Every date this week is a palindrome

(Anand Katakam/Vox)

Lovers of words or phrases that read the same forward or backward, rejoice! This week is unofficially palindrome week.

In the US (and a few other countries that conventionally write dates as MM/DD/YY), every date this week is a palindrome. Thanks to Akira Okrent at Mental Floss for pointing out this fortuitous occurrence.

Tuesday, for instance, is 5/12/15. Or, if you want to write it backward, it's 5/12/15. You get the idea.

Of course, a week of palindromes isn't all that rare. Since 2011, each year has had a streak of 10 straight dates that can be written as a palindrome. It'll be in June next year (because June is the sixth month and it's 2016) and will keep happening until 2020.

Also, curmudgeons will point out that if you write out the year as a four-digit number (5/11/2015), or if you write the month as a two-digit number (05/11/15), this week has no palindromes.

But in this modern, mixed-up world, there's something valuable about taking a moment out of your day to appreciate a bit of meaningless symmetry that occurs within the confines of our arbitrary calendar system.

Living life to the fullest, after all, is all about appreciating the little things.

Further reading: Reddit's list of the best palindromes

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