September 18 2010
10/10/10 Anyone?
A quickie in the shape of a question.
FB, a newcomer to the DA nook, sent a conundrum through the Contact page this morning, and I’m blowed if I know the answer. Seems ideal Column 8 fodder, but let’s unravel the enigma before that beloved solver of things ineffable comes to our aid. To wit:
What is the word to describe the day when day, month and year are the same. e.g. 10 October 2010 or 11/11/2011 which is next year, then after 12/12/2012 we wait 88 years!?
My first hunch is palindrome, but is that askew? Is RADAR on a par with 11/11/11, say? Or is there a separate term. Any brainwaves?
Comments
PRS — 18 September at 01:55PM
I like palindrome for 11/11/11 or 11/8/11 (which both have rotational symmetry as well) but I dislike it for for 10/10/10, which is more like yo-yo, boo-boo or bye-bye. If there's a category for such words, it could also define 08/08/08, et al (but not 8/8/08?).
I accept that 'palindrome' is sometimes used at the word level as well as the letter level but, for mine, that's an inferior form, needing its own category. Under that extension 10/10/10 could be a palindrome, providing you accept that the / is equivalent to a space.
So, FWIW, I'll offer RENUMBORD as a new word for 10/10/10 (a bastardised anagram/deletion of NUMBER ORDER.
DA — 18 September at 02:20PM
Good point, PRS - 10/10/10 is not a true palindrome, just as DESSERTS and STRESSED are called semordnilaps.
Does English have a word? FB may have identified a fissure in the dictionary.
dg — 18 September at 04:43PM
Trichronic seems a good fit - akin to
three-times and synCHRONised
DA — 18 September at 05:29PM
Mighty innovative, dg. (And have spent all day researching a think-piece about neologisms too.) So your trichronic is synchronicity.
Barry — 25 September at 10:22AM
A number like 111 whose digits are all ones is called a repunit. Perhaps a date with repeated elements might be a reptime.