November 19, 2003, 21:59
KallehBackwards words
In another
thread we discussed that "made" is "edam" backwards. Is there a word for that? Are there other similar words?
November 20, 2003, 00:49
RosThere is a word for it, but I'm blowed if I can remember what it is!
Yob is a good example of a word that was originally coined as "boy" backwards and has now moved into common usage (on this side of the pond, anyway!).
Ros
November 20, 2003, 07:30
<wordnerd>The unit of resistance to electrical flow is the "ohm".
Reciprocally,
the unit of conductance of electrical flow is the "mho".
November 20, 2003, 10:52
Graham NicePre-1960s London gayspeak (palare?) had secret words for many things - bona for good, vada for face, etc - and lots of that was backslang. I think drag, for clothes, was garb backwards.
November 20, 2003, 14:11
C J StrolinI read of this sort of word being identified as an "semordnilap," an ugly coinage coming from spelling "palindromes" backwards. A google search turns up 395 hits but the 15 or so I checked were just about palindromes.
Permit me to suggest the term "backwords."
November 21, 2003, 11:11
arniequote:
I think drag, for clothes, was garb backwards.
Huh? That would make the word "brag".
November 22, 2003, 09:06
haberdasher"
Sdrawkcab is backwards backwards." - Paul Bickart, 1958, quoting I-don't-know-whom.