Here's another one of those words, like yesterday, that is a word talking about a word or phrase. This time we have:
Palindrome: a word, verse, or sentence (as "Able was I ere I saw Elba"), or a number (as 2002) that reads the same backward or forward.
Palindrome comes from Greek palindromos, meaning "running back again," which itself is from palin ("back," "again") and dramein ("to run"). Nowadays, we appreciate a clever palindrome—such as "Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard" or "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama"—or even a simple one like "race car," but in the past palindromes were more than just smart wordplay. Some folks thought they were magical, and they carved them on walls or amulets for protection.
When I was in graduate school working on my masters in english, I had a class where our assignment was to make up palindromes. That was one of the better and entertaining classes I ever had. Thank you Dr. Klein!
