The longest palindrome in Morse code is "intransigence"

October 11, 2013 11:46 AM

A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia
posted by not_on_display (17 comments total)

Oh, no, that's fine. I didn't want to get anything else done today.
posted by Etrigan at 11:55 AM on October 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

Tripod.com!!! Holy shit. And there's a reference to tumblr so it's an updated site too.
posted by kmz at 11:56 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Poxy G-men quiz FDR; LBJ whacks TV!

That's pretty good for a pangram. Also, I was amused that dumbbell is one of the most misspelled words, although the list also included "frustum," and how often does anyone spell "frustum?" Compared to "a lot," which gets used a lot.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:00 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Jane Austen (1775–1817) used the phrases SHUT UP, DIRT CHEAP, DOG TIRED, DINNER-PARTY, and BRACE YOURSELF. The last two appear in her 1815 novel Emma. She also came up with the phrase, “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 100 times.”

Truly a woman ahead of her time.
posted by 2bucksplus at 12:25 PM on October 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

These look amazing. Can't wait. May have to reformat for reading, though.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:28 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I feel like anyone in the running for "longest acronym" might be missing the point. Thanks for the post.
posted by yerfatma at 12:33 PM on October 11, 2013

Double post. But the original link is dead, was from nine years ago anyways, and it's an awesome collection; glad to see it resurface.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:48 PM on October 11, 2013

According to this article, the word MEH, defined as “an expression of indifference or boredom,” has been traced back to a 1992 Melrose Place online forum in which one commenter wrote, “Meh... far too Ken-doll for me....” The term was popularized on The Simpsons. However a word has been found, spelled mem ayin, in a 1928 edition of a Yiddish-English-Hebrew dictionary, where it is given as an interjection defined as “be it as it may.” [Charles Turner]

posted by zamboni at 12:54 PM on October 11, 2013

Tripod!!! You just reminded me of my own long-forgotten Tripod site: "OXY2K : 2000+ Oxymorons for the Year 2000" (in all its black-on-white/white-on-black design awfulness, only missing an ad banner)
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:56 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

This link has led me to the fascinating story of the ghost word dord. Thank you.
posted by brenton at 1:26 PM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

I feel like anyone in the running for "longest acronym" might be missing the point. Thanks for the post.
posted by yerfatma at 2:33 PM on October 11

I.F.L.A.I.T.R.F.L.A.M.B.M.T.P. T.F.T.P.? I don't get it.
posted by themanwho at 4:48 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Very interesting website, but this guy must be a real snooze at cocktail parties.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:40 PM on October 11, 2013

I believe it was Charlotte Brontë who first said "Look at all the fucks I give."
posted by Wolfdog at 5:52 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

"intransigence" can only be a palindrome in Morse code if you ignore letter spacing. It's kind of important to keep that.
posted by scruss at 5:53 PM on October 11, 2013

"intransigence" can only be a palindrome in Morse code if you ignore letter spacing. It's kind of important to keep that.

Yeah, otherwise words like "HISSES" get really tricky.
posted by aubilenon at 6:17 PM on October 11, 2013

There are four B’s in BUBBYBUSH, BEBLUBBERED, FLIBBERTIGIBBET, BUBBLEABLE & SCRIBBLEDEHOBBLE.
posted by jessamyn at 6:28 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

“footstool” (··–· ––– ––– – ··· – ––– ––– ·–··) is the longest English word that is a palindrome in CW. Thought you needed to know …
posted by scruss at 10:14 AM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]