough about English to care about a fine mastery of it, but foreigners who pick up bad linguistic habits-and I'm not saying this as an oblique aspersion on you, because for you it is _not_ a bad habit, it just is for native speakers of English-aren't the object of my contempt, and don't deserve to be subjected to it. Go in peace.

[@RobPudWilliams]

The marketplace outside the palace in Ankh Morpork in Terry Pratchett's Discworld is called Sator Square. Now I know why.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Sir Terry was never the kind to turn down the opportunity to throw in a quick Pune, or play on words.

[@Vandal_Savage]

This was the comment I was looking for - knew I wouldn't be disappointed 😊

[@w.reidripley1968]

@@OtakuUnitedStudio Uh, oh, Punic Wars. (No, that isn't one, stop staring...)

[@meganofsherwood3665]

...that makes so much more sense now!

[@worldsedge4991]

On Netflix is a new Korean language show, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” about a young woman attorney with autism spectrum disorder. Her name, Woo Young-Woo is palindromic, “우영우”. She also has a habit when introducing herself by noting her name is the same coming or going and then rattles off a list of palindromes. These are translated in subtitles as “Kayak, deed, rotator…” obviously, these English palindromes don’t work in Korean. She actually says “기러기, 토마토, 스위스…” (goose, tomato, Swiss…)

[@Binkles]

Thanks so much for the pointer; I’m streaming it now. I appreciate it! 💋

[@worldsedge4991]

@@Binkles Oh, good. It is totally worth watching!

[@BJGvideos]

That's an odd thing to translate thing as. Surely any reading audience would understand "oh these must be palindromes in Korean"

[@Binkles]

@@worldsedge4991 It sure is! The actress playing Woo Young-Woo is sooo adorable she brings tears to my eyes! Am unsure about the ginormous clothes they put her in and the awkward way they make her walk, but perhaps I haven’t met enough autistic people to know that that’s authentic? Still, they don’t detract from such a darling actress (and character!). I’ve been having a blast watching the show and am sad that the season finale is apparently next; rats. I’d be perfectly happy if it were on weekly 52 weeks a year! I really appreciate the pointer, @wordsedge; I hate to think that I coulda missed it!

[@Binkles]

@@BJGvideos Unfortunately, in my vast experience, the average American doesn’t know what a palindrome is. 😞 And the word “pailndrome” isn’t used on the show (in the English subtitles, I mean) so had they gone with “goose, tomato, Swiss,” the average American viewer is likely to be confused. I think it was a good idea to show American palindromes so that those average viewers would catch on: “Oh! She means words that are the same forwards and backwards!” because Americans know that they exist, even if they don’t know what to call ‘em. 😕

[@logminusone1272]

An Indian language spoken in the southern part of the country is called MALAYALAM. Now, that is a palindrome! A language whose name itself is a palindrome. In school, our favourite palindrome was, "Was it a car or a cat I saw?"

[@angreagach]

Answer: "No, miss. It is Simon." (I didn't make that up.)

[@epiendless1128]

The song 'Tenet' by Heilung is based on the Sator square. The melody itself is somehow derived from the square. I'm not sufficiently musically literate to understand what they did, but I'm sure it's frightfully clever.

[@SimonCharman]

“Step on no pets” is one that comes to mind when taking about palindromes. It is also useful advice … especially if you own a hamster. Love your channel. I have binge watched.

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

thank you for spelling "hamster" properly. most people try to spell it "hamPster". it drives me nuts when i see it spelled that way.

[@TekkenGirl4Lyfe]

Also useful advice for cat owners bc the silly things tend to get underfoot.

[@Lily-Bravo]

@@TekkenGirl4Lyfe Underfoot? My lumpen feline is making typing difficult by sitting on me.

[@alanr4447a]

@@JohnLeePettimoreIII I assumed a "hamster" was a pork advocate... 😜

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

@@alanr4447a ok now... that was funny.

[@TimwiTerby]

The longest single-word palindrome I’m aware of is “saippuakivikauppias”, which is Finnish for “soapstone dealer”.

[@hansvanwynsberghe]

in dutch you have: koortsmeetsysteemstrook which is longer. it means somtething like: a piece of paper used by a system to measure fever.

[@MrJukeri]

@@hansvanwynsberghe What is " a piece of paper used by a system to measure fever"? Is it a realt thing or only a "vocaburary trick" ?

