An automatic palindrome generator.

In 1984 Dan Hoey, a US naval mathematician, wrote a computer program which he used to create a 540-word expansion of Leigh Mercer's "Panama" palindrome (PD). It began "A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac ..." and ended "... a calamus, a dairyman, abater, a canal--Panama." (For the full PD, plus additional information, see http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/anagrams/panama/htm.)

Hoey's expansion uses articles and nouns only. Is there a way to generate automatic PDs that include verbs? On June 12 1998 his Muse inspired John E. Connett to write the following:

   Ed, I hid a pat,
   I bit a rag,
   I jig a bat,
   I hit a cab,
   I bib a cat,
   I hit a bag,
   I jig a rat,
   I bit a pad--
   I hide!

The automatic palindrome generator (APG) that appears here will produce any number of PDs of this type, and to any length. The results are not especially complex or interesting, but one must begin somewhere ...

Take a sheet of paper (preferably lined) and either write the numbers 1 to 17 down the margin, or count off that number of lines and mark the starting and stopping points. Seventeen steps will produce a PD exactly the length of Connett's. (Nine steps are feasible, but will not allow the entire vocabulary to be exploited, owing to the restrictions created by the frames which begin/end the PD. To increase the length beyond 17, always go in increments of four: 21, 25, etc.)

To construct a PD, turn to Table 1. You begin naturally enough, at 0, which is the first of 249 key numbers. Opposite 0 we find the digits 1,2. These control the frame to be used: either "Ed, I / hide!" or "Ed, I / ride!" Select one of the digits at random, say 2. This becomes your first palindromic control number; write it down at position 1 on your sheet of paper. The same figure gives you your next key number; move down to 2, where you see the digits 160-163, meaning 160, 161, 162, 163. As before, choose one of these at random, say 162, and write it down below the first control number (which was 2). Move a good way down Table 1 to key number 162, where once more you make a random selection from the numbers beside it, say 110, and so proceed until you have completed a list of 17 control numbers.

Each of these numbers is keyed to a word pair in Table 2. To generate the PD, simply look up each corresponding word pair and write them down, one below the other. 2, then, gives you "Ed, I / ride!", 162, "rim / I", and so on down for a total of 17 steps. When you are done, the beginning of what you have written should have this form (assuming that you wrote down the numbers I to 17 at the start):

1   2     Ed, I / hide!
2   162   rim   /I
3   110   a     /dam,

The first half of your PD will then be the left-hand word in each pair read from top to bottom; the second half, the right-hand word read from bottom to top. (Thus the unfinished example above reads "Ed, I rim a dam, I hide!"). You may then, if you wish, rewrite the PD in the same layout as that used by Connett.

Using this coding scheme, John Connett's palindrome is 1-56-34-167-171-8-193-182-44-82-59-27-173-57-187-36-3. Many thousands (millions?) of other palindromes can be created as well.

Ella Minnow Pea

Over sixty years ago the novel Gadsby demonstrated that it is entirely possible to write a book with a single letter suppressed. Ella Minnow Pea shows how communication becomes increasingly hamstrung as letters are successively removed from the alphabet: Z,Q,J,D,K, ... until only L,M,N,O and P (get it?) remain.

This linguistic disaster occurs when the leaders of Nollop, a mythical island nation off the South Carolina coast, interpret the fall of lettered tiles from a centotaph honoring the creator of The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog as a message from beyond the grave to suppress those letters in all discourse. The prohibition is mercilessly enforced, but the ruling council agrees to rescind it if a grammatical pangram of 32 words or less can be found. The heroine, Ella, reading notes left by her father who has been banished from the island by the language police, stumbles across his departure instructions: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Success!

The first novel by playwright Mark Dunn, this book is available from MacAdam/Cage Publishing (ISBN 0-9673701-6-7) for $22. A most welcome addition to the tiny corpus of logological fiction!

