Thursday—a day dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder. That’s pretty cool when you think about it. Words are kind of cool, actually. When you start digging into the roots of words we use in our every day lives, you often learn something surprising about human history and legend.
This is one reason I’m so happy about the hit sensation Wordle. The puzzle game has exploded in popularity and to me that’s a good omen. People are excited about a word puzzle game? Will somebody please pinch me?
We can use all the good omens we can find these days. Everywhere we look, the world seems more divided than ever. The “us vs them” mentality has a stranglehold on our culture and society and I can’t imagine that’s for the best. But one thing that unites us is language. Even though we speak lots of different languages, the very fact that we speak at all, and that we can communicate so precisely with one another, should be a reminder that for all our many differences, we are still more alike than not.
In any case, I don’t mean to stand on a soapbox. It’s just rare to find something good and hopeful lately, and Wordle—to me at least—is that thing. The free-to-play, ad-free puzzler is a breath of fresh air. And it’s fun to solve each day, and then to come here and talk with you, my fellow Wordlers, about the solution (see below).
Helpful Reads
For newcomers to Wordle, I have some helpful links to get you started playing the game.
- First off, be sure to read over my Wordle primer. I go over the game’s rules, history and so forth.
- Next, check out my Wordle Tips & Tricks guide for some helpful advice on how to puzzle through each day’s guesses.
- Finally, be sure to bookmark my Wordle alternatives piece for some other fun games to keep you occupied after each daily word is done. (And check out Globle while you’re at it if you want to hone your geography skills).
- Check out Wednesday’s Wordle of the day solution here.
And finally, don’t bother looking for Wordle on the App Store or Google Play. You’ll only find it on the game’s official website—for now, anyways. From here it will migrate to The New York Times on a future, unspecified date.
Today’s Wordle Answer #236
Before we get to the answer, I must warn you all of spoilers. Avast, ye mateys, there be spoilers up ahead.
Oh, and a hint: Take a break!
Now, on to the answer . . . .
This one came pretty quickly, for whatever reason. SNARE started things off nicely with three correct letters, though only one in the correct spot. Still, that gave me some pretty solid guessing options to parse through—giving me my second guess.
From here it was a sure thing. PARSE with only the ‘R’ wrong meant very few letters would suffice, and PAUSE was a natural third guess for the win.
Etymology Notes From My Father
“It’s funny how a set of letters can stump you. I knew that the last four letters were A-U-S-E. I had eliminated C, and no other options came to mind. I put the game on pause awhile, and then it hit me. Pause does that, no? Gives you that break to come back to something with a new perspective. It’s not quite like stop, because it always implies a continuation.
“Pause has its roots in a Greek word that means to stop, while stop has its roots in a Latin word that means to stuff (as in to stuff an opening). Think of coming down a ski slope. When you pull over to breathe halfway down, that’s a pause. When you smack into a tree halfway down, that’s a stop. We use pause a lot now in an interesting application of a technological metaphor connected to watching videos, playing games, or listening to recordings.
“We say things like, “It’s time those crazy politicians hit pause on the nasty personal attacks that turn our discourse into rubbish.” Of course, we really mean we wish they would stop, never again to press play.”
Happy Thursday, fellow Wordlers! The weekend approaches!
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