WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Palindromes 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.440 Hello, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.520 there's Chuck. And I said hello with a silent h 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.040 at the end, which means I just said something in palindrome. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.560 I love palindromes, as it turns out, Yeah, I do too, 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.360 and I think it's fat. The one that gets me 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:25.759 is when somebody's like, this number is a palindrome. I 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.000 just wrote it out. I don't get that, like that 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.120 doesn't count. Maybe if it's a date or something that 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.040 you don't have any control over, then yeah, be a palindrome. 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.640 But just anybody who's into numbers that are palindromes, be quiet, 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.680 Be quiet, once and for all. Yeah, I'm glad you 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.200 said that, because this article, even from how stuff works 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.440 dot com, says some numbers are palindromes, like one eight 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.960 zero zero eight one right, like that, I just wrote 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:54.200 out any number exactly. That's how we're talking about. We're 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.240 not going to give another breath to that stupidness. Instead, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.200 we're gonna talk about real palindromes, which is a word, 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.360 a phrase, a poem. Even as we'll see um that 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:08.520 can be said the same forwards or backwards. And apparently 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.840 it comes from a little bit of Greek who like 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:16.640 the palindromes. Yes, the word palin means back or again, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.000 and dromos means running or moving, so it's a word 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.000 or phrase that's running back on itself. And I'm even 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.720 gonna go so far for me as to say I 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:31.800 only like palindromes that are literal, the letters backwards and forwards, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.360 like they make the case in here, like some phrases 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:39.000 like night after night. I'm like, now, well, we'll talk 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.560 about that in a second. Okay, okay, I prefer that 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.920 as well. I like the I like the the letters 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.920 back and forth, and that's that. But I will say 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.200 my eyes were open to that by this article. Fair enough, 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.840 So the first palindrome, like I said, the Greeks liked it. Actually, 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.400 it turns out the Romans did. But the Romans model 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.480 a lot of their society, if not all of it, 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.200 on the ancient Greeks, so it's possible they ripped them off, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.320 and that the Romans just happened to be the first 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.239 ones to mention it. But the first palindrome comes from 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.840 seventy c. E Um and it's in Latin. Chuck, do 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.399 you want to take a crack at it? Storrepo tenant 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:26.320 opera rotas, you just turned me into a tree. It 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.160 doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what it's saying in Latin, 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.440 like we Americans say all Latin, like we're in a 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:37.320 Harry Potter movie. Yeah, like Evil Dead Klatto verata, that's 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:41.320 a Day to the Earth. It's still, Yes, it is. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.960 It's the Evil Dead, my friend. Then they stole it 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.080 from the Day of the Earth, said still, because that 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.519 is the I don't even remember what it was. Yeah, 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.160 that's from the Day of the Earth's still, I promise. Well, 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.640 then they ganked it in Evil Dead, which is better. 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.200 I think it was more in homage probably, Okay, but 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:01.880 to hear it come out of Bruce Campbell's mouth, is 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.320 that's the money shot. I mean, they really went off 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.320 the rails on those movies. Yeah, they're making another one, 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.919 I think when I don't know, like a Bruce Campbell one, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.320 like a sequel to Army of Dark's Boy, that's going 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.720 to be great. You can't wait. Okay, So what did 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.360 that um? That palindrome you said mean it means the 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.160 sower Rabo holds the wheel with effort, or the sower 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.280 Arabo leads with his hands with his hand the plow. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.520 Nothing that matters at all to any of us alive today. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.840 But I'm sure back in the day the Romans were 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.640 like that is everyone really spoke to me, you know 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.040 what I mean. But it goes to show that, like 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.200 word play has been around for almost as long as words. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.280 You know, yeah and chuck, um, it wasn't just the 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.760 ancient Romans who were into it, that that love of 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.600 it has survived. And I say we pick up with 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.120 the modern day after taking a short break. What do 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:22.440 you think let's do it? Okay, all right, we're back 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:28.400 by modern day of course, I mean the sixteen thirties. Yeah. