The Wordle Turtle

Wordle has taken the world by storm. The premise is simple; guess a five letter word. You get six tries to guess the right one. Correct letters in the correct space are green, correct letters in the wrong space are yellow, incorrect letters are gray. There’s one word each day, and it’s the same for everyone. It’s been an amazing phenomenon to me that none of the posts or reactions to this game on social media (that I’ve encountered) have spilled the beans on what the word is. I can share the unique combinations of colored squares to show my results without giving away any spoilers about the answer. It’s clever, it’s fun, and it’s free. And millions of folks have jumped on the bandwagon since the game was invented in November. It was the most common post on my Facebook feed for a few weeks.

I love viral stuff like this with a net positive effect - like in 2016 when Pokémon Go went gangbusters, and people who played walked a lot more and simultaneously discovered new parks and places where they lived or traveled. Wordle, similarly, is a net positive; it fosters community, increases self-esteem (a quick dopamine hit for a correct guess and a feeling of success to start the day), and challenges your brain. Unlike other similar games, it doesn’t have pay-to-play aspects or addictive gimmicks. It’s just one day, one word. When I guess the word in few tries, I joke with my friends about how “the Great Wordle Turtle has smiled on me today” and when I take five or six guesses to figure it out, “I have fallen from the Turtle’s favor.” I follow that up with some turtle emojis or gifs for good measure, because turtles are cute af.

My friend Courtney commented that the game has made her reflect on her favorite five-letter words. She offered lover, yearn, nests, dance, plant, climb, maker, tends, and renew. So, of course, it prompted me to do the same. I came up with coast, river, maybe, smoke, space, fluff, fruit, doubt, and clock. That list is non-exhaustive. It’s just what I came up with in about ten minutes of consideration. Admittedly, I like Courtney’s list better than my own.

I learned, in my search for words, that a lover of words is called a logophile, that an enigmatologist is someone skilled at making puzzles (including word puzzles), and a cruciverbalist is someone skilled at solving crossword puzzles. None of those are five-letter words, however. Maybe I’ll branch into the more risque and make a list of my favorite four-letter words next.

I think all writers must be logophiles on some level. And I’m glad for any trend that increases the number of word lovers in the world. Praise be to the Wordle Turtle. 🐢