[@hansvanwynsberghe]

@@MrJukeri it's both. In dutch you can join several words into one. For example a restaurant for children is a childrenrestaurant. There s no limit to how much 'ouns one can stacl ip i. One word, and sometimes you can also put ?adverbs? Into it. Like: brownbeansoupcancollectionexhibitionentryticket. The thing witk the palindrome koortsmeetsysteemstrook is that it could still be a real thing. Although I never saw a machine that checks fever and prints out the result. It is the longest palindrome in the dutch dictionary. There s a longer variation: legerkoortsmeetsysteemstrookregel. It gets very artificial. It means a rule on a piece of paper from a fever measuring system from the army.

[@livedandletdie]

@@hansvanwynsberghe It's the same system as Swedish, however, due to spelling rules in Swedish there aren't a lot of palindromes. Tillit is the longest single word palindrome in Swedish as far as I'm aware, it's trust in English. Despite being able to stack words on words just like German and Dutch.

[@mariiris1403]

@@livedandletdie if you put an S on bouth ends of that word, you get the Norwegian name for the goldfinch: stillits.

[@happybirch9663]

The first time I was introduced to palindrome was when I read an Indonesian riddle book. It was "kasur ini rusak" and means "this bed is broken". It was simple, but I was amazed.

[@missmabelbasset4077]

I once had the immense pleasure of a few hours, and a few glasses of wine with Howard Bergerson who wrote the 1,034 letter palindromic narrative poem "Edna Waterfall". Which is maybe the longest palindromic poem that actually tells a story, as opposed to a series of words type thing (even if it reads a little weird especially by the standards of the average english speaker). So that one is my favorite. I also like Mr owl ate my metal worm.

[@owhite2445]

most underrated channel on youtube. this guy is the Brian Cox of the english language

[@RobWords]

Wow, I'll take that! Thanks for watching.

[@der.Schtefan]

I agree

[@brienfoaboutanything9037]

Wikipedia about Palindrome: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6vEe2unfpprgrM

[@illogicmath]

@@RobWords I just saw you on Deutsche Welle giving some opinions on the collapse of the Turkish lira.

[@Mylca]

I can't help but agree! For long, I thought he was at at least 100k subs. But he's not even at 10k. I love his content, and I'm sure quite a lot of people would if KZbin did its magic with its algorithm wand!

[@untlacuache]

A fascinating Spanish fact Fear to palindromes is called "aibofobia" which is by itself a palindrome

[@jmi5969]

@Wendell Shorteyes Enter two little girls: "come play palindromes with us..."

[@HerrHertzsprung]

Wow, I wasn't aware of a word for that. Fear of palindromes sounds like something medieval monks might suffer from... I mean, on account of the physical punishment they might get if they got their palindromes wrong.

[@allanrichardson9081]

Sounds like someone created that word to be a palindrome!

[@Frankie5Angels150]

Fear of palindromes not fear to palindromes.

[@JayBassoon]

Fear of palindromes in English is known as "Aibohphobia". (¿Es reconocerse o no es reconocerse?)

[@HoosierRallyMaster]

After over a half century of knowing that "Madam I'm Adam" is a palindrome, it wasn't until your dramatic setting that I realized that the correct response is simply "Eve"

[@seanhannan5415]

"Top Spot" and "Mom" aren't only palindromes written but also phonetic palindromes so they would sound the same forward or backwards. Other phonetic palindromes but not written palindromes include the phrases "We, you", "Say yes", "No one", "New moon" and probably my favorite at letters 13-letters long "Secret Turkeys"

[@bopmaster404]

Your accent is american or canadian, isn't it?

[@seanhannan5415]

@@bopmaster404 what region?

[@bopmaster404]

​@@seanhannan5415 I don't want to go further with that because I meant it only because "secret turkeys" (which is a top notch phonetic palindrome in an american pronunciation) seems to be a bit off in a british accent and I dunno about "we, you" one (fwiw I'm an L2 speaker)

[@wassholm]

Last fall I had the opportunity to work on a production of a play called "Are we not drawn onward to new erA". The whole show is actually a palindrome, created with the camera and projection, so you watch the whole thing forwards live, and then continue to watch the recording played backwards, back to the start. It's made by a Belgian company called Ontroerend Goed.

[@dariusdaguerre3535]

I hate that one because it is ungrammatical-it's a cheat.

