I love words. Short words. Long words. Word jumbles. Words that rhyme. Words that sound like what they mean, and words that don’t. Words can shape the way we think and feel. Powerful, well-written words can change the world.
I know I am not by any means alone in this love of words, so I’ve gathered three treats here for my fellow wordies.
Words: Watch
Let’s begin by imagining a world without words. (!!!!) Filmmakers Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante have put together a stunning short video titled “Words” that’s a real treat for visual/verbal types, using striking images to play with the ambiguities of words. It’s fun and thought provoking, and enhanced by an original score by Keith Kenniff.
Words: Listen
The video was made to accompany a recent episode of the WNYC show Radiolab, entitled “Words.” It’s interesting to mentally note the difference between watching and listening to several of the same words used very differently in the Radiolab stories. Listen to the Radiolab episode here to meet a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life, hear a firsthand account of what it feels like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke, and retrace the birth of a brand new language 30 years ago.
Words: Play
Finally, in case you’ve missed this wonderful tool for playing with words, there’s Wordle. This simple resource, developed by Jonathan Feinberg at IBM Research, allows you to copy and paste any text to create a randomized word picture. The same text can create a wide variety of word pictures with different backgrounds, fonts and colors.
Wordle of blog post \”Words: Watch, Listen and Play\”
Are you a wordie with another favorite resource? Please let us know in a comment — and we’ll share in a future post.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
