Today is the 2nd February 2020. I noticed when I was writing a letter this morning that the date is 02/02/2020. That makes it a palindrome ie word, phrase or sentence or series of numbers which reads the same backwards or forwards. But then you know that. Sorry. I've just realised that I might seem patronising. Apologies if I did. In fact it's even palindromic to our friends in North America. What made you do that I wonder? Perversity? A desire to be different? Who cares. It is what it is. It occurred to me that palindromic dates don't happen very often. The next one would have to be 12/12/2121 I think. Unless anyone can tell me differently. After that I'd have to use my noddle and it's a Sunday. I don't work on Sunday. Well not apart from gardening, housework, washing and ironing. As my Dad used to say "The better the day the better the deed."
By the way the spider's web is not palindromic even if it were perfectly symmetrical: which it is not.
Your post prompted new to look up more palindromes. I like these two..
ReplyDeleteDo geese see God?
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
...prompted me... damn keyboard!
DeleteJayCee, I like those. I've got so used to errors caused by the spillchucker that I rarely even notice them now. I see what I expect to be there.
DeleteNo need to worry about insulting anyone by providing the definition of palindrome. I'm sure it save quite a few from having to run it through a search engine. Much less look it up in an actual dictionary.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on not taxing my noddle too greatly on a Sunday. Laundry is on. Shredding of old bank and tax statements continues.
Thanks, Mary. I'm shredding old papers too. I'll have worn yet another shredder out before I've finished at this rate.
DeleteI have always liked palindromes. My daughter's middle name is Hannah; it had to be.
ReplyDeleteCro, I'm with you there. I like Hannah too. There are relatively few palindromic names bur they come up in crosswords quite often.
DeleteI see great minds think alike. Bob Brague also posted upon this momentous occasion. I did suggest he could have added at twenty past eight this evening. I was wrong as it doesn't quite work. I see Google are celebrating Mary Somerville, bet she discovered palindromes as well as being a scientist and a star gazer.
ReplyDeleteYes, Adrian, I read Bob's post. Rather more interesting and comprehensive than mine but at least he confirmed the next palindromic date for me.
DeleteWas It A Rat I Saw? Dammit, I'm Mad!
ReplyDeleteYP, try as I might I cannot think up a palindromic reply.
DeleteGraham, I see we both received the cosmic memo.
ReplyDeleteWe did indeed, Bob. You made a lot more of it than I did but thanks for confirming that I got the next palindromic date correct.
DeleteGuess what Graham, the palindrome today made me also think of anagrams and I thought of the one I told you before, "Flit On Cheering Angel". (Florence Nightingale!) I looked it up and I read somewhere that Lewis Carroll is the one who thought of that! Clever! (Now, I like to read more than one source to be sure but I have not had much time today. Maybe you know.) And yes, Americans do the date backwards from the Brits, why is that, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteKay, anagrams are good fun too. I think I've said before that 'wetness riles' is a very appropriate anagram of 'Western Isles'. I have no idea why Americans write the date in a different way.
DeleteI know palindromes. I hope some of my former students remember them.
ReplyDeleteRed, its the sort of thing than once taught seems to stick.
DeleteYou're not being patronising in any way, Graham. Not to my thinking...anyway! :)
ReplyDeleteI thank you for pointing it out...about the date. It had not even passed my mind...so, once againm, thank you! :)
It's a pleasure, Lee. I'm glad you didn't think me patronising.
DeleteWe were talking about it yesterday morning as we had our first coffee and biscuit while still in bed (a luxury we love to indulge in on weekends). During the day, I sort of forgot about it, but then I remembered as I was watching the late evening news on TV.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, palindromic dates do not occur very often. That reminds me of something I read not long ago:
In December, my weekly paper (Die ZEIT) had a special topic for its supplementary magazine. It said that "double years" such as 2020 have so far occured only once in "our time", that was the year 1010. The entire magazine was filled with comparisons between life in 1010 and 2020, all aspects: economy, society, politics, religion, food, architecture... It was a very good read, and made me glad that I live in 2020!
So 1919, 1818, 1717, 1616 … etc don't count as double years? Ok, if Die Zeit says so. I know several people to whom the publication is gospel.