[@fiddlevoice]

Years ago, I wrote a palindrome as follows: "'Tis in a potato pan I sit." A year or two after I'd written it, I found it in a collection of computer generated palindromes on the internet. This was, I think, in the 80s. So much for my aspirations of becoming a writer of palindromes!

[@sonyasandoval1477]

A variation of this is "Sit on a potato pan, Otis!"

[@WingedAsarath]

I've loved the SATOR square ever since I first learnt about it as a kid! It roughly translates to: "The sower, Arepo, holds the wheels at work". One really interesting fact about it is that, despite the earliest known square predating 79AD, the letters can be rearranged to spell out PATER NOSTER in a cross shape, with two pairs of letters left over: A and O for alpha and omega - the beginning and the end.

[@deniseg8174]

My grandfather was born in 1881 so in 1961 we had a birthday cake for him and I noticed how nice to be able to read it upside down. I was 9 and have been fascinated with palindromes since. Thanks for your channel!

[@thisnicklldo]

I was about the same agein 1961 when my father pointed out to me that I should take note, this was the last time for more than 4000 years that a date would have rotational symmetry - intimations of mortality, at a very young age.

[@ianhruday9584]

@@thisnicklldo the number two has rotational symmetry on some digital displays.

[@chicagotypewriter2094]

I found out about that an Encyclopedia Brown book! God I love that series!

[@terryplatt8115]

I always like to watch my digital projector clock show me a Bee Gees song title shortly after 10 every morning! Go figure that one out - should only take about ten minutes!

[@asheep7797]

@@ianhruday9584 then 2962 to 5002 would be a palindromic drought.

[@gregorywehr3444]

I've always enjoyed "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!" Also, the apocryphal Napoleanic "Able was I ere I saw Elba" and the even more licentious introduction in the Garden of Eden: "Madam, I'm Adam." When younger, I told a confused friend Anna that she, her Mom, Dad, Sis, and brother Bob were all palindromes. We also had a student at our school named Habibah, which was really cool. I think it was Willard R. Espy's book Words at Play that included most of these as well as this incantation: "LIVE, O DEVIL! REVEL EVER! LIVE! DO EVIL!" I'm afraid that given the state of the world now it might have worked.

[@martifingers]

And don't forget the reply to Adam was "Eve"!

[@rparl]

It's possible that Words At Play is the book which I recalled as Language On Vacation. I'll have to check it out.

[@Lucius1958]

@@martifingers Her proper reply was, "Name no one, man!"

[@Flying-Bunny]

A note on Georges Perec, the writer of "le grand palindrome", he also wrote an 300 pages long novel without ever using the letter "E". It's called "La disparition".

[@przemysawdata6246]

In other languages there are also palindromes, i.e. in polish: "kajak" (canoe), "Ikar łapał raki" (Icarus has been catching loobsters), "kobyła ma mały bok" (a mare has a small side), "Zakopane na pokaz" (burried for a show or Zakopane* for a show), "Ada raportuje, że jutro parada" (Adriana reports, that is a parade tomorow). And the longest polish and also worldwide palindrome was created by Tadeusz Morawski and it's called "Żartem w metraż" (Joking in a metrage.") This palindrome contains over 33k characters. *Zakopane is a city in Lesser-Polish voivodship, in Tatra Mountains, called "winter capital of Poland"

[@janszwyngel4820]

i was surprised that searching for "longest palindrome in the world" didn't show "Żartem w metraż", the english wikipedia page for palindrome doesn't mention it either.

[@Susie_Floozie]

Jon Agee wrote and illustrated several books of wonderfully limber palindromes with gloriously quirky titles like "GO HANG A SALAMI, I'M A LASAGNA HOG!" (my favorite), "SIT ON A POTATO PAN, OTIS!" and "SO MANY DYNAMOS!"

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

I had the first and last of those as a kid. Glad to see someone else got to experience them. :)

[@rogerforsberg3910]

I was about to add the first two of those palindromes to the comments when it occurred to me that someone must have arrived ahead of me. It was you, Mme F! It's encouraging to know that others are also fascinated by this sort of word play.

[@Susie_Floozie]

@@rogerforsberg3910 I worked as a library page to get by after my divorce--the only page not doing community service, haha. I reshelved Agee's books, and his titles intrigued me. I'd never have known about 'em without that job!

[@Susie_Floozie]

@@OtakuUnitedStudio I saw them as an adult and his stuff just slew me! Every so often, I'll raise my hands like the excited engineer in his drawing and say, "So many dynamos!" just for giggles.