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.200 The first mention of palindromes in English is in Camden's 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:37.839 Remains by John philipot from six. Palindrums are those where 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.080 the syllables are same backward and forward. So all blatta 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:47.720 at alba see new me in mounis very nice, which 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:52.560 means secluded but pure. Give me my fee and I 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:58.080 warrant you free, okay, which is great that you have 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.560 a palindrome that also rhymes, because that's not necessarily part 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.680 and parcel with it. Um. Philip HoTT was just showing off. 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.479 But you'll note that he's an English speaker and he 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.080 wrote an English speaking book, Camden's Remains, but it was 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.440 still in Latin, hence the whole clattoo verada tone to 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.880 Chuck's reading of it. It's not until seventeen o six 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:24.440 that we find the first written English palindrome in an 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.240 English dictionary called the New World of Words or Universal 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:33.520 English Dictionary. And this is as follows, lewd did I live? 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.240 And evil did I dwell? Yeah, there's there's a couple 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.760 of problems with it. One, they had to drop off 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.279 the second l and dwell to make it the reverse 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.200 of lud. And then there's also the whole and in 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.520 the middle of it, which does not part of a palindrome. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.599 It's not a palindrome itself, and it kind of screws 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.479 up the whole palindrome. But because it was the beginning 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.800 of the eighteenth century, everybody kind of chose to overlook 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.320 the and part. That's right. Uh, then we can skip 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:06.960 the part about numbers being palindromes because that's just rage inducing. Well, no, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:11.120 the date makes sense, so one is a palindrome. January 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.599 was a palindrome day fourth mentioning you know, we'll take that, 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.800 but give me your eye opening with the thing like 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.320 night after night, which just sort of makes me mad too. 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.680 So there's a there's a really neat poem that I 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.039 hadn't heard of until um I ran across it in 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:32.279 this article by James A. Linden called Doppelganger, and it 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:37.920 is itself a palindrome like where you can actually um 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.600 read it from. You could go to the very end 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.040 and read it, or you can go to the beginning 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.919 to read it, and it's going to be the same. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.800 So you don't read the actual words, but like the 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.080 word itself backwards, but you read the order of the 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.440 words backwards and forwards, and the whole thing hinges on. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.840 Um the phrase night after night, which is pretty a 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.560 pretty awesome poem to tell you the truth. Let me 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.960 just read you the middle part where it hinges, and 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:09.080 I think you'll be properly blown away. Okay. I puzzled 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.880 over it, hiding alone, watching the woman as she neared 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.760 the gate. He came and I saw him crouching, night 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.840 after night. Night after night he came, and I saw 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.680 him crouching, watching the woman as she neared the gate. 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.880 I puzzled over it, hiding alone, and it's just like 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.480 the poem starts out and then it gets to night 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.560 after night and then goes back. It's like it's swings 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.040 on a hinge. It's really neat. I like it. I 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.280 like it too. It's not one of your perfect, proper 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.960 palin drums or anything, but it's still pretty cool. So 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.720 here's my thing is, I started kind of diving into 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.960 this online and found out that there a is a 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:49.560 documentary called The Palindromists, which I didn't watch, but I 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.000 did watch the trailer, which was fun enough and kind 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.960 of gave me enough inside in two minutes. That sounds 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.040 like a crew that Hodgeman would hang out with, probably 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:04.160 so um. But it covered in part the Palindrome Championships, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.360 which is basically where they get palindrome enthusiast together at 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.520 a hotel ballroom and they say, you've got nine. They 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.880 have three constraints. They didn't mention the constraints in the trailer. Uh, 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:18.040 you have ninety minutes to write out original palindromes and 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:22.480 then the audience alive audience votes and weird Owl is 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.920 in it. He's a palindromist. Um. Uh. Danika mckeller Winnie 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.560 from one of years is one. You know she wrote 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.520 like a science or no, a math book. Well do 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.559 you know what? She also wrote? What tons of UFO snot? 