Outer Reaches of the Palindrome Page: 12
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in fact probably have been spoken by many yet recognized by few to no listeners or speakers-
many phrase palindromes are as coincidental as one-word palindromes; however, the phrase-
palindrome is more complex than the word-palindrome because it boasts the dynamics of
grammar and therefore meaning. Sentence-length palindromes, such as "Bob has inept penis. Ah,
Bob" and "Pot rewards Otto's drawer-top", often bear more contrived and awkward instances of
language usage, a complication that usually gives rise to surreal, almost ludicrous, contexts.
Take for example the following palindrome:
"Relapse, he pondered. "No plasma, yet a straw, Latin egret-sewer grew Ester genital
warts, ate yams," Al pondered. "Nope, he's paler."
One might read this palindrome and think it nonsense due to the unclear noun compound "egret-
sewer," preceded by seemingly unrelated modifiers "straw" and "Latin". This is a good
candidate for contrived word/phrase formation, because "a straw, Latin egret-sewer" doesn't
seem to make immediate sense, especially when the acts of growing genital warts upon one Ester
and eating yams are ascribed to the noun phrase in question; regardless, meaning will be sought
after; a palindrome (or any utterance or text bearing grammatical implication) invites the mind to
make sense of it, which the mind seems to instinctively attempt before dismissing the string of
word as utterly meaningless. In that search for meaning, images surface, and even though the
images seem distorted and outside of the realm of our normal thoughts, the images are still as
real as any image in the bank of memory - real as any experience, any dream, any story heard,
and television program watched, and music heard, any fantasy.
Whereas the above palindrome exhibits muddled phrasal and semantic elements, this
slightly longer one further illustrates examples of contrived language:12
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McConnell, Michael Constantine. Outer Reaches of the Palindrome, thesis, December 2003; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4407/m1/15/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .