Gearing up for Palindrome Week in April 2024: Fun Facts and More!

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h directions.</p><h2 id="ab5c">Some fun facts about palindromes!</h2><ol><li>The word palindrome has Greek roots. “Palin” means again, and “dromos” means way or direction.</li><li>Have you ever heard of the word “tattarrattat”? I hadn’t until I started researching for this article. It is the longest palindrome, originally written by James Joyce in the novel, “Ulysses” from 1922. It is a word meant to demonstrate the sound of knocking on a door.</li><li>Palindromic dates are rare and celebrated widely! “Depending on date formats, palindromic dates can be rare. Aziz S. Inan, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Portland, has calculated that in the mm-dd-yyyy format, Palindrome Days tend to occur only in the first few centuries of each millennium (1000 years). The last palindromic date in the second millennium (years 1001 to 2000) in this format was August 31, 1380 or 08–31–1380.” (Source: <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/date/palindrome-day.html#:~:text=There%20are%2012%20Palindrome%20Days,Days%20in%20the%20current%20century.">Timeanddate.com

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</a>).</li><li>Our fascination for palindromes dates all the way back to AD 79 in Campania, Italy, where the first palindromes were found as graffiti. (<a href="https://www.abc4.com/news/a-brief-history-of-palindromes/">Source: ABC4 News</a>)</li><li>Palindromes have varying and significant meanings across cultures and religions. What are some that you know of?</li><li>A palindrome can be a whole phrase! One of the more famous ones is: <b>a man, a plan, a canal — Panama!</b></li><li>According to Guinness World Records, the longest palindromic word is <i>saippuakivikauppias</i>,<i> </i>Finnish for a dealer in lye.</li></ol><h2 id="91d8">So when exactly are the palindromic dates in April 2024?</h2><p id="e9a3">The first one is 4/2/24 if you leave out the zero.</p><p id="9c81">But then, the fun begins with a Palindromic Week!</p><ul><li>4/20/24</li><li>4/21/24</li><li>4/22/24</li><li>4/23/24</li><li>4/24/24</li><li>4/25/24</li><li>4/26/24</li><li>4/27/24</li><li>4/28/24</li><li>4/29/24</li></ul><p id="f882" type="7">Sending positive vibes to all!</p></article></body>

Mark your calendars, friends!

First, you may wonder what a palindrome is. Second, why are they so interesting?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a palindrome is

a word, verse, or sentence (such as “Able was I ere I saw Elba”) or a number (such as 1881) that reads the same backward or forward

One of the first palindromes I learned as a kid was racecar, which is spelled the same, both forwards and backward. In numbers, a palindrome would be 12321. So when we look at dates, we are looking for numbers that would be the same in both directions.

Some fun facts about palindromes!

The word palindrome has Greek roots. “Palin” means again, and “dromos” means way or direction.

Have you ever heard of the word “tattarrattat”? I hadn’t until I started researching for this article. It is the longest palindrome, originally written by James Joyce in the novel, “Ulysses” from 1922. It is a word meant to demonstrate the sound of knocking on a door.

Palindromic dates are rare and celebrated widely! “Depending on date formats, palindromic dates can be rare. Aziz S. Inan, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Portland, has calculated that in the mm-dd-yyyy format, Palindrome Days tend to occur only in the first few centuries of each millennium (1000 years). The last palindromic date in the second millennium (years 1001 to 2000) in this format was August 31, 1380 or 08–31–1380.” (Source: Timeanddate.com).

Our fascination for palindromes dates all the way back to AD 79 in Campania, Italy, where the first palindromes were found as graffiti. (Source: ABC4 News)

Palindromes have varying and significant meanings across cultures and religions. What are some that you know of?

A palindrome can be a whole phrase! One of the more famous ones is: a man, a plan, a canal — Panama!

According to Guinness World Records, the longest palindromic word is saippuakivikauppias, Finnish for a dealer in lye.