Mary Judy in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, says when her mom was particularly frazzled or disheveled, she’d say she felt as if she’d been pulled through a knothole backwards. The expression goes back to the early 19th century. Variants...
On our Facebook group, listeners are discussing anadromes, words that form another word when spelled in reverse. Some people choose anadromes for names as well, such as Ande (a name adopted by someone originally called Edna), Noel (a girl named for...
The Oregon town names Ragic and Ekoms are anadromes; backwards they spell Cigar and Smoke. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Backward Town Names” By the way, grant, speaking of anadromes, those words that form different...
Remlap, Alabama, and Trebloc, Mississippi, are examples of ananyms—names formed by spelling a word backward, making them a kind of anagram. In the case of the Alabama town, it’s named after the Palmer family, and the Mississippi town is named for a...