Jillian Chantal

I’ve always been considered a word smith- people even made that comment before I came out of the writing closet. I just love words. They make me happy and I like to learn new meanings all the time.  I can sometimes be found under a shade tree reading the unabridged Oxford Dictionary with a cabana boy fanning me –

(PFFFT! That part’s hogwash).   

Truthfully, I’m a palindrome fan. A palindrome is a word or phrase that can be read the same way frontwards and backwards. The most famous one of course is a Napoleon quote: Able was I ere I saw Elba.  I wonder how long he had to think to come up with that. Or did it  just flow right out of his brain and out of his lips?  It is  an appropriate quote, isn’t it? He was quite the able general until he was exiled to Elba.  (and that’s not Elba, Alabama, baby!) Or is it just an urban legend that he actually said those words? I don’t have a clue except that it has always been attributed to him.

Female names are also fun palindromes: Hannah, Emme, Eve. More fun palindromes are parents’ names: dad, mom, pop.  There are lots of these words in the English language.  What about racecar?  Bob, tot, level, redder, etc., I could go on but you get the drift. These are fun to think about. 

There’s a kid’s book on Amazon.com that’s cute.  Check it out:  The title itself is a palindrome.  Leave a comment in the comments section and see if you can think of a palindrome I haven’t heard.

There is also a thing called a semordnilap- which is palindrome spelled backward – it is a word that spells something else backwards.  As in desserts and stressed.  Wow your friends with that at your next gathering. I promise, I don’t make this stuff up, really!