[@Aboucek75]

I discovered my favorite palindrome on a band t-shirt that I had in my teens. "Satan oscillate my metallic sonatas." Of course you need to fiddle with the spaces a bit, but i loved how fitting it was for the use in which I encountered it.

[@mickeythompson9537]

Yes, my favourite too - heard from Stephen Fry many years ago.

[@Jock-mj4zd]

Soundgarden was the band, for anyone guessing!

[@Jock-mj4zd]

I was scrolling for this comment as I’m a fanatical SG fan, but I thought it was far too obscure for there to be any chance!

[@theblogg9470]

Somewhat over 60 years ago, I found a set of these in a book. Each was couched in a little rhyme, explaining the (dubious) context. The only two I remember are "No sot, nor Ottawa law at Toronto, son" and "Stiff, O dairyman in a myriad of fits".

[@rowenagibson9592]

Hi Rob, I absolutely love the sator square. I find your content fascinating. Thank you for your dedication.

[@Fuff63]

My Nephew, at 7 years old, told me about palindromes. He mentioned ‘Racecar’. I thought that was impressive…so yes, that is my favorite one. Enjoyed this. Cheers!

[@MrUnidyne]

I was reading a notice with the words "NO PARTS", and the reflection on a window read "STRAP ON". So, "Strap on no parts", or "No parts strap on".

[@deegee424]

My favorite palindrome is aibohpiphobia....the fear of palindromes, which is, itself, a palindrome. I think it's hilarious, despite the fact that if you had it, you wouldn't be able to say it, so it's a little 'insult added to injury'. LOL I loved this video. I've been know to stop my car on the side of the road to photograph the odometer in my car when it hits a palindrome. I even caught a palindrome once on the odometer, thermometer, and clock all at the same time! #lifegoals LOL

[@pprehn5268]

Glad you share your passion for words and language.

[@Baccatube79]

"Pils mit Bier treibt im Slip" actually means that beer and more beer gonna make you pee a lot. ("treiben" (related to English "to drive") has a lot of meanings, one if them is "to incite the miction".

[@justus8675]

I hate it when people use quotes from other languages without understanding them. Thanks for correting him!

[@parslara5367]

@@justus8675 To be fair though, I didn't get that either (I had never heard it before). And yes, I'm German.

[@justus8675]

@@parslara5367 Well I think if you put out information on the internet and have a bigger audience, you should check your facts! Especially if you make content on languages, you might need a native speaker for some odd cases. Even a community post beforehand to sort things out would have helped. On the one hand, it is no big thing, nothing i mind too much, but I am disappointed. A big youtuber on the internet should have standards on how to check their facts and those were not met in this particular case! I have never heard this quote before, I only know the basic "Von Bier musst du pissen" (beer makes you pee) which I'd consider common knowledge among the beer drinking countries.

[@Vielenberg]

Still gross

@@parslara5367 Duden: "harntreibend". "treiben" hier is just a shortened form.

[@aldomni45]

I am a little surprised that he didn’t mention that when Adam said ‘Madam, I’m Adam that she could reply ‘Eve’ plus the serpent could reply ‘Tut, tut’😊

[@jonnaborosky8836]

Watching and listening to you is so enjoyable!

[@semperfi818]

As literate as their lyrics could be, I never expected my favorite band to contribute to the world's store of palindromes in English, but an EP that Soundgarden had included in a deluxe release of their 1991 LP, _Badmotorfinger,_ bore this astonishing palindromic title, an apropos gesture toward the metal genres which inspired these musicians: _Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas_ -- yes, all one word.

[@pook49]

I literally finished Tenet yesterday. This actually makes way too much sense in the context of the movie (the movie is about moving backwards and forwards through time at the same time)

[@RobWords]

I'm going to have to watch it, aren't I?

[@seancotterman2584]

@@RobWords omg absolutely!!! It's a palindromists dream. Very cool concept.

[@Passacaglia43]

I’m a particular fan of the French, “Ésope reste ici et se repose,” “Æsop remains here and rests.” I like especially how the pivot point in the palindromic word “ici”-“here”-which helps you situate yourself.

[@lindacanfield4453]

That was the most fun video! Thank you for your research to entertain us with that subject!

[@JFBassett2050]

Rob: Always good stuff!

