The Palindromic God

The Trinity means that backwards or forwards, inside and out, God is God.

Are you stressed about desserts?

Do you like to air an aria?

Did you see a A Santa at NASA last Christmas?

Then you might be an expert in the world of palindromes.

Palindromes, of course, are words or phrases that can be spelled backwards to make the same or other words and phrases. The sentence, "Madam, I'm Adam," for example, reads the same backward and forward, just like the name Bob, or a historical palindrome like, "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." You could jump into a "race car" and you'd be on your way to palindromic bliss.

In fact, some people have gotten so good at putting these backward words together that they now have their own competition. The first annual "SymmyS" awards for "outstanding palindrome achievement" were the brainchild of stand-up comedian Mark Saltveit who runs a magazine called The Palindromist for palindrome enthusiasts. Judges for the competition included satirist and palindrome master "Weird Al" Yankovic, who's song "Bob" set the standard for palindromes in...