On today’s episode of Spectacular Vernacular, Nicole and Ben interview Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle, the creator of the viral online word game Wordle. They also recap their participation in the American Dialect Society’s annual Word of the Year vote, over which Ben presided. And Nicole’s shares some on-the-ground interviews from the Linguistic Society of America conference, at which she presented some of her own research. And finally, we bring on a listener for some wordplay. Can you solve our final wordplay clue? You could win a year’s membership to Slate Plus.

Do you have any language questions or fun facts to share? Email us at [email protected].  

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Produced by Jasmine Ellis and Kevin Bendis

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