[@hazelanderson1479]

“Never odd or even” is my favourite. Slightly off topic, we used to have a small round shallow baking tin with COOKIE impressed in the metal. If you looked either at the outside or inside, it read the same way.

[@dams0001]

It will be fun to have a video on Spoonerisms - real ones and those concocted later. Many of the latter are quite ingenious, but some original ones are truly hard to beat in hilarity, like "You hissed my mystery lecture"!

[@alanr4447a]

You have tasted two worms.

[@helendale7668]

A long time ago there was a "Two Ronnies" sketch (BBC , 70's) where the wife of Mr Spooner (who spoke in nothing but but spoonerisms), finally broke down crying "I can't spoon any more standarisms!"

[@suzannepottsshorts]

Fitted sheets

[@zappababe8577]

"The Lord is a shoving leopard" "You have tasted two worms!" (You have wasted two terms)

[@georgefrost6840]

For wealth and hellness

[@judih.8754]

I love this stuff. Such clever bits of information!

[@SPQSpartacus]

The Finnish comedy group Alivaltiosihteeri has been making weekly palindromes for decades now. Finnish is a very wordplay-friendly language.

[@zapre2284]

I used to have a phone number that was a pallindrome .....the fact it was the landline number of a house I lived in as a kid over 30 years ago, proves how memorable it was.

[@stevelknievel4183]

'Madam, I'm Adam' can be extended to 'Madam, in Eden, I'm Adam'. Also, in The Simpsons episode 'They Saved Lisa's Brain', the Comic Book Guy comes out with 'Rise to vote, sir' during a meeting of the Springfield chapter of Mensa.

[@gary.h.turner]

And, of course, Eve replied with her own palindromic name: "Eve."

[@TradingHappy]

@@gary.h.turner And the snake said Tut, tut! Saw a fun illustration of this decades ago that got me interested in palandromes.

[@octopus_72]

"Eve, mad Adam, Eve!"

[@NidusFormicarum]

My favourite in Swedish - in my mother tongue (I've never been on her tongue) - is "Tre pur nakna demoner ilade på pedal i Reno med ankan Rupert." meaning "Three stark naked demons rushed by pedaling in Reno with the duck Rupert." I like to create my owns. This one for example is my own composition: "Tolkare av öst tar era namn. Aror anmanar er att söva era klot." meaning "Interpreters of the East take your names. Macaws urge you to sedate your globes."

[@Algabatz]

Inte att förglömma: Adolf i Paris rapar sirap i Floda (Svenska Mad)

[@howler6490]

You can sedate my globes anytime...wow!

[@LupeFenrir]

Wow, Ni talar bra latin!

[@tomadams2319]

I just watched this. Hilarious, one of your best ever!

[@studio6584]

This is great, thank you Rob. FYI Otto is the Otto cycle which describes the workings of a typical internal combustion engine, named after Nicolaus Otto. Meantime, I once wrote a musical on an elaborate version of the Hare and Tortoise story, and had a character standing in the middle of the stage dressed as a Speed Camera (to catch the Hare speeding, of course), which looked both ways and spoke in palindromes, e.g. "A Toyota's a Toyota" and so on. Great fun to write her lines, and it sparked a while new generation of palindrome nerds - including me.

[@Karlmessner]

If you don’t know, Weird Al Yankivic does a song in the voice of Bob Dylan where he lists ,many long palindromes like “Lisa Bonet ate no basil” he song is called “Bob” of course

[@Karlmessner]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIa0da2ga7dmppY

[@ericharris76]

Well, that saves me having to mention it. But I still can provide the link. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIa0da2ga7dmppY

[@stevetournay6103]

One of my favourite Weird Al Yankovic songs is called "BOB". It consists entirely of Al, decked out as Bob Dylan and, er, singing in the same manner, cranking out a couple dozen palindromes which he holds out in front of him on cards. It's hilarious.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

He also makes the song rhyme.

[@jitagan]

"Go hang a salami. I'm a lasagna hog" is my favorite mentioned in that song.

[@w.reidripley1968]

Yet another bit of Weird Al chowhounding. He must have considerable self discipline to stay as trim as he does.

[@pamr.429]

Yes, I love that song! Every line is a distinct palindrome, even the title! It's one of his style parodies, parodying the style of an artist, rather than a particular song.

[@levyleh]

Omg I just found your channel an absolutely love these videos!

