Feel like your life is going backward? Maybe that's because it's Palindrome Week, meaning that each day's date, if delivered in American numerical format, can be read the same forward and backward.
The number-fun actually lasts more than just one week. Tuesday is 9-10-19, which backward is... 9-10-19. That formula continues with 9-11-19, 9-12-19, 9-13-19, 9-14-19, 9-15-19, 9-16-19, 9-17-19, 9-18-19 and finally, 9-19-19.
The pattern doesn't hold if you write your dates with the day first, as the Brits and Aussies do, but they'll have to make their own palindromes. "Tacocat" works, or "A Santa Lived As a Devil At NASA," if you want to get creative about it.
There's been a Palindrome Week every year since 2011, but enjoy this one while you can. As Time and Date notes, "every century has nine years with 10 Palindrome Days in a row. These years are always in the second decade of the century." The next time this neat number game appears is in 2021.
Originally published Sept. 10, 9:43 a.m. PT
Correction, 4:57 p.m.: The original version of this story misstated when the next Palindrome Week will be. It'll involve 12-1-21 and the days after that.
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Jane S 