So, what’s a palindrome?

Well, it’s a

backwards/forwards thing. In fact, it’s about words (or groups of words) that

read the same both forwards or backwards. The word comes from the Greek meaning

“back” or “running,” according to grammarly.com.

Words and phrases can be

palindromes. Some are quite funny and nonsensical. Others have apparently been

used in magic spells. The Harry Potter booksinclude a lot of “wordplay,” especially with names. For example, the name of Hagrid’sevil twin is Dirgah Hagrid – a palindrome. Here are a few more examples of wordpalindromes:

Madam, in Eden, I’m Adam. (Join the letters when going backwards)

Borrow or rob?

You get the picture. But

there are also palindrome numbers, and that’s where Palindrome Week comes in.

This year, every day for ten days in a row is a palindrome. This is using the U.S. format of month-day-year. So, here goes:

[naviga:ul]

[naviga:li]9-10-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-11-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-12-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-13-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-14-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-15-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-16-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-17-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-18-19[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]9-19-19[/naviga:li]

[/naviga:ul]

Palindrome Weeks are not

as unusual as you might think. In fact, every year since 2011 there have been

ten consecutive Palindrome Days. Can you figure those out?

So, palindromic numbers

stay the same, backwards and forwards. One example is 16461. Palindromes also

pop up in computer programming – for example in C programmes and in Java. This

is where it gets technical, with palindrome “strings” of words and numbers.

So, if you love playing

with numbers or words – or both – palindromes are fun. But they can make your

head spin.

Happy Palindrome Week…hope your great-great-great-great grandkids enjoy the next one too.