[@almightyhydra]

There's a Korean song called "rokkugo" (which is the word for "backwards" backwards) where each line is a palindrome. It contains very strange lyrics as you might imagine, such as "dear, I don't see the glasses" and "the watermelon claps".

[@RoaldvdM]

I had to look it up :-) Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak!! Ah, there's a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot!! All so pretty, pretty, pretty Dear, do you see that over there? Dear, I can't see the glasses A bar's beer keg, give enough rice wine It's all telepathy, kiss kiss kiss! Ah I like it, I like it! The watermelon claps! Let's sing it again! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak!! Are you going where you're going? Sunday Swiss~ Fix it fix it, soft soft soft! Ah I like it, I like it! The watermelon claps! Let's sing it again! Backwards yesterday, backwards today Everything is spinning backwards Tomorrow has to come! Happiness' clock is spinning and ticking!! Tick tick tick 1 2 3 4 5 6 GO! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak!! Rap) ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Ping! From bottom to top, front back to front, Everything is backwards, rokkuko! Grandpa, grandma; mister, woman People of all ages and gender, tada Everything is backwards, rokkuko!! Are you coming back after leaving Did you leave as you were coming out? Sons and daughters have grown, these daughters! The stars look the same, looking like stars! Let's just keep dreaming! Marriage possessions of a gypsy's husbands house All becoming soybean paste soup! Ah I like it, I like it! The watermelon claps! Let's sing it again! Backwards yesterday, backwards today Everything is spinning backwards Tomorrow has to come! Happiness' clock is spinning and ticking!! Tick tick tick 1 2 3 4 5 6 GO! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak!! Ah, I like it, I like it! The watermelon claps! Let's sing it again! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Rokkuko! Speak, speak!!

[@deewesthill1213]

A long time ago i thought up a palindrome that I've never seen mentioned in books of written lists. "Evil, a side to news we noted, is alive." (Of course the commas are not palindromic.) I've thought up plenty of others, most of which didn't make much sense. I always try to make palindromes at times such as waiting in line. It helps pass the time.

[@coenisgreat]

My favourite palindromes are from the They Might Be Giants song 'I Palindrome I', looking up which brought me here. The lyrics feature palindromes of different varieties, some more abstract than others, including most of the sets of notes, and making reference to the ouroborus. But my favourite is the bridge of the song, which simply goes; "Son I am able, oh you scare me, watch, said I, beloved I said watch me scare you, oh said she, able am I, Son." Not the most sensical line in the world, but I love how it's played and sounds.

[@nantsuu]

That bridge is a rare example of the full word palindrome! The letters backwards and forwards are different but the words are the same both ways around.

[@Ashebrethafe]

@@nantsuu I've seen an even longer one: "'America to ship a man to Mars' -- from 'Things of Tomorrow'. Intention, perhaps, but perhaps intention tomorrow of things from Mars to man a ship to America!"

[@hensleydodson5733]

SHE SAID* oh you scare me

[@sakureon]

The palindrome "A dog! A panic in a pagoda!" lives in my head rent free.

[@jimbrown5552]

Thanks again for sharing

[@mfC0RD]

Just out of curiosity, the most famous palindrome sentence in Portuguese is "socorram-me, subi no ônibus em Marrocos", which means "help me, I got on the bus in Morocco". Great video, as always!

[@RobWords]

Love it Marcos! Thanks

[@arthurhenriqued.a.ribeiro2078]

Along with "a torre da derrota" and "anotaram a data da maratona"

[@PiterKeo]

My favorite Portuguese palindrome is "me vê se a panela da moça é de aço, Madalena Paes, e vem" (check for me whether the girl's cooking pot is of steel, Madalena Paes, and come".

[@charlytaylor1748]

@@PiterKeo How about in Spanish (which doesn't lend itself to palindromes) "Dábale arroz a la zorra el abád" - the abbot gave rice to the vixen

[@hankvandenakker4271]

I WAS JUST GOING TO WRITE THAT, BUT READ THE COMMENTS FIRST.

[@samueltaunton7566]

"Reviled did I live, evil I did deliver." That's another with the spacing the same backwards!

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

6:51 As soon as I saw the title of this video, I wondered not if but when you'd introduce Georges Perec. It is worth noting that Perec was one of the most distinguished honourable member of the Oulipo ("OUvroir de LIttérature POtentielle" or 'Workshop of Potential Literature') which continually and persistently works on all possible sorts of linguistically (and mathematically challenging endeavours of all forms and shapes. And incidentally, Perec is my favourite French writer.

