Isn't English "clever"?

Hi everyone,

I hope not to be stressed and fat in 2013

Muriel,

Notice there's no word about fat as this is normal diet in America.

Nice pan on words !

Hi Gérard, Remy, Muriel,

Not only the English is clever, think of the French as well :

You write : STRESSED can be read the other way round in DESSERTS.

This is called in French : un palindrome : mot, vers, phrase qu'on peut lire dans les deux sens.

Exemple : LAVAL
ESOPE RESTE ICI ET SE REPOSE.

Not bad, isn't it ?

Hi Guilaine, hi everyone,

Thanks for your words and examples (never heard the last one).

A palindrome (same word in English - of course pronounced in the En way especially the "in" sound which is very different in English and in French) provides exactly the same word/expression/etc. in both ways i.e. stressed -> desserts is not.

Why not ??? stressed = desserts ; the writing is the same. Of course the pronunciation is not, but I bet in English you will never find one...

Hi everyone,

Remy a écrit:Nice pan on words !

To those who didn't get it.

Remy has got a deadpan sense of humor (Fr. un pince-sans-rire).
In his sentence, we can understand "Nice pun !"
- a "pun" is a joke based on words (jeu de mots, calembour)
- "pan" (close pronunciatioon) is the generic word for lots of culinary containers (saucepan, frying pan, etc.)... remember we were speaking about "desserts".

Hi Guilaine,

You're right.
I'm too restrictive: a palindrome can also be a sentence.

There're lots of palindromes in English: EVE, RADAR, CIVIC, LEVEL, ROTOR, MADAM, REVIVER, KAYAK, etc. lots
English, with its compound words, is THE language of palindromes. English people do love playing with words.