Palindromes

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Dinosaur, Jan 14, 2014.

  1. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    snug guns

    regal lager

    loot tool

    sore Eros

    sleek keels

    wall law

    Emil's lime

    smug gums

    laid a dial

    Roman Namor

    raw war

    Ragu sugar

    You there! That's their ewe!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 1, 2014
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  3. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    relaid 1 dialer / drab bard / Emil slime / emits time / date Tad / emo home / Mars ram / reed deer / redder / Star did rats / flesh self / Eva's save / gold log / drown word / Ned's den / poor droop / sage gas / snot tons / Kool look / Dub's deeds, Bud. / slap pals /
     
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  5. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Murder for a jar of red rum / Do geese see God? / Some men interpret nine memos. / Dog saw I was god. / Too bad. I hid a boot. / Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak. / Don't nod. / Stressed on no desserts. / ////////////////// Please me by standing by me, please. / King, are you glad you are king? / You can cage a swallow, can't you but you can't swallow a cage, can you?
     
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  7. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    You still don't grasp the concept. Palindromes are supposed to be entertaining. The only one in that list that is actually amusing is "regal lager." A couple of the others, such as "sleek keel," might get a chuckle out of a few readers (although not me). The rest are just intellectual exercises that are more fun for the creator than the reader. The one about the ewe requires so much work that it sucks all the fun out of it.

    This is even worse! What the heck are "relaid 1 dialer," "Emil slime," "star did rats," "drown word" and "sage gas" supposed to even mean? These look like they were created by a computer!

    Okay, those two are finally somewhat amusing. But the rest, once again, look like computer-generated.

    To repeat myself: the dictionary may define that as a palindrome, but there is absolutely no way it can be described as entertainment.

    I can see that you get immense pleasure out of building these things. But please understand that something that is fun to create is not necessarily fun for someone else to read.

    There are a million garage bands out there that don't understand this principle either.

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  8. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    I agree with Fraggle. What's the point of stringing avline of nonsense together? While technically such is a palindrome, who cares?

    So, IMHO 'a man, a plan, a canal--Panama' is a memorable and witty palindrome, while, 'a dog, a plan, a canal--pagoda' is, if you'll pardon me, doggerel.

    Here's a little quiz. Choose the 'good' palindrome:


    (A) Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak.


    (B) Tulsa night life: filth, gin, a slut.
     
  9. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    I've read about palindromes for a very long time & never heard of any rules until now except, of course, for the definition which is something which is the same backward & forward. The OP indicated only that this is a thread for posting palindromes & that is what I'm doing. If you want to impose some rules on this thread, you should state them clearly & completely. I cannot read your mind. Neither you nor I have any way to know how entertaining they are to each person reading this. I understand that something that is fun to create is not necessarily fun for someone else to read & there is nothing here to support your assumption that I don't. I posted some unusual palindromes that people might not otherwise be exposed to. I had no way of knowing they needed to meet your approval. I (supposedly) STILL don't understand a concept which was not mentioned until now??? How the heck does that work???
     
  10. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    What is the frigging point of objecting to someone posting palindromes in a thread intended for posting palindromes.
     
  11. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    1,353
    Ah! But we do. Two ways: a sense of aesthetics and a sense of humor. Apologies for not mentioning to you until now that such things exist. So, you really had no idea?
     
  12. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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  13. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    1,353
    Good one, Bob.
     
  14. Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

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    The Y chromosome, it's my favorite.

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  15. KitemanSA Registered Senior Member

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    I was under the impression that palindromes needed to have the letters reversible, not just the words. So how is "you can gage.... cage, can you" a palindrome?
     
  16. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    You can't place a question mark at the beginning of a sentence.
     
  17. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    If you look back at post #38 someone is calling that of which you ask, 'a mirror function'. I agree with you that it isn't strictly a palindrome, but it's good fun just the same.
    You can is Spanish.

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  18. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I'm not imposing rules. You guys can post whatever you want so long as it doesn't violate any of SciForums' rules.

    I'm here to teach. The entire purpose of a palindrome is to amuse people. The majority of the ones that have been posted here are NOT amusing. They require a fair amount of work, and many are nearly arbitrary combinations of words that don't have any clear meaning and merely satisfy the technical definition of "palindrome." If you want to be a humorist, an entertainer, you have to make people laugh, or generate some other positive emotion like nostalgia or affection. "Too bad, I hid a boot," doesn't do that. Neither does, "Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak."

    "Madam, I'm Adam," does. So does, "Tulsa night life: filth, gin, a slut."

    Oh be serious! Did you really think that ANYBODY was going to laugh at "laid a dial" or "Ragu sugar"??? Those nearly random word combinations don't even make sense!

    They do not need to meet my approval. I'm simply offering some information about palindromes. Since you seem to enjoy creating them, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to make them more entertaining so your work will be appreciated.

    The concept that the point of any sort of word game is to entertain people? That needs to be explained???

    The dictionary offers a more expansive definition of "palindrome." It can even apply to a sequence of numbers. And the dictionary definition does not require that the result be amusing.

    Suppose we're writing in Japanese, Cherokee, or one of the Indic languages, that uses a syllabary. (Each symbol represents a consonant-vowel combination.) I'm sure a person who knows the language could create some very entertaining palindromes.

    Or one of the Semitic languages--or any language in the Afro-Asiatic family (Berber, Hebrew, Amharic, Phoenician, ancient Egyptian, etc.) in which vowels are not phonemic so they're not written. Put a string of consonants together, then read it backward, and it's very likely that you won't even use the original vowels. And it could be quite amusing.

    Also an exclamation point. But the one in front is always upside down.

    ¿Dónde?

    ¡Bravo!
     
  19. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    You are not here to teach me. I thought you are here to moderate. If someone other than you were doing this, I would ask you if you would put an end to it so we can post palindromes in peace. Amusing people is not the entire purpose of palindromes. Where do you get that crap. You are not the supreme judge of what is & is not entertaining. 1st you accuse me of breaking some rules you made up because I want to appear clever yet now you complain some palindromes are too difficult to figure out. No, I do not need you to explain anything about palindromes to me. My point was that you said I still do not understand something you had not mentioned which does not make any sense. I never indicated I want to be a humorist & such is not required to cite or construct palindromes or to share them. This is ridiculous. Again, I was posting palindromes in a thread which the OP indicated posting palindromes with no hint of any rules except that they are palindromes. All this negativity toward valid palindromes does not accomplish anything. Why can't we all just post palindromes & get along.
     
  20. KitemanSA Registered Senior Member

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    624
    Immaterial. A question mark is not a letter, it is punctuation, and punctuation doesn't count in a palindrome.
    Besides, you can put a question mark at the head of a sentence and many cultures do.
     
  21. KitemanSA Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    624
    Actually I found the "Kay" one slightly amusing. It makes for an interesting mental image.
     
  22. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    As I noted earlier, it is a different character, an inverted question mark, that is placed at the beginning of a question in Spanish.

    ¿Comprende Vd.? ¡Yo pienso que sí!

    But yes, considering that palindromes virtually depend on ignoring the placement of spaces between the words, surely all other punctuation is similarly ignored.
     
  23. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    4,885
    While it is an English sentence & Napoleon only spoke French, the following is the best example of a palindrome that I have ever seen.
     

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