Have you ever played ‘Wordle’?
My guess is that most Ozwords readers have played ‘Wordle’ at one time or another.
As you probably know, it’s an online word guessing game, which involves guessing a five-letter word in six attempts.
It was invented by British designer John Wardle—and, yes, the name ‘Wordle’ is a play on his own name ‘Wardle.’
He invented it during the Covid lock-down of 2020 as a game to play with his girlfriend Palak Shah.
At first, he thought it was just a game for them to play on the sofa together.
Then he tested it on his family and decided rather more people might like to play it.
So, he launched it as an online game in October 2021.
By January 2022 more than two million people were playing it.
However, according to a recent newspaper report—all this attention and success didn’t make him happy.
In fact, he says he found it very stressful.
(He became, he says, quite miserable.)
He didn’t invent the game to make money—but he ended up doing exactly that!
In February 2022 he sold ‘Wordle’ to The New York Times for an undisclosed sum of money—but reported to be several million dollars.
And if you want to play, the game is still available online, free, every day from The New York Times (just Google ‘wordle’ and you’ll find it).
There is one new ‘Wordle’ puzzle each day.
You start with five blank squares and have to invent your own five-letter word to get you started.
Using colour codes, the game then tells you which letters are in the target word, but that you have in the wrong place; which are right letters in the right place; and which letters don’t belong at all.
You have a total six lines, six guesses, to work your way to the correct five-letter word for the day.
Obviously, with this sort of game a great deal rests on your starter word.
According to some obsessive ‘Wordle’ players the best starter word is ‘adieu’—because it gives you four of the five vowels. John
Wardle himself says that his starter word on ‘wordle’ used to be ‘stare’—which gives you two of the most common vowels and one of the most consonants (‘s’).
So, let’s do a little a poll, with two questions: (1) what do you think is the best starter word; and (2) how quickly have you solved a ‘Wordle’ puzzle (what’s your best score?).
Tonight, i will join Peta Credlin on Sky News for 'Words Matter.'
My latest column is now on the Sky News website (and it is especially for wordies!). Here's the link:
https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/a-populist-run-for-cover-kel-richards-unearths-the-problem-with-label-critics-foolishly-lob-at-pauline-hanson/news-story/746146ba323cdc4615874e69f693a081
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BOOKS:
* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
* My book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
