It's the Word of the Day podcast for December 6th.
Today's word is ambigram, spelled A-M-B-I-G-R-A-M.
Ambigram is a noun,
and ambigram is an image of a written word or phrase that is intended or able to be oriented in either of two ways
for viewing or reading.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Parade Magazine by Wendy Wendt.
When spelled out in the sand, S-O-S is conveniently readable as an ambigram,
readable both right side up and upside down.
There is little ambiguity about the origins of the word ambigram.
It was introduced by cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter in his 1985 book Metamagical Themas,
questing for the essence of mind and pattern,
in which he wrote of the pleasing activity of doing ambograms,
where shapes must be concocted that are poised exactly at the midpoint between two interpretations.
Since then,
anagram has been used primarily to refer to an image of a written word or phrase that either forms the same word or different word when reflected or turned upside down.
For instance, when reflected, bud turns into dub, while meliamam reads the same both ways.
And when turned upside down, the word swims reads the same while the word wow turns into mom.
Some ambigrams are natural, such as the word dollop,
while others can be designed or created with calligraphy.
Calligraphic ambigrams are quite popular and often used as logos or tattoo designs.