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.679 What is that? It's a palindrome? Oh that's a good one. Okay, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:48.559 weird al wrote this one Suzy rat in a sanitary zoo. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.120 That's so Dana wins so far. My deal with these 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.960 is once I started kind of seeing this community is 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.000 not only do I love a palindrome, but I like 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.080 an original one that someone can invent that kind of 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.760 makes sense and it's not just a collection of words 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:11.600 like do geese? See god? Yeah, that makes sense? It does. Uh. 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.679 Here was another one from the documentary Gerda Boston's i 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:20.600 Q is not so bad? Reg h, that's a good one. Wow, 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:26.800 who'ss that? Just a contestant? No one famous Lloyd Benson. Sure, okay, 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.760 let's see how about um I got another one? Uh 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.760 go deliver a dare vile dog. That's a good one. 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.760 It doesn't make sense, but it's pretty great. Well, and 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.800 by makes sense. It just it's a sentence and not 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:45.200 just a collection of words. What about don't nod it's perfect? 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.920 Or taco cat the classic taco cat. Taco cats good 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.520 or there's another one with the cat too. Was it 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.720 a car or a cat? I saw, that's a good one. 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.760 I've got another one from that trailer. Mr owl ate my, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.760 it'll worm. Okay, what else? And then go hang a salami? 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:10.360 I'm a lasagna hog. Who's this? That? That was a 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.640 guy named John A g Um but just the sheer joy. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.160 These these are sort of like um uh crossword puzzle enthusiasts, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.080 like just people who really get into words. Uh. And 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:22.720 I just couldn't get enough of it. I'm gonna try 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.200 and find the whole documentary. UM. I did see in 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.800 February two two there was a computer scientist named Peter 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.320 Norvig who used a computer program to break the record 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:36.800 for the quote longest Balandrume sentence, which was seventeen thousand 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.680 plus words. It's just a computer program putting together a 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.360 bunch of words. Oh yeah, that doesn't count. And I see, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.920 I see, yeah, that's but they said that he's the 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:47.880 world record holder. And I was like, come on, man, 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.599 maybe in the future, but you know, John A. G 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:57.240 By the way, is um children's book author a beloved 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.560 one according to the Penguin Random House website. Very cool. 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.120 I also found. The longest word is a Finnish palindrome, 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.640 which has I think nineteen letters. S ai you well, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:16.400 I can't say it. Uh sapua kibikw ps. You just 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.760 converted me back into a boy. It's a dealer in 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:28.160 lie apparently, so okay, a lie seller, yeah, I think 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.320 so okay. Um. One last thing. Um always talked about 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.000 this guy that she dated that used to mess with people, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.920 and Um whenever palindromes came up, he'd said, yeah, my 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.880 favorite one is Penis sniper and just wait for them 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.080 to like go over in their head and they'd be like, wait, 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:48.440 this is not a palindrome, but you're sitting there thinking exactly. Yeah. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.280 I think this last one was pretty funny to me 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.040 just because it was well. Two of them, to me, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.920 are very funny because they're so basic. One is Stella 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.640 won no wallets, m M. It's a big wallet competition. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.559 And then this guy's like clearly a citrus street vendor. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.160 No lemon, no melon. But I like that one too. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.720 It's um. The word melon itself has a nice round 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.440 feeling to it. I love the word melon yeah, and 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.160 lemon too, just because it's evocative of that beautiful color too. Yeah, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.880 that might be my favorite one. Now. No lemon, no melon, Yeah, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.480 but I like how you say it as well. No lemon, 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:32.360 no melon, that's right, only pineapple. So we could probably 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.480 see here for the next two hours doing they should 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.320 we just cut this short. Well, we'll stop recording and 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:38.760 then you and I have just continue to do it 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.840 on our right, all right, all right, Well to the 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:42.920 rest of you, See you guys later. Because short stuff 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:48.520 is that stuff you should know is a production of 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.840 I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.720 the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:56.040 listen to your favorite shows.