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February is too-too much if you love numerical palindromes in your months

Celebrate 2-2-22 with a cool time capsule project.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
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The second month of 2022 contains two days with palindromes created from the number two.

 Gety Images

If two is your lucky number, Wednesday could be the most amazing day for you ... for a little less than three weeks, anyway. Wednesday's date, Feb. 2, 2022, can be abbreviated as 2-2-22, which is just too-too much synchronicity for pattern-lovers. But things will get two times better in 20 days, when the date flips to 2-22-22 AND falls on a TUE-sday. 

To turn Wednesday's date into a cool pattern of the same numeral requires you to ignore the zeroes often used to mark the second month and second date, but just go with it. Both of the dates are incredibly symmetrical and fun to write. Almost wish I wrote more personal checks these days just so I could scribble that repeated number in the date line. 

People on social media were sharing ways to celebrate the cool date.

"First grade teachers ... let your students make time capsules for 2-2-22, one Twitter user suggested. "Open them on 3-3-33 their senior year!"

That school project sounds like fun, but even individuals and companies were hoping 2-2-22 turned out to be memorable.

"f nobody gets me flowers on 2/2/22 or 2/22/22, i'm gonna lose it," reads a tweet from ColourPop Cosmetics.

Some companies were offering 2-2-22 deals. On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Zoo tweeted, "TWOmorrow, we're offering $2 Zoo admission for 2-2-22!"

Thomas the Tank Engine fans may know that Thomas himself bears the number one, while optimistic Edward is two.

"Can we all agree that this Wednesday 2/2/22 is officially #EdwardDay2022?" wrote a fan.

And it's quite likely some special events will be scheduled for Wednesday to take advantage of the memorable date.

"Shoutout to all the brides getting married tomorrow on Wednesday just to have their wedding date 2.2.22!" wrote one Twitter user.

Ignore the missing zeroes, and 2-2-22 is also a palindrome date, because it's the same forward or backward. Last year, 2021, had a ton of palindrome dates, including Inauguration Day, which was 1-20-21. There was also an eight-digit palindrome in December, 12-02-2021.

As the Farmer's Almanac notes, there are 10 palindrome dates in February 2022, beginning with 2-2-22 and ending with 2-28-22. Not only that, but one of those very cool dates, 2-22-22, marks the birthdate of first US president, George Washington. And since Washington also was born in a year ending in two (1732), it's a nice even anniversary number -- 290 years since Washington's birth. It's almost too much.

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