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 family named Colbert. Similarly, Lennut was the original name of a Kentucky town that happened to be near a tunnel. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Towns Named Backward”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I want to tell you the tale of two towns. They’re in the deep south, and they both have something unusual in common. One of them is Remlap, which is in Alabama. It’s just north of Birmingham. And the other is Treblok, and that is in Mississippi, just south of Tupelo.
And the reason that they have something in common is the fact that these names are formed by spelling other words backwards. So Palmer and Colbert are Colbert. Yes, yes. There’s something about that word Remlap that immediately makes you think that it’s a word backwards. Right, or something out of a science fiction novel or something. But yeah, these terms are called anonyms, A-N-A-N-Y-M-S, anonyms. And that’s a special kind of anagram that forms a name because you’re taking a word and spelling it backwards. So Remlap and Treblok. Remlap and Treblok. And they’re where? Remlap is in Alabama and Treblok is in Mississippi.
And in fact, in Kentucky, my home state, the town of Combs, C-O-M-B, used to be called Lennut. Lennut. L-E-N-N-U-T. Tunnel? It was near a tunnel. Oh. Okay, sure. And then they changed the name. That’s outstanding. You know, for a while, my siblings and I, I had four siblings, we would say our names backward. And mine actually kind of works. Tanarg. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, I’m Athram Edenrab. That’s not bad. That’s not bad. Tanarg to Rab. That’s me. I’ll share another anonym later in the show.
And in the meantime, we’d love to hear from you about any aspect of language whatsoever. Call us, 877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
