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Backwards words

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November 19, 2003, 21:59
Kalleh
Backwards 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
Ros
There 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, 08:59
jerry thomas
Spelled backwards,
Ukiah is Haiku
November 20, 2003, 10:52
Graham Nice
Pre-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 Strolin
I 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
arnie
quote:
I think drag, for clothes, was garb backwards.
Huh? That would make the word "brag".
November 21, 2003, 12:10
jerry thomas
quote:

CJ wrote:
Permit me to suggest the term "backwords."


It's a lot better than "drawcab" ..... or is it ??
November 22, 2003, 09:06
haberdasher
"Sdrawkcab is backwards backwards." - Paul Bickart, 1958, quoting I-don't-know-whom.