👀 May I have a word?
#233 | Set free thy inner linguistic nerd
Hi hi,
Here's an open secret. Give me any word game, and I’ll be first in line, no questions asked. No one was happier than me when Wordle burst into the scene in 2022.
I was one of those 3 million odd people who would open the website as soon as they woke up. The mood of the day depended on whether I got the word on the second, fourth or sixth day. In case of abject failure - day cancelled; recovery time - 3-5 business days.
My fervour has reduced since, and though I do occasionally dive back in for old times’ sake – today’s Wordle was solved on the sixth try (mood of the day: terrible, not unsalvageable).
I'm forever looking for word games on the internet - Wordle is just one among many of my go-to's on the world wide web (Fun tip - the next time you're in your browser, google 'Wordle'). Honourable mentions to the variations of Pictionary, Scrabble, Crosswords, and Mad Libs that abound.
At the top of my list currently, though, is Words Against Strangers. This is not an antithesis of Words with Friends, where you make non-existent words with letters of your choice and aim to accumulate the lowest points (honestly, though I’d play this game).
Words Against Strangers is an archive of a game where the goal is to type out as many words as possible that match a given prompt/clue across three rounds. It was developed by The Pudding, who started putting out one game a day for 100 days starting September 2022.
Clues take the form of
- Verb ending with ‘an’,
- Noun with ‘on', or
- Three-letter word starting with ‘f’ – F U N.
Having to dredge up memories of long-past grammar classes and recall what adverbs even mean is undoubtedly my favourite part. It’s super rewarding when you get it right and super humbling when you don't. The humility keeps me coming back.
Don’t just take my word for it, though; you give it a shot.