Hi,
Looking forward to that new release. Being from Finland myself these palindromes are familiar to me to some extent. There is even a longer palindrome than “saippuakivikauppias”. That word is “saippuakuppinippukauppias” (25 letters), which means a seller of bundles of soup cups. Another funny one is “innostunut sonni” (=an excited bull), but this is in two words. In the 80’s I had a Revox tape recorder and I tested these palindromes by reading them on the tape and playing that tape backwards. The words came out the same with a slight foreign accent
The longest English palindrome is “redivider” (9 letters).
Here is what I found about this subject on the Internet:
A palindrome is a word or sentence which is spelled the same backwards and forwards.
Here are some good palindromes:
A man, a plan, a canal - Panama! (One could reply, "No, it's a banana bastion.")
A man, a plan, a cat, a canal - Panama!
A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal - Panama!
Able was I ere I saw Elba. (Napolean could have said this when he was exiled to the island of Elba, if he spoke English.)
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
Doc, note, I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.
Dog, as a devil deified, lived as a god.
Dogma? I am God.
Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.
Ma is as selfless as I am.
Madam, I'm Adam. (Eve replied simply, "Eve.")
Madam, in Eden, I'm Adam.
No sir, prefer prison.
Pa's a sap.
Niagara, O roar again.
Senile felines
Sniff'um muffins.
Ten animals I slam in a net.
Straw? No, too stupid a fad. I put soot on warts.
Was it a cat I saw?
Yreka Bakery (in Yreka, California)
Finnish has the longest palindromic words. Here are several (the longer ones are more contrived).
saippuakauppias (15 letters), soap dealer
saippuakivikauppias (19 letters), soapstone dealer
saippuakuppinippukauppias (25 letters), soap cup dealer
The longest common English palindromic word is "redivider" (9 letters). The contrived chemical term "detartrated" has 11 letters.
"Kinnikinnick," the name of a plant and also a dried leaf and bark mixture smoked by Cree indians, is not a palindrome, but it is sometimes (mis)spelled as a palindrome in two different ways: "kinnikinnik" (11 letters) and "kinnik-kinnik" (12 letters). Each half of the last palindrome is itself a palindrome.
The shortest English palindromic word, not counting one-letter words, is "aa," which is a Hawaiian word for a kind of lava.
Kind regards,
Anders