What 'Palin' Means
A little while ago, I sent this email to Hendrick Hertzberg, at the New Yorker:
"You might be interested, amused to learn that, in Ancient Greek, the word 'Palin' means, more or less, 'backwards'. Not in the sense of slow or stupid, but, rather, in the sense of reversing direction. A 'palindrome', for instance, is something that 'runs backwards' or, one might say, reverses itself.
Considering the several effects that the lady has had on this presidential race, the name is, both literally and metaphorically, exquisitely apt."
Not only did he get back to me in short order - he included my remarks in a blog entry.
"You might be interested, amused to learn that, in Ancient Greek, the word 'Palin' means, more or less, 'backwards'. Not in the sense of slow or stupid, but, rather, in the sense of reversing direction. A 'palindrome', for instance, is something that 'runs backwards' or, one might say, reverses itself.
Considering the several effects that the lady has had on this presidential race, the name is, both literally and metaphorically, exquisitely apt."
Not only did he get back to me in short order - he included my remarks in a blog entry.