There are 158,390 five-letter words in the English language (according to Free Dictionary). And every day for the past week, in less than six guesses, I’ve tried to figure out which one of those 158,390 words is the five-letter word of the day.
Some of it is luck. Some of it is strategy. Sometimes it’s taken me all six tries. One time I got the word in two guesses!
This online game “Wordle” has taken social-media-land by storm. My feeds are filled with my friends’ daily shares indicating how they did that day: how many green squares (correct letters in the correct positions), how many gold squares (correct letters in the incorrect positions), and how many gray squares (totally incorrect letters) they had with each guess.
I’m not sure why this particular word game has become so popular. (If you’d like to try it, here’s the link: https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/ )
I’m guessing that one of the reasons for its popularity is that it’s challenging – but not too challenging. It’s also easy to share your results with others without giving the answer away…and so the game spreads by word-of-mouth.
Another reason I go back day after day, is the sheer amazement – the sheer wonder that of 158,390 words to choose from, it’s even possible for me to discover the one word of the day in less than six guesses!
In a week with news about COVID surges around the world, a devastating fire in the Bronx, flooding in S. Africa, cyclones in Australia, it’s a gift for the human mind to experience wonder, isn’t it?
In Christ,
Pastor Jen