Semordnilapis a parole playfully mint by Logos - game loverssometime in the mid-20th century . While a palindrome reads the same way backwards or forwards ( otto , kayak ) , a semordnilap ( itself a semordnilap of “ palindromes ” ) defecate a completely different Holy Scripture when write backwards . While there are some semordnilaps that rebel by fortune ( desserts - accented , diaper - repaid ) , there are many , like “ semordnilap , ” that were created on use , commonly to not - so - covertly hint at the words they happen to be reversing . Here are nine words , besides semordnilap , expressly build to be semordnilaps .
1. Yensid
The name of the sorcerer inFantasiais “ Disney ” spelled backwards . The animators modeled the character after Walt Disney himself .
2. Harpo
Oprah has a magazine titled by her first initial ( group O ) , a internet cite with both her initials ( OWN – The Oprah Winfrey internet ) and a production company that spell her name backwards ( Harpo ) . Her next project will have to be an anagram ( Pharo ? ) .
3. Nacirema
A 1956 anthropology paper by Horace Mitchell Miner see the “ Body Ritual Among the Nacirema ” [ PDF ] , an exotic tribe that hold up between “ the Canadian Cree , the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico , and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles . ” Their nation was institute by a Hero of Alexandria name Notgnihsaw , who did two unbelievable things : He once threw a piece of wampum over the Pa - To - Mac river , and also “ [ chop ] down … a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth reside . ” The Nacirema have become well known for what they tell us about the field of study of “ alien ” cultures . ( Hint : Naciremais “ American ” rearwards , and that ’s not the only semordnilap you ’ll find here . )
4. Erewhon
backward spell in the name of satire has a long account . The statute title of Samuel Butler ’s nineteenth - century novel satirize the society of the sentence wasmeant to be“nowhere ” spelled rearwards , but thehwas moved out of home . It features properly backward - name character like Senoj Nosnibor ( Robinson Jones ) .
5. Yob
“ Boy ” in reverse gear . British slang for a young man who is up to no good .
6. Silopanna
Sometimes , when you ’re naming streets , you just run out of ideas . In Annapolis , Maryland , there ’s a little street name Silopanna Road . There ’s also a bighearted Annapolis summertime music fete calledSilopanna .
7. Retsof
The little hamlet of Retsof , New York , wasnamed forWilliam Foster , owner of a salinity mine caller there . Retsof is now known for a 1994 table salt mine collapse [ PDF ] .
8. Llareggub
The Dylan Thomas playUnder Milk Woodwas lay in a Welsh settlement with a Welsh - front name , Llareggub . In fact , it was not a Welsh name at all , but “ bugger all ” backwards .
9. Serutan
In the older days , company had to be discerning and a little coy in ads for constipation remedies . Serutan ’s tagline asked customer to “ translate [ it ] backwards , ” stress that their product was the natural way of life to “ [ get ] you regular and [ keep ] you regular . ”
A version of this story ran in 2014 ; it has been updated for 2021 .
