Author Topic: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles  (Read 1046 times)

Alan W

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Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« on: May 23, 2022, 03:22:03 PM »
A recently published article, How Wordle brought us back together talks about the way online word puzzles can be a stimulant to social interaction. The article refers mainly to Wordle and the Spelling Bee puzzle in the New York Times. Spelling Bee is the inspiration for our 7-by-many puzzle.

There's also some discussion relevant to our ongoing debates about "common" words:

Quote
Much of the Spelling Bee chatter centers on what words the game will accept or not. Rather than use a set dictionary as the standard, Ezersky tries to limit the daily list to “everyday” words that most of the public would recognize. It makes for a better game — if the entire English language were in play, he argues, the game would be all but impossible to beat.

But that creates a lot of gray area, because everyone’s personal lexicon is different. A niche medical device might be an everyday word for a surgery technician, but unheard of for most players; elote, grilled Mexican corn, might rise to the level of a common word in San Antonio, but not in Minneapolis. “I had no idea starting out that this was going to be such a point of contention,” Ezersky says. “Everybody has their own bugaboos with the word list.” His own father texts him his personal complaints about the word list almost daily.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

pat

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2022, 05:19:04 PM »
I wonder if Chi is unique in that it has two word lists. It makes it possible to 'beat' the game, i.e. get a trophy,  but also removes the frustration of seeing words that are perfectly well known to you rejected. Mostly, anyway!  >:D

On the topic of Wordle, I don't know about you but I don't find it anywhere near as much fun as Quordle.

Jacki

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2022, 06:29:43 PM »
Seems you’re not alone Alan!
Late blooming azaleas tricked by the warmer weather into flowering

blackrockrose

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2022, 08:24:58 PM »
Yes, Pat, I agree that Quordle is much more satisfying.

pat

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2022, 08:34:41 PM »
Yes, Pat, I agree that Quordle is much more satisfying.

Especially when you get all four words in fewer than the nine goes permitted!

Linda

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2022, 09:30:03 PM »
I'm not into Wordle or Quordle but do play Heardle, not usually very successfully unless the songs are from the 60s to the 80s!!  It is strange that I love words and obviously love Chi but can't stand Scrabble or games like Wordle.  Also strange that I don't care for numbers yet am surprisingly good at the hardest Sudoku puzzles.   May be something to do with logical thinking rather than 'guessing'.  Who knows?   >:D

pat

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Re: Interesting article about the social side of word puzzles
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2022, 01:27:47 AM »
Have you tried Killer Su Doku, Linda?