When travelling over 90 MPH, it becomes very difficult to read the signs written on approaching cars. How many times have you read ECILOP on a approaching car only to realise that it says POLICE in your rear-view mirror, when it turns to follow you, with its lights flashing.

I propose the following solution, palindromic names for all our emergency services, to avoid wasting vital seconds. All our services could be converted to simple names such as...

ERIFIRE, ECILOPOLICE, LAPDPAL and my personal favourite... ECNALUBMAMBULANCE

It would only require slightly widening of european cars to cope with the additional lettering and could lead to a doubling in the wages of sign-writers.

note: I cannot condone the use of smaller sign fonts, as this would compromise road-safety
-- riposte, Mar 23 2001

Alternatively, just have Scott Kim do the typograpy. http://www.scottkim...allery/fantasy.html
Scott Kim's "Inversions" are words that look the same upside-down or in the mirror, but read differently (because our brains make certain assumptions based on context and reading direction.) [jutta, Mar 23 2001]

You could shorten the name by only using those letters which appear the same when reversed left-to-right (in certain fonts) - i, l, m, n, o, t, u, v, w, x, and then proposing new palindromic words to replace 'Police', 'Ambulance', 'Fire', such as 'Vinxniv', 'Monutunom' and 'Wottow'.
I think that's a much more halfbaked idea.
-- hippo, Mar 23 2001


RE: "It would only require slightly widening of european cars..."

Standards changes are usually horribly expensive, but you could make a business out of a service that would stretch undersized municipal vehicles for a small fee.

Your local mafia has probably been doing the same thing to people for years-- maybe you could set up a partnership with them! Couldn't hurt to ask!
-- mcdonald107, Mar 23 2001


Don't you think the word that means "palindrome" should BE a palindrome? How did our forefathers go so far astray?
-- beauxeault, Mar 23 2001


It's that n-d-r all in a row -- you can't do a damn thing with 'em.
-- moonmoose, Mar 23 2001


You're not trying hard 'nuff, moonmoose.

Word nowadays is that aboard navy ships, they deal with weird news like that.
-- Uncle Nutsy, Mar 27 2001


Hoist by my own petard, no? I guess it's in our DNA.
-- Uncle Nutsy, Mar 28 2001


It wouldn't work anyway; the letters themselves would have to be backwards.
-- arghblah, Mar 28 2001



random, halfbakery