(WTAJ) — Inauguration Day 2021 was the first in American History to land on a palindrome date and the next one won’t be for 1,000 years on Jan. 20, 3021.
What is a palindrome? It’s a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward. For example: “racecar”, “no x in Nixon”, or “1.20.2021” which was inauguration day.
In 2021 we’ll see a 10-day stretch in January from the 20-29. In December we’ll see another nine-day stretch from Dec. 1-9.
A notable palindrome day was this century’s February 2, 2020, because this date is a palindrome regardless of the date format by country (yyyy-mm-dd, dd-mm-yyyy, or mm-dd-yyyy) used in various countries. This date has also been termed as a “Universal Palindrome Day”. Other universal palindrome days include 11/11/1111, the future 12/12/2121, and in a millennium 03/03/3030.
While the creation of palidromes isn’t known for certain, a Latin riddle that is believed to be from medieval times goes “”In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” (“we go in a circle at night and are consumed by fire”) describing the behavior of moths.
Famous palindromes include “madam I’m Adam” and “A man, a plan, a canal. Panama.” In 2003, Weird Al Yankovic released a song called “Bob.” Not only is the title a palindrome, but so is every line of the song.
Oh no, Don Ho
Nurse, I spy gypsies, run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees, I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God, a red nugget, a fat egg under a dog
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog
Excerpt from “Bob” by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic
“Palindromes,” ironically, is not a palindrome. Instead, palindromes is a “Semordnilap.” That’s palindromes spelled backward and is a name coined in 1961 for words that spell a different word in reverse.
According to Guinness World Records, the Finnish 19-letter word saippuakivikauppias (a soapstone vendor), is the world’s longest palindromic word in everyday use.