Delete3030 greetings (when 2020 will not even be a memory any longer),
U
Meike, coffee in bed: how decadent. Yes. Life in 1010 would have been hard but then there may come a time in the future when people think our lives hard. Personally I think that my generation has seen the best of things.
DeleteUrsula, there is no 91.91.1919 so there is no palindrome there. 12.12.2121 reads the same from back to front but I cant think of any dates between now and that date that read the same from back to front (regardless of what Die Zeit says).
Hello Ursula, the magazine only compared 1010 and 2020. They never mentioned 1111, 1212, 1313 and so on; no explanation given, as far as I remember. And just to clarify: the ZEIT and its magazine are NOT gospel for me :-)
DeleteI had one run in with a (smallish) palindrome, of a rather personal nature. By mid August my placenta hadn't moved, blocking exit for my as yet to be born son, EDD (estimated date of birth) early October. So I was booked for a caesarean. Holy what's it. The date my obstetrician pencilled in, 19/9/91. HA. As consolation prizes for ops go it was funny. And no, it didn't come to pass. Said placenta had some last minute consideration for both me and the Angel, and moved out of the way early September; at the end of which the apple of my eye emerged via the usual channel.
ReplyDeleteU
Ursula, well that's a pretty personal palindrome you're unlikely to forget.
DeleteThank you. I knew the day is unique, but didn't remember what it is called.
ReplyDeleteMaywyn, I'm happy to have reminded you.
DeleteI had occasion to write 02-02-2020 yesterday at the Imagining Center check-in; husband was having an ultra sound. I'm not sure I would have realized it was a palindrome had I not read your post before hand.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to hear from you Jill. I hope hubby is okay.
DeleteThank you Graham. We will know results tomorrow.
DeleteAll good news!
DeleteJill, I am sooooo pleased to hear that. Thank you for the update.
Deleteit's been the topic of conversation here too with various people, call it superstition or whatever aye?
ReplyDeleteI hadn't though of a superstitious angle to it Amy.
DeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I'm glad.
DeleteOn the day, a Swedish artist/writer/satirist wrote on Facebook (but in Swedish): "Your true friends are those who stay with you when life is dark and you are weak - and the ones who inform you through social media that today's date is a palindrome."
ReplyDeleteMonica, sorry for the delayed response (you know why anyway). The satirist's saying is quite amusing when one analyses it.....possibly.
DeleteBy the time I catch up, the event has well and truly passed. Happens in life, too! Nice spider's web!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pauline. Again I apologise for the delay and you, too, know why.
DeleteI wrote a F.B. post about palindrome but no one understood it!
ReplyDeleteOn 12/12/12 we watched some movie about arks to carry part of the world's population safely to somewhere.
Apparently 12/12/12 and other palindrome dates are propitious for conceiving.
Susan, I'm not sure about propitious dates for conceiving, but I think the thing about 02/02/2020 is that it reads exactly the same for the whole date almost everywhere in the world. If you reverse it it still reads 0202/20/20. 121212 reads 212121 backwards.
DeleteGraham, there is a regular contributor to LBC radio called Donald who hails from Ness on Lewis. He had the most delightful accent. Is he well known on the island?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delayed response Cro. I'll explain shortly. It will not surprise you to know that I do not know anyone who listens to LBC Radio. I certainly don't know any living Donald contributing to the station and as Donald is one of the most common names within the 18,500 or so people who live on Lewis. I have asked a few people, however, when I next see someone from the local radio station, I shall try and remember to ask them.
DeleteI know. It's a bit like asking if you know 'John' from London. I just thought he might have been a well known island character.
DeleteI enjoyed your post about stamps and writing. I miss the comforting bulk of a letter and the frisson of interest before opening and reading the contents. Now I rarely receive letters, even Christmas cards had a dramatic decline this year.
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy as a child receiving small packs of colourful paper and matching mall envelopes for writing letters, I think they even came with play stamps. When I emigrated and had my son my parents would write and send him postcards to keep in touch with their grandson. Now my parents are dead, and I enjoy looking back through their letters. There is nothing like a letter.My friend Margaret has a letter I wrote to her when I was about 12 and apparently baked in the oven for a while because I had measles. Jean/Winnipeg
Thank you for your very interesting comment Jean. I particularly like the idea that your parents sent postcards to their grandchildren and that you still have your friend still has a letter you wrote to her when you were 12.
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