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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

puzzling quote

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have made this statement: 'Able was I, I saw Elba'. It is puzzling why and under what circumstances he made this observation. Any explanation?
  

Top answer

It's called a palindrome. A string of letters that when read from end to beginning is the same as forwards.

— Wilpeter

  • It's called a palindrome.
  • A string of letters that when read from end to beginning is the same as forwards.
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9 Answers
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It's called a palindrome.
A string of letters that when read from end to beginning is the same as forwards.
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It's an amusing sentence called a palindrome. If you write down each letter starting from the end, you get the same sentence. eg 'Elba' is 'able' spelled backwards.,

Napoleon did not really say it. It's just that Elba was the name of the island that Napoleon was exiled to.
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AAARGH! This is one of the most famous palindromes of all, and you've got it wrong and no one has corrected it. It's "Able was I ere I saw Elba."

The version you quoted is still a palindrome, but without "ere" it doesn't make much sense. The point is that Napoleon was "able" only before he was exiled to Elba.

Sit on a potato pan, Otis!
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Good catch, Khoff! Emotion: embarrassed
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My favorite:

A man, a plan, a canal—Panama!
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I like th first two ever, dating from (according to some), 4004 BC:

Madam, I'm Adam.
Eve,
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khoffAAARGH! Dammit I'm mad!
FTFY Emotion: wink
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Mister MicawberMy favorite:A man, a plan, a canal—Panama!
Really, the situation was much more complicated than that:

A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal -- Panama!
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khoffA man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal -- Panama!
Fun, but I prefer the simple elegance of the original.
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