Celebrate National Opposite Day by doing something backwards

By Laurie Gordon
Break out of the winter blues and celebrate National Opposite Day this Sunday.

Though the unofficial holiday's origin is unknown, references date it back to the 1920s when Calvin Coolidge was president. Apparently, in the 1928 election, Coolidge made a statement to the press announcing, “I do not choose to run."

That statement spurned a debate and left everyone wondering if he really meant the opposite. The holiday spans the ranks from president to the Spongebob Squarepants who got in on the act with a episode about the whimsical holiday. It started as Squidward's plot to keep Spongebob from bothering him, but as with most of Squidward's plans, it backfired.

How to celebrate
You can start the day by meandering around the house and turning things around backwards. During the day, see how many things get noticed. One obvious way to commemorate the holiday is to wear your clothes and shoes backwards, but there are some more creative things to do on this rather obscure holiday.

Instead of calling friends by their first names, use their last names instead, or if you can pronounce it, say their name backwards (unfortunately, if your name is Bob, not too much will be changed in the translation). Speaking of Bob, a fun backwards game is to see which person can come up with the most palidrome words. These are words or phrases, number, or other sequences of symbols whose meaning may be interpreted the same way in either forward or reverse direction. Examples include the word “pop” and the phrase “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.”

Games can be fun, so see who can recite the alphabet backwards, the fastest or have a backwards race. Put a piece of masking tape on the ground and practice walking backwards. Try to go faster and faster each time. Try reading a book backwards, starting with the final chapter and working forward.

Do like Johnny Carson did in his "Carnac the Magnificent" routines and give friends the answers to some riddle questions and see if they can come up with the correct questions. Read Shel Silverstein's poem "Backward Bill" (A Light in the Attic, page 40) or Mary Ann Hoberman's poem, "The Folk who Live in Backwards Town" (A Llama Who Had No Pajama, page 45). Other backwards reads include Princess Backwards (Second Story Press, 2003), Spend a Day in Backwards Bay (Scholastic paperback, 2002).

When it comes to food, mix it up with dinner and serve dessert first followed by the main course and end with appetizers. You can also switch meals and have breakfast for dinner, lunch for breakfast and dinner for lunch.

Sing a round song — like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" — backwards.

In addition to the Spongebob, there's a WorldGirl episode entitled Opposite Day. Also, the sitcom Seinfeld has an episode called “The Opposite” in which George Costanza says the opposite of everything about himself in hopes of attracting a girl. There's a movie entitled Opposite Day about children switching roles with adults, and a Sesame Street book entitled Opposite Day was created to teach children about opposites.