[Ads-l] Palindrome Origin: Was It Eliot's Toilet I Saw?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Many thanks to Rich Lowenthal for pointing to the wonderful Samuel
Beckett citation. Rich also helpfully provided pertinent scans to me.

[ref] 2009, The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume 1: 1929-1940, Edited
by Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and Lois More Overbeck, Letter date:
September 1, 1937, Letter from: Samuel Beckett, Letter to: Thomas
McGreevy, Quote Page 421, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
England. (Verified with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
T. Eliot is toilet spelt backwards.
[End excerpt]

The QI article has now been updated.

Palindrome Origin: Was It Eliot’s Toilet I Saw?
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/01/05/eliot-toilet/

[Begin acknowledgement excerpt]
Special thanks to Rich Lowenthal who told QI about the important 1937
Samuel Beckett citation.
[End acknowledgement excerpt]

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 11:33 AM Rich Lowenthal
<000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Samuel Beckett pointed out that "T Eliot is toilet spelt backwards" in a
> 1937 letter.
>
> Rich Lowenthal
> richlowenthal at comcast.net
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "ADSGarson O'Toole"
> <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 1/5/2026 11:14:34
> Subject Palindrome Origin: Was It Eliot's Toilet I Saw?
>
> >I was asked to explore anagrams and palindromes associated with T. S.
> >Eliot. Here is an overview of what I found with dates and
> >attributions:
> >
> >1938: toilets – anagram of T. S. Eliot in a book by Gloria Goddard and
> >Clement Wood
> >1953: toilet – T. Eliot spelled backwards from J. L. Thompson
> >1962: toilest – T. S. Eliot spelled backwards from Vladimir Nabokov
> >1969: Was it Eliot's toilet I saw? –  palindrome from Tom Congdon
> >1975: litotes – anagram of T. S. Eliot attributed to W. H. Auden
> >
> >Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article which presents further details:
> >https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/01/05/eliot-toilet/
> >
> >The 2015 book "Let's Talk in English: A Practical Guide to Speaking
> >Fluent English" by Manish Gupta makes some interesting claims, but I
> >was unable to find any substantive supporting evidence:
> >
> >[Begin excerpt from Manish Gupta's book]
> >The only reason T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot), the Nobel
> >Prize-winning essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social
> >critic, and 'one of the twentieth century's major poets' insisted on
> >his middle initial, was that he was painfully aware that: 'My name is
> >only an anagram of toilets.' As a young adult, Eliot felt so
> >embarrassed by this association that he occasionally signed his name
> >as T. Stearns Eliot. A famous palindrome, 'Was it Eliot’s toilet I
> >saw?' may have added to his grief, though I am not sure if it was
> >coined during his time.
> >[End excerpt]
> >
> >Feedback and illuminating citations would be welcome.
> >Garson O'Toole
> >QuoteInvestigator.com
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org