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

That was fun. Thanks for sharing.

[@Norgust]

Fun fact: palindromes are literally in our genes. Many DNA sequences in our genome are palindromes as they make for improved binding with proteins. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindromic_sequence

[@ultralowspekken]

Considering how, when explained to children in schools, there are only 2 combinations of characters possible, out of 4 characters in any order, for a total of 4 different combinations, given they might be completely randomized, there are high chances that our DNA's bindings would result in palindromic sequences. This is actually you finding a pattern where there isn't any. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia (Of course take this as a joke. It's interesting what you pointed out :) )

[@bed3353]

@@ultralowspekken I was concerned until I read the end

[@spencereades]

"Madam, I'm Adam" was actually only the second palindrome spoken by Adam. The first was immediately after he saw Eve and exclaimed "Wow!"

[@ralkadde]

Here is an example from German. A pillar (of a building) with a relief is a relief pillar or "Reliefpfeiler". which is the same thing written backwards.

[@lucasfmusic5684]

it annoys me that “palindrome” is not palindromic

[@marialeotta2973]

Thanks for this video, it brought me great joy, consider me a new subscriber! I once wrote a small collection of palindromic haiku poems for a friend - it was a strange form of self torture but I did also quite enjoy the challenge We were always vaguely disappointed that "palindrome" as a word was not, in fact, a palindrome at all... My favourite single word palindrome is NOON (because it has rotational symmetry when all in caps AND if you write it in lowercase (font dependent) you potentially have a mirror symmetry too... once you rid the "n" of its stem)

[@jake6112]

I'm rather sad I've already run out of videos from your channel only a day after I discovered you. Great content, Rob! I've always been fascinated by etymology and linguistics and you cover some excellent topics.

[@andreasboe4509]

Watch the channel of Jay Foreman from Map Men

[@emilian0e]

Cry about it🖕🖕

[@ThorsteinnK]

Can I just say that you sir are absolutely hilarious!

[@GameyRaccoon]

I like this channel! subscribing

[@johnblaiklock702]

"In chemistry a salt is a compound of a metal and a non-metal." There you are - a perfectly legitimate use of 'a salt'.

[@mal2ksc]

And "I rolled a ten" is something fairly commonly heard at the gaming table.

[@beardymanthings]

It's apt that palin meant "back again", everytime Michael Palin returned to somewhere he's travelled before they'd say "Palin's back again". (I'm so sorry for that, so called, joke). Stumbled across your channel yesterday, I'm about 20 videos in now. Great channel 👍👍

[@randybugger3006]

I wish I could give more than one thumbs up. This is so awesome.

[@_fedmar_]

In my opinion, the Sator square is, well, a linguistic joke. A fun little "game" that spread through Europe beacause it was, well, interesting! The translation I was taught is along the lines of "the farmer Arepo holds the wheel laboriously."

[@Ilikebunnies-metoo]

One of my favorite palindromes is from a comic called Mother Goose and Grimm: "put Eliot's toilet up" 😂😂😂 I have no idea in which other context I would ever use this, but it is nevertheless entirely amusing.

[@RobWords]

It's perfect 👏

[@irzaalishah]

My favourite one is “Never odd or even”

[@verstrahlt1907]

very interesting; especially the: 4-direction & spinning.

[@MediKiller1]

what a fun it was to see all those palindromes and symmetrical words. I loved the first one with napolen, because the spacing was the same. SUPER impressiv the latin 4 way palindrome was a brainf*** for me. had to read it multiple times to confess myself it is really quaternary palindrom and now I really want to watch tenet :D

[@kellyp2955]

This is the best channel i have discovered recently! Thank you for lowering my stress levels while educating me at the same time, i love your content!

[@RobWords]

Aw, thanks a lot Kelly! Glad you like it.

[@feralbluee]

It’s always fun and a pleasure to watch your videos, because you smile. you have a wonderful expression. there’s another British fellow who talks about pronunciations, but he’s soo very serious you’d think he was explaining brain surgery. and frankly, he’s depressing and hard to watch. thank you for being you! :) 🌹🌱 Oh! i just love the word “kayak”, which is probably a Tinglet, or Alaskan Native American word. 🚣🏿‍♂️

[@berniceporter8839]

Rob you are the most adorable nerd Ive ever had the pleasure of encountering on the internet... please never change... and thank you for all the cool info on the most ridiculous language on the planet!

