
A Wordle-themed parody of "A Whole New World" nails the word game phenomenon.
Unless you've been living blissfully off the grid the past couple of months, you've undoubtedly seen the world become enamored with Wordle.
Completing the simple word game with a delightfully wholesome origin story has become a daily routine for millions of us who appreciate the collective challenge and the limit of only playing once per day. (I don't actually have stats on how many people play it, but considering the fact that The New York Times paid the creator seven figures for it, I'm assuming it's millions.) We share and compare scores. We whine together when it's hard. We keep the answer secret as part of an entirely new social contract that the game engendered and get annoyed when people think they're sharing a clue that doesn't give it away but actually does give it away.
In an era where so many things divide and polarize us, Wordle has brought people of all walks of life together in a weird and wonderful way.
So while some may be tired of seeing people's Wordle scores on social media, the Wordle sensation is a good thing. And we need more good things.
To sum it all up, the Holderness family created a Wordle-themed parody of Aladdin's "A Whole New World" and it's hilarious. They nailed so many elements of the Wordle phenomenon, from why we play to how we try to convince our loved ones to play to everyone groaning over the word "MOIST." (I have never understood people's issue with that word. It makes me think of chocolate cake. Nothing but yumminess.)
So kick back, relax and enjoy "A Whole New Wordle."
"Let me share my Wordle score with youuuu…" So cute and clever.
To be honest, I'm feeling a bit salty today after experiencing my first Wordle loss this morning. It was bound to happen sometime, but for a person who works with words for a living, the failure hits hard. The fact that this video made me laugh out loud several times is a testament to the Holderness family's ability to entertain. It's healing my wounded Wordle heart. Well done, Penn and Kim.
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Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
in 2016, a video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best for her to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their job.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
It evoked shame and sympathy.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is. They combed through more than 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006 and counted the number of comments that violated their comment policy and were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So, what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared nine years ago.