Palindromic Date · 9 March 2019
I just realized that next year, Goundhog Day (February 2) will be a palindromic date. At least if you put leading zeroes to make the month and day two digits each. (Which technically does not make it a two-digit number since leading zeroes do not count as digits. But that is a completely different story.)
(I actually realized the date was a palindrome a while ago, but the snow, which I do not know if the groundhog predicted, came and gave me some other topics. Which are other stories that I already wrote. But back to the current thought.)
I like to put leading zeroes in my dates. Maybe it is because you need to do that with online forms and such. Surely, it is not because there is any ambiguity with dates. At least not with months. But for some reason, putting in those zeroes before most months and the first nine days of the month seems right to me. I suppose that the practice just lends itself to my way of thinking. Each month needs two digits as does each day. Simple. Or maybe I am just simple. Whatever the reason, I like to do it.
Which is why I noticed that 02/02/2020 will be a numeric palindrome. The number is the same forward and backward. At least without the slashes. I am not sure why I think palindromes are so cool, but I do. Okay. I do know why. They just are. Palindromes are cool. Period.
Here are some short palindromes:
Racecar.
Madam I’m Adam.
A man a plan a canal – Panama.
Able was I ere I saw Elba.
Cool, right! (That was not a palindrome, by the way.) I am always amazed when words and numbers are palindromic. (Which if it is not a word, ought to be. Sometimes, okay usually, I hate spell checker on my word processor. Although it is nice when it tells me I spelt something wrong like spelt. Unless, of course, that word happens to be correct in British or some other form of English that might be in my dictionary. Or if it happens to be some form of grain.)
Now, where was I? (Sometimes I get confused when I put in parenthetical thoughts. Which by the way are fun in and of themselves. And have you ever noticed that whenever I say, “But that is another story,” I usually have not subsequently told another story. Must be frustrating. Ah, but that is another story.)
Where was I again? Oh yes. Amazed.
I am always amazed when words and phrases and paragraphs are palindromic. (No parenthetical thoughts here.) But I am also amazed when numbers are. Palindromic, that is. I might even have commented on a palindromic date some time in the past. (Probably 01/02/2010.) But I do not remember. All I know is that February 2, 2020 will be a numerical palindrome.
02022020. Not quite as fun as racecar. But still. It is a palindrome. 02022020.
© 2019 Michael T. Miyoshi
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