Skipping a nested for loop iteration - Python

Question

First off, let me explain what I'm attempting to do.

I'm wanting to print a quadrilateral(square shape) using strings from a list. Like so:

John
o  h
h  o
nhoJ

I get the printed results I'm wanting except my for loop is printing more than needed. I just need to skip a few loop iterations depending on the length of the actual string.

This is where I need help, this is inside the "quad_text" function:

for i in norm_list[1:-1]:           
            for j in reve_list[1:-1]:
                print(f"{i}{spaces}{j}")

My outputted results right now:

---
John
o  h
o  o
h  h
h  o
nhoJ
---
Joe
o o
eoJ
---
David
a   i
a   v
a   a
v   i
v   v
v   a
i   i
i   v
i   a
divaD

Full Code

#Global Variables"
normal_list = ["John", "Joe", "David"]
#normal_list = ["Hey there buddy!"]

def initialization():
    rev_list = string_reverser()
    combined_lists = zip(normal_list, rev_list)
    quad_text(list(combined_lists))

def string_reverser():
    reversed_list = []
    for i in normal_list:
        reversed_list.append(i[::-1])
    return(reversed_list)

def quad_text(combined_lists):
    for (norm_list, reve_list) in combined_lists:
        print("---")
        print(norm_list)
        text_len = len(norm_list)
        spaces = (text_len - 2) *(" ")
        for i in norm_list[1:-1]: 
            for j in reve_list[1:-1]: # <--- Problem Area
                print(f"{i}{spaces}{j}")
        print(reve_list)

initialization()

Answer 1

Don't use nested loops, that creates a cross product between the forward and reverse lists. Use zip() to loop over them together.

for i, j in zip(norm_list[1:-1], reve_list[1:-1]):
    print(f"{i}{spaces}{j}")