[@davidrichardson2856]

My favorite palindrome is the song UFO TOFU by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Sounds the same forwards and backwards, it’s incredible.

[@KathrinePandell]

I'm so happy that I found your channel! I put your videos on for my students as "break time". Might make them find palindromes as a fun excercise on Tuesday.

[@RobWords]

Wonderful! Let me know if they come up with anything genius.

[@nothombium]

Great video!!

[@tigristhelynx7224]

You cracked me up during the different languages segment, the German one was hilarious. So fun!

[@aidanramage3320]

love your channel bro, you definitely need more subsribers

[@DaeBenesse]

Really enjoy your content! Have you considered doing a video on homonyms, homophones, synonyms, etc.? It would be interesting to explore how one word came to have several meanings and vise-versa.

[@RobWords]

This is a great idea. I'll add it to the list!

[@howler6490]

Add " aptronyms", they can be hilarious...

[@afischer8327]

@@howler6490 Just found them, trying not to laugh too loudly. And inaptronyms, the ironic variant. My favourites are Eugenius Outerbridge (aptronym), namesake of the Outerbridge Crossing, the outermost bridge between New York and New Jersey; Jaime Sin (inaptronym), Catholic prelate, later Cardinal Sin, and I.C. Notting, who is, of course, an opthalmologist.

[@dextrowim]

In Dutch the longest 1 word palindrome is "Koortsmeetsysteemstrook" (litterally Fever Measuring System Strip), those were little strips you could put on somebody forehead and the color would indicate if there is a fever...

[@HTMLbrowser]

The book titled "Opperlandse Taal- En Letterkunde" has a nice list of Dutch palindromes.

[@rat_mikey]

I love emordnilaps and I love how that word is just a neologism that somebody just made up and everyone ran with it. But my favorite _palindrome_ will always be, "Rats live on no evil star." I learned that one in elementary school and it's just stuck with me forever.

[@markpolo97]

Weird Al has a song made up completely of palindromes: "Bob" has gems like "I, man, am regal. A German am I", "Naomi, I moan", "A Toyota's a Toyota". It's in the style of Bob Dylan, of course, complete with harmonica solo.

[@markb1170]

High-quality content and super interesting topics. Finally the youtube algorithm got it right! Never thought twice about subscribing. Looking forward to your next videos. :)

[@aravindsr]

Got to know about the connection between the Pompeii square and Tenet movie...boy, that movie is insane...there are so many things in it and they just keeps unfolding as time passes!

[@johnphilipduckworth1218]

"A favourite French primary school teacher Msr Laroujatelle (1960) introduced me to the concept /genre with 'rats live on no evil star.' Very satisfying"

[@saldada8870]

Your Channel is very interesting, and it always teaches me something new!

[@bamboolaceway]

I've been a cashier in retail, and to keep from being bored, I notice palindromes in our displays, and also in people's final cost. I get interesting reactions from people when I say, "your total is $19.61, (or $112.11, or etc.) which is a palindrome." Common reactions include 1. confusion then surprise, 2. a WOW! moment of understanding or 3. just ignoring me. BTW I also play a game at times when the total is less than $19.00 and I say, "same as the year I was born!" You'd be surprised how few people will say, "What?! You were born in 1900?" Most people it's just Swish!

[@rogen8094]

That's awesome! I was never that clever; though sometimes I'd randomly say "Ah, that was a good year!" for a 4 digit total. The funniest was a lady whose total came up to $6.66 and she immediately scrambled to add another item to change the total!

[@lordk12]

Fun fact: in Spanish, palindrome numbers are called "capicúa", which comes from the catalan "cap i cua", meaning head and tail.

[@bamboolaceway]

@@lordk12 Thanks for sharing! I've often wondered if there is a word in English for palindromic numbers, or if there is a special word for palindromes that are the same when you flip them upside down.

[@ayaaldeeb6153]

Wow, you have attractive way of explaining, thanks alot 😩🌹🌹🌹🌹👏👏

[@angreagach]

Someone may very well have pointed this out already, but the word "desserts," which you mention as the reverse of the word, "stressed," a semordnilap (a word or phrase that forms a different word or phrase when spelled backwards), is used in the palindrome "Desserts I desire not, so long no lost one rise distressed." (I didn't make that up, I'm glad to say.)