TABLE 1

0     1, 2
1     56-58
2     160-63
3     5-9
4     160-63
5     14-19
6     30-35
7     128-34
8     186-94
9     234-41
10    5-9
11    20-24
12    56-58
13    87-90
14    36-42
15    52-54
16    76-81
17    95-99
18    115-19
19    198-202
20    30-35
21    59-69
22    109-14
23    147-58
24    181
25    43-46
26    100-03
27    171-77
28    221-25
29    227-30
30    36-42
31    52-54
32    70-75
33    115-19
34    164-70
35    217-20
36    3, 4
37    10-13
38    91, 92
39    100-03
40    120-27
41    171-77
42    221-25
43    20-24
44    82
45    160-63
46    206, 207
47    128-34
48    186-94
49    212-16
50    234-41
51    248
52    3, 4
53    10-13
54    91, 92
55    234-41
56    30-35
57    186-94
58    243-47
59    25-29
60    70-75
61    76-81
62    83-86
63    95-99
64    115-19
65    135-140
66    145, 146
67    182-85
68    198-202
69    217-20
70    10-13
71    43-46
72    100-03
73    171-77
74    203-05
75    221-25
76    3, 4
77    43-46
78    120-27
79    159
80    171-77
81    221-25
82    59-69
83    43-46
84    91, 92
85    171-77
86    221-25
87    30-35
88    186-94
89    234-41
90    243-47
91    20-24
92    160-63
93    147-58
94    186-94
95    3, 4
96    43-46
97    91, 92
98    120-27
99    233
100   5-9
101   47-51
102   141-44
103   206, 207
104   212-16
105   234-41
106   243-47
107   147-58
108   212-16
109   36-42
110   52-54
111   83-86
112   95-99
113   182-85
114   231, 232
115   3, 4
116   10-13
117   43-46
118   120-27
119   227-30
120   20-24
121   93, 94
122   107, 108
123   160-63
124   178, 179
125   180
126   211
127   226
128   25-29
129   36-42
130   70-75
131   135-40
132   164-70
133   198-202
134   209, 210
135   43-46
136   100-03
137   120-27
138   171-77
139   221-25
140   227-30
141   128-34
142   147-58
143   186-94
144   243-47
145   43-46
146   120-27
147   36-42
148   76-81
149   95-99
150   115-19
151   135-40
152   145, 146
153   164-70
154   182-85
155   195-97
156   198-202
157   231, 232
158   242
159   20-24
160   14-19
161   59-69
162   109-14
163   147-58
164   10-13
165   100-03
166   120-27
167   171-77
168   203-05
169   221-25
170   227-30
171   5-9
172   47-51
173   56-58
174   87-90
175   93, 94
176   141-44
177   178, 179
178   147-58
179   186-94
180   147-58
181   76-81
182   43-46
183   91, 92
184   120-27
185   171-77
186   25-29
187   36-42
188   70-75
189   76-81
190   83-86
191   135-40
192   164-70
193   182-85
194   209, 210
195   120-27
196   203-05
197   227-30
198   3, 4
199   43-46
200   100-03
201   120-27
202   203-05
203   47-51
204   104-06
205   107, 108
206   59-69
207   128-34
208   195-97
209   100-03
210   171-77
211   147-58
212   70-75
213   164-70
214   195-97
215   198-202
216   217-20
217   10-13
218   43-46
219   203-05
220   221-25
221   5-9
222   47-51
223   55
224   87-90
225   104-06
226   147-58
227   56-58
228   87-90
229   104-06
230   141-44
231   91, 92
232   120-27
233   47-51
234   25-29
235   36-42
236   70-75
237   76-81
238   83-86
239   135-40
240   164-70
241   217-20
242   120-27
243   25-29
244   115-19
245   135-40
246   164-70
247   195-97
248   95-99
TABLE 2

1     Ed, I / hide!
2     Ed, I / ride!
3     I / bib
4     I / rib
5     bib / I
6     bid / I
7     bin / I
8     bit / I
9     bill / I
10    I / bid
11    I / did
12    I / hid
13    I / kid
14    a / cab,
15    a / dab,
16    a / gab,
17    a / jab,
18    a / lab,
19    a / tab,
20    did / I
21    dig / I
22    dim / I
23    dip / I
24    dis / I
25    bag, / a
26    ban, / a
27    bat, / a
28    ball, / a
29    bass, / a
30    a / cad,
31    a / dad,
32    a / fad,
33    a / lad
34    a / pad,
35    a / wad,
36    cab, / a
37    cad, / a
38    cam, / a
39    can, / a
40    cap, / a
41    cat, / a
42    call, / a
43    I / dig
44    I / jig
45    I / rig
46    I / wig
47    fin / I
48    fit / I
49    fix / I
50    fill / I
51    fizz / I
52    dab, / a
53    dad, / a
54    dam, / a
55    gill / I
56    hid / I
57    hit / I
58    hiss / I
59    a / bag,
60    a / fag,
61    a / gag,
62    a / hag,
63    a / Jag,
64    a / lag,
65    a / mag,
66    a / nag,
67    a / rag,
68    a / tag,
69    a / wag,
70    fad, / a
71    fag, / a
72    fan, / a
73    fat, / a
74    fax, / a
75    fall, / a
76    gab, / a
77    gag, / a
78    gap, / a
79    gas, / a
80    gat, / a
81    gall, / a
82    jig / I
83    hag, / a
84    ham, / a
85    hat, / a
86    hall, / a
87    kid / I
88    kit / I
89    kill / I
90    kiss / I
91    I / dim
92    I / rim
93    lip / I
94    lit / I
95    jab, / a
96    Jag, / a
97    jam, / a
98    Jap, / a
99    jazz, / a
100   I / bin
101   I / fin
102   I / pin
103   I / win
104   mix / I
105   mill / I
106   miss / I
107   nip / I
108   nix / I
109   a / cam,
110   a / dam,
111   a / ham,
112   a / jam,
113   a / ram,
114   a / yam,
115   lab, / a
116   lad, / a
117   lag, / a
118   lap, / a
119   lass, / a
120   I / dip
121   I / lip
122   I / nip
123   I / rip
124   I / sip
125   I / tip
126   I / yip
127   I / zip
128   a / ban,
129   a / can,
130   a / fan,
131   a / man,
132   a / pan,
133   a / tan,
134   a / van,
135   mag, / a
136   man, / a
137   map, / a
138   mat, / a
139   mall, / a
140   mass, / a
141   pin / I
142   pip / I
143   pit / I
144   piss/ I
145   nag, / a
146   nap, / a
147   a / cap,
148   a / gap,
149   a / Jap,
150   a / lap,
151   a / map,
152   a / nap,
153   a / pap,
154   a / rap,
155   a / sap,
156   a / tap,
157   a / yap,
158   a / zap,
159   I / dis
160   rib / I
161   rig / I
162   rim / I
163   rip / I
164   pad, / a
165   pan, / a
166   pap, / a
167   pat, / a
168   pax, / a
169   pall, / a
170   pass, / a
171   I / bit
172   I / fit
173   I / hit
174   I / kit
175   I / lit
176   I / pit
177   I / sit
178   sip / I
179   sit / I
180   tip / I
181   a / gas,
182   rag, / a
183   ram, / a
184   rap, / a
185   rat, / a
186   a / bat,
187   a / cat,
188   a / fat,
189   a / gat,
190   a / hat,
191   a / mat,
192   a / pat,
193   a / rat,
194   a / vat,
195   sap, / a
196   sax, / a
197   sass, / a
198   tab, / a
199   tag, / a
200   tan, / a
201   tap, / a
202   tax, / a
203   I / fix
204   I / mix
205   I / nix
206   wig / I
207   win / I
208   a / saw,
209   van, / a
210   vat, / a
211   yip / I
212   a / fax,
213   a / pax,
214   a / sax,
215   a / tax,
216   a / wax,
217   wad, / a
218   wag, / a
219   wax, / a
220   wall, / a
221   I / bill
222   I / fill
223   I / gill
224   I / kill
225   I / mill
226   zip / I
227   I / hiss
228   I / kiss
229   I / miss
230   I / piss
231   yam, / a
232   yap, / a
233   I / fizz
234   a / ball,
235   a / call,
236   a / fall,
237   a / gall,
238   a / hall,
239   a / mall,
240   a / pall,
241   a / wall,
242   zap, / a
243   a / bass,
244   a / lass,
245   a / mass,
246   a / pass,
247   a / sass,
248   a / jazz,
BILL A. O'CONNOR
Terre Haute, Indiana
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