August 30, 2005

Mixed messages

So I was looking up "palindrome" in the online Columbia encyclopedia at bartleby.com for a boring reason, and the entry read, in full, "See anagram." Well, that's odd, I thought. So I went over to "anagram", and this is what it had to say about palindromes:

An anagram that reads the same backward as forward is a palindrome, e.g., “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”

Um...what? I guess that makes sense if we consider that any phrase can be anagrammed to spell itself.

Posted by Francis at 10:48 PM
Comments

That is most strange. Stranger is that only the encyclopedia seems to be remiss; the dictionaries and thesauri and fable dictionaries (?. !.) that are on Bartleby.com all give fine explanations of "palindrome" independent of "anagram." Maybe as of 2001 palindrome stopped enjoying independent status.

I generally trust Wikipedia with such inquiries, which is like totally weird, since Wikipedia is fly-by-night-user-created-and-vetted-which-means-you-really-have-no-idea-what-you're-getting, rather than written by real encyclopedia people. But hey, here's one example where it'd have given you a better answer, at least.

Posted by: polyglot conspiracy at August 30, 2005 11:37 PM

This may be a totally stupid question, but have you heard (seen the video) for the Weird Al song "Bob" (a sendup of Dylan and pailendromes all at once)?

I laughed till I almost peed and my family could not for the life of them understand what I thought was so funny, even after I explained it.

It is hard to live with an odd sense of what is funny.

Posted by: Scarff aka Rick at August 31, 2005 01:43 AM

That song is one of the most brilliant things Weird Al has ever done.

I am also inordinately fond of "It's All About the Pentiums".

Posted by: Francis at August 31, 2005 01:54 AM

But...but...but where's the anagram in "Able was I..."? The "ere" is in there just once. Doofuses.

Posted by: Orange at August 31, 2005 09:49 AM

Hm. Good point, Orange. I think the whole thing is supposed to be an anagram of itself? This whole thing confuses me.

Other songs about palindromes: "I, Palindrome, I" by TMBG and "Fake Palindromes" by Andrew Bird.

Posted by: polyglot conspiracy at August 31, 2005 11:09 AM

Ah, yes, TMBG. "I palindrome I. Man, o nam." Could there be any more sensible lyrics?

Posted by: Orange at August 31, 2005 06:16 PM

Don't forget Ookla the Mok's "Rats Live on No Evil Star."

Posted by: Fafner at September 1, 2005 10:45 PM