7 Palindromes That Will Make Your Head Hurt

Wednesday, August 72 min read

The next time you have to go to a boring event, challenge yourself to speak in palindromes! Palindromes are words or sentences that read the same backwards as they do forwards — a symmetrical collection of letters (excluding punctuation and spaces). Composing a palindrome is no easy feat — the longer, the harder. Here are a few prime examples that might hurt your brain, but they'll win you big-time conversational points.

Racecar

One word, seven letters

We're starting off small. The classic, one-word palindrome is appreciated by NASCAR fans everywhere.

Dammit, I’m mad

Three words, 11 letters

This is one of the internet’s favorite palindromes. It's a pure expression of frustration, either backwards or forwards.

Never odd or even

Four words, 14 letters

Another classic, but this palindrome just might send you down an existential tangent.

Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas

Five words, 31 letters

Just because it's the same forward and backward doesn't mean it has to make sense, as in this abstract request for the devil himself. Are metallic sonatas a metaphor? Is the speaker referring to the oscillations of the sonatas’ soundwaves? We may never know.

Marge lets Norah see Sharon’s telegram

Six words, 31 letters

Did we miss this palindromic storyline on The Simpsons? Marge is betraying Sharon but letting Norah get in on all the gossip.

Doc, note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.

Fourteen words, 52 letters

This palindrome might be as indecipherable as the doc's handwriting. It's interesting dietary advice from a patient who has taken nutrition into their own hands.

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, Bette, 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.

Sixty-three words, 263 letters

Sounds like a good party! It might look like a simple list of people who have sinned, but it is indeed